Work in Progress: Medusa plus upcoming Figurative Art Show

I have gotten a few people over the years asking me if I will ever do a self-portrait and generally it's not really my thing to do portraits, let alone self-portraits. BUT sometimes it's good to go outside one's comfort zone. I decided to do an unofficial self portrait - but my way. Hence I did a self-portrait as Medusa. Because having snakes for hair is fun to draw. And just because I can. :^)

Coincidentally, I got the opportunity to have some work in a figurative art show coming up on December 7th at Countryside Gallery in Newtown, PA. I decided to submit a work from last year, "Artemis", as well as my current "Medusa" if I finish it in time. Which basically means I've been working on snakes non-stop for the past two days.... The reception is December 7th, 7 to 11 PM. See postcard for the show below. Please click image to enlarge.

 My artwork "Artemis" from 2011

So... here is where I've gotten to so far with the Medusa artwork. For a self-portrait comparison, here are a few cell phone snaps of my mug. The first snap has too much light on the face so you lose some of the features (like the side of the nose) but I thought it was good for the general face shape / face angle I wanted to go for. I'm not sure I'm entirely successful with getting the drawing to look exactly like me. I may have to "uglify" it up a bit more so it looks more like a real person (i.e. me) as opposed to an idealized figure. Plus I am still working on the face shading to define things more.

 

Work in progress photos of "Medusa"

18 x 24 inches, oil pastel / graphite / colored pencils / acrylic on hardboard

(apologies for the bad lighting... we've had a couple of dark days here so these photos are taken under florescent lights, unfortunately)

Day 1

Day 2