self portrait

I have never really attempted a "self portrait" painting.  For some reason, over the weekend, I decided to give it a shot.  I am pleased with the rich colors (not to mention that I excluded a few fine lines ;O).

After adding the flowers in my hair, I decided to carry out the theme in a new shop banner for my shop on Etsy:

It has been a nice change of pace painting more whimsical designs, rather than realism.  I am going to start a series of portrait paintings similar to the "Self Portrait", which, coincidentally I have titled "Irish Lass".  These paintings, as most, started out with a quick sketch just to get my proportions.  Next, I added the base color.  In the portrait, it was my skin-tone which was achieved by mixing quite a few colors, actually.  I used some light yellow, rose madder, and Naples Yellow.  While this was still wet, I added a thicker mixture of the same color over my cheeks, nose and forehead.  Adding a bit of burnt umber to that mixture, I was able to find a nice color for my freckles.  My hair has many of the same colors, with the addition of raw sienna.  For the background of the portrait I used Ivory Black which covered the paper so well, adding almost a velvet texture.

Off to paint.  Happy (almost) Friday!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/DustyShamrockStudio