Self Portraits: Julius Bissier and Peter Ondreička Style
Written by Teresita Blanco (The Artsy Sister)
I made two new self-portraits. Both were made with watercolors, pencil and ink. I first drew the lineart. Afterwards, I traced over it with pen. I erased the pencil lines before adding the watercolors.
I made a video of both paintings. You can see them both in Tiktok and Youtube. I am going to write about each painting in specific. Julius Bissier was a German painter. He fought in the first World War.
He was a self-taught artist. The bulk of his work are abstract paintings. To make this self-portrait, I found one of his few artworks that feature a person. In my version, I am sculpting a new face for myself.
My new self is giving me a judgmental look. She is worried that I am going to make a mess of my new self. We all must reinvent ourselves at some point or another. This is just something that I did in order to survive.
Now, time to talk about the second painter Peter Ondreička. Peter Ondreička was a Slovak painter. He started painting when he was 10 years old. His paintings are quite expressionistic.
Like a lot of great painters, he passed away due to alcoholism. When he didn’t like his artwork, he would cut it up before stitching it together. He gave away most of his paintings.
So, there is not a comprehensive exhibition of his work. I chose to mimic the painting called Tight Mask. Like him, I am removing my mask.
I am showing my true face to the world, for better or for worse. I hope you find my new self-portraits amusing. My name is Teresita Blanco, the Artsy Sister. Bye, bye and God bless.
