More self-portrait

I used to think training myself as a portrait painter by drawing self-portraits is a good idea. Yet it is still sort of a good idea except you have to put up with a bad model.

Salute to all the models I have painted. Now I understand how difficult it is to hold a smile that doesn't look actually creepy. 

The inevitable self portraits

I think it's quite obvious that I developed a distinct passion in making portraits. I can comfortably call myself anti-social but interestingly I can connect to people by looking at them, not by talking to them. I believe everyone was born with a unique kind of beauty, but it's way too often destroyed by the popularity of photos. Actually people are so used to look at photos they lost the ability to appreciate the beauty of men in their purest form. They are trained to admire makeups and photoshops instead. How sad!!

Every portrait painter that I love with all my heart, namely Rembrandt, Velazquez, Van Dyck, Mancini and Morelli are all famous for their self-portraits too. This may feed the common misunderstanding that all artists are narcissistic but no, it’s not (always) the case. The fact is, to make a good portrait you need to feel connected to your model, if there is one at all. Therefore self-portrait is inevitable in the journey of becoming a portrait painter. Who else, except yourself that you can understand better? Of course not everyone understands themselves that well to begin with but that’s exactly what makes self-portraits interesting too: they change with time. It reveals a lot about the painter’s inner self, probably more than he would love to, but there is no way to hide. Real art can’t lie.

So the purpose of writing the above paragraph is 2-fold: 1) to let readers understand how important it is for a portrait painter to make self-portraits and 2) to mentally prepare readers that there will be A LOT of self-portraits coming in this blog. Yah I mean it. And no I am not narcissistic. I promise. 

Quick update

No I haven't given up anything: I am still drawing (and now painting too!), reading, cooking, home decorating, exercising, learning french (among many other things) and wanting to write my blog.

But from the extended list you understand it's really hard for me to find time to sit down and write, especially when I (still) have a full time job :-P

So last week, as part of my routine, I got myself some white flowers. Yes always white. Whatever they are, they have to be white.

Peruvian lily is always my favourite. But they are from Amsterdam and we do not always have them in Hong Kong. It happened I bumped into something as lovely as this one. I have been calling it

*My secret fountain of grace, elegance and inspiration*

I am not exaggerating. 

Totally inspired by this beautiful *secret fountain of grace, elegance and inspiration*, I made 5 drawings at home. I cannot be more grateful for how they stayed exactly the same as the photo for nearly 2 WEEKS! My dear, I really can't ask for more.

So here are my works, in chronological order of the time I made them. :)

I promised myself I will write more often *ahem*