Self-Portrait 100.584 x 76.2 cm

Chuck Close is an American painter, photographer, and one of my favorite artists. I especially love his early paintings done in the 60s. He is famous for his massive-scale portraits that he has painted using a photograph as reference. My favorite painting of his is titled "Nancy" I was privileged enough to see it in person at the Milwaukee Art Museum in Wisconsin. It is a breathtaking piece of art. I could have stared at it for hours. 

Nancy, 1968
Acrylic on canvas
108 3/8 x 82 1/4 in. (275.27 x 208.92 cm)

For those of you who are wondering, it is about 9 feet tall and about 6 feet wide. Chuck Close was obviously using his photography skills (you can see it especially in what's known as the "Rembrandt Shadow" under the subject's left eye) as he was painting this masterpiece. I find that very interesting. It's neat to see how he used his photography skills to elevate his painting skills. 

A couple of years ago I was inspired by his large portraits and drew a self portrait using a photograph just as Chuck Close would have done. 

It is not quite as large-scale as Chuck Close's portraits, but it is one of the biggest pieces of artwork I've done in soft pastels. It is about 3.3 feet tall and 2.5 feet wide. 

I decided to use the contrasting color purple for the shadows in my yellow hoodie. I used a lot of red for the shadows in my face and neck and picked that red up again in my hair not only to create unity, but also because a little red in almost every hair color will make it look more realistic. I don't like bragging, but I do think I did an excellent job of having my hair go from dark in the back to light in the front. I think it is a smooth and realistic transition. I did something I usually don't do with this drawing. That is I did the background last. Because there was so much red and yellow in the drawing already, I decided to go with a blue background to create a triadic color scheme. I also added a layer of purple to the background so that the purple shadows didn't seem as alone and almost random.

This drawing took several hours to complete and was actually frustrating. But the frustration only drove me to strive even harder for perfection. Now that it is done, I am very pleased with the final result. I was even lucky enough to find this frame for free at a garage sale shortly after finishing the drawing. I think every piece of art looks better in a frame.