Self Portrait: Yayoi Kusama and Howard Finster Style Painting

Written by Teresita Blanco (The Artsy Sister)

I did two new self-portraits. They were done with ink and watercolor paints. I first drew the face with pencil. I then added the ink before erasing the pencil lines. Lastly, I added the watercolor paints.

This is the basic steps I take when painting watercolors. I am going to now talk about the paintings in specific. The first painting I made was done Howard Finster style. I first took a selfie. I then drew myself.

I was not trying to do a carbon copy of the original self-portrait. Rather, I am just trying to mimic the style. I noticed that the elements of the shirt tend to wander.

So, I chose to wear a shirt that had words and cats. In my version, I wrote a different phrase under my lips. I wrote I want to feel alive again. It is a sentiment I have been feeling as of lately.

I do not feel that I am living much as of lately. I am still recovering from my illness. I could tell you more, but I do not want to bog you down. I painted a flower and a cat in my neck.

By doing so, I finished mimicking the painting style of Howard Finster. Finster is a Folk Artist. He mostly works with wood. He is inspired by the lord to make his artworks.

Now, it is time to talk about Yayoi Kusama. Kusama is a Japanese contemporary artist. She mostly works with installations and sculptures. She is still alive and working.

Her work is defined by its dots. Lots and lots of dots. The painting that I used for reference was all yellow. In my self-portrait, I added a bit of color to it. I used glitter paints for the background and my face.

This gave me quite the creepy glow. The rest was painted with regular watercolors. The inking part took the longest. There was a lot of black dots in this painting.

I also did two videos of these paintings. You can see them in my Tiktok and Youtube. It shows all the steps I did when making these paintings. I think I ranted enough about my artwork for one day. My name is Teresita Blanco, the Artsy Sister. Bye, bye and God bless.