Self-Portrait Of The Artist

I was interested in joining a competition requiring a self-portrait but I didn’t have an image I was happy with. Why do I find it so difficult to come up with something?

Self-Portrait Of The Artist

Just Take A Selfie Woman

I am sure some wag has already yelled at the screen ‘just take a selfie woman’. I guess we live in a selfie society with instant self-portraits.

It is not something I have ever mastered, I always have double chins, I get a cat ear or a dog leg in the picture and I am afraid you will never get me to pout for the camera! (Too many wrinkles for one thing). Ringo didn’t have a problem taking a selfie mind you. In this image he literally took the photo and then I did my thing with it.

No, for me that is not the way to get a self-portrait.

Many Famous Artists Are Well Known For Their Painted Self-Portraits

There are some famous artists who are well known for their self-portraits. Think Rembrandt, Van Gogh, and Lucian Freud just as a few examples. These, of course, are the original selfies.

As a complete aside, can you imagine Rembrandt with an iPhone! He would drive you nuts on Facebook.

I have always struggled though. For my one painted self-portait I focused on how I felt inside. This self-portrait is called ‘ShannathShima’ which is my spirit name.

I had another attempt taking a photograph someone had taken of me and (with their permission) develop it with some digital effects but I was never satisfied with it. I also hate having my photograph taken which doesn’t really help!

My Latest Self-Portrait

I promised myself that one day I would sit and have a serious attempt at producing another self-portrait. Today was the day as it was pouring with rain and too cold in other parts of the house to get side tracked.

Again though I went for a different approach, I decided to produce a composite of the ‘inner me’. I used a photograph that I took of me painting (yes a selfie taken with a camera on a tripod but I was okay because I didn’t have to look at the camera). An image of a snow leopard (my ShannathShima website logo in fact) which is my spirit animal and is reflected in the name ShannathShima. And finally one of my Buddhist digital images.

I cropped the images around a bit and played with some of the contrasts. Then I put them through overlay collage software (Picasa) and then did more fiddling around to get it where I felt I was comfortable with it. It will do – for now!

Before you go

My name is Dorothy Berry-Lound an artist and writer. You can find out more about my art and writing at https://dorothyberryloundart.com.

You can follow me on Facebook.

Thank you for reading!