Watercolor Painting Self Portrait: Paul Gauguin and Odilon Redon Style
Written by Teresita Blanco (The Artsy Sister)
Today, I wanted to show you my latest watercolor self-portraits. I took two selfies to use as references. I also used some of the flower photos I have in my catalogue. I photograph flowers and butterflies whenever possible.
So, I had plenty of references to work with. The first painting was made Paul Gauguin style. I recently read his colorful biography. Vincent Van Gogh nearly gave him a shave that was a little too close for comfort.
Needless to say, Gauguin fled to Tahiti to get away from Van Gogh. Gauguin was a French Post-Impressionism and Primitivism painter. He spread his cooties all over Paris and Tahiti. He even abandoned his wife and children.
As a person, I do not like him, but I respect him as an artist. Above, you can see the self-portrait I chose to imitate. Gauguin is holding up a snake and he has a halo.
Since I am not a big fan of snakes, I am holding a flower with a butterfly at the end of it. I used glitter paint to highlight my glowing halo. Instead of cherries, I painted a tomato vine. I used to grow tomatoes in my garden.
These days I do not know if I will wake up without an articulation hurting. I am still recovering from my illness, but I am not going to bore you with the details. I used a pillow in order to mimic the orange thing that Gauguin had under his chin.
The last thing I added was my favorite red rose and two dried sunflowers. They are very spiky. These are all things that I have grown and watched die. These flowers hold a special place in my heart.
The second painting was done Odilon Redon style. He isn’t a well-known painter. In art class, the teachers only mention him for five minutes before moving onto another artist.
Redon was a French Symbolist painter, though he displayed his artwork with the Impressionist. Then again, the impressionist usually took in anyone that could afford to pay the entry fee.
They were a collective of struggling, unappreciated artists. After browsing through his body of work, I chose his Ophelia painting for my last self-portrait of the day. Symbolist take inspiration from imagination, spirituality and dreams.
In his Ophelia painting, we see the maiden as she is slowly sinking into the water. In my version, I am not so much as sinking as I am floating. I know how to swim, unlike Ophelia.
I am just taking a cat nap, while surrounded by my favorite bouquet of flowers. I love flowers. It is a pity that their pollen makes me sneeze a lot. The flowers were chosen for their looks and not for their meaning.
I used blue glitter paint to add shimmering to the water. Rendering water with watercolors is an extremely difficult task. Sometimes I get it right, sometimes I get it wrong.
I think I did an ok job with it. In any case, I hope you like my two watercolor self-portraits. My name is Teresita Blanco, the Artsy Sister. Bye, bye and God bless.
