Mixed Media Tuesday: The journey of a self-portrait

Oh well. You know the day would come when I would attempt a self-portrait painting right? And a large one too! Because your girl is crazy! *winks*

I started with my usual mixed media messy background play with paints, inks, stencils and gesso. Then I went in with my rough sketch using a charcoal vine. It's messy but totally erasable (with a wet cloth) so you don't feel so committed to your lines (haha!)

As you can clearly see, I'm sooooooo bad at sketching! I mean, she looks nothing like the photo right?

Then I went in with my first layer of acrylic paints and worked on the details with a water brush pen filled with ink. Nephew #1 came into my room at this point and asked me who I was painting. The first thing he said was, "Why does she look so fat?" *LOL*

Here I am fine-tuning the details after I scaled down on those massive fat cheeks. It's weird that we see ourselves so differently. I've always felt that I've such chubby cheeks.

After hours of painting and re-painting because the folks said she looked nothing like me, I was finally done when nephew #1 said, "Wow. What did you do? She looks like you."

Now of course, I have to paint everyone in the family. At least that's what mum says. And you know, mum is the Empress Dowager. *winks*

What do you think?