The photo below is me as a child, but not one I took. I glommed it from an 8mm film my father must have taken, that was converted to video.
Originally, I posted this in Micro Expressions. I was not sure what my expression meant, but it didn’t seem to be a happy one. I wonder if I had just taken a picture. My camera hangs around my neck. If I did, I do not remember.
Are my watercolors below self portraits? They are me and I painted them, so I suppose, in a manner of speaking they are self portraits.
What strikes me is, even though there is no visible eye contact in the photograph, one can imagine eyes peering out of the darkness. The tilt of the head and the arc of the eyebrows give the impression that something is amiss.
Immediately below is my first attempt at conveying the feeling from the photo to watercolor. I should have squared off the shape of the head and exaggerated its tilt. The triangular shadows in place of the eyes do not have the same impact as those in the photo.
Jack as a Boy 1
9″x12″ 140# Cold Pressed Watercolor Block
The second watercolor is not as delicate as the first. The right half of the face is in heavy shadow and the neck is thicker. The shape of the head is more like the photograph, as is the tilt. They eyes project more of the feeling that one can see in the photo.
Jack as a Boy 2
9″x12″ 140# Cold Pressed Watercolor Block
These paintings are several steps removed from life drawing and not distilled enough to be abstract. However, there is great potential to abstract a cohesive set of elements from the photograph and arrange them to convey a real emotional impact.
