Self Portrait

I've been thinking for a while that the side banner on this blog needed a self portrait.  Since I'm not really a big fan of pictures of myself, I was less than enthusiastic about putting the time and energy into actually painting a self portrait, so I decided a photo would do to fill the gap.  Since this is an art blog however, a plain photo right out of the camera wouldn't do.  So, with the help and magic of Photoshop, here is my completed self portrait.

I was inspired by this drawing by M.C. Escher to create an image where I was painting myself.

M.C. Escher is one of my all time favorite artists and I had a poster of this picture hanging in my room when I was a kid.  His art is so magical and thought provoking.  I could spend hours looking at it.  It is so mesmerizing.  I LOVE IT!!!

Here is the original photograph that I created the final image from.  It's a selfie that I took in the forest on our vacation to Seattle earlier this year.  The hand in the final product is also mine, but it came from another photograph, and the paint brush is right out of the Brighton Mural logo.

Overall, I'm happy with the final result (I think it looks a little like the cover of a paint by number kit), but if you want to see some REAL art created from a photograph, and not just someone playing around in Photoshop, you should check out the pet portraits at artpaw.com.  They are amazing works of art created by talented artist, Rebecca Collins.  As an animal lover (and multiple pet owner) I can appreciate the desire to have really high quality portraits of our furry friends that will be around forever.  She really captures something special about each of the animals in her paintings and her use of color is wonderful!  I stumbled across her website on accident and instantly became a big fan.