Facing Lemon Hill (A Selfie Portrait), 2021, oil on canvas, 60 x 72 inches
Interesting that while I am doing a major painting involving an image of myself, I found myself becoming more familiar with what I looked like and how I project my image to other people. I would even find myself saying hello as I started my work each day, as if another me was present!
I am sorry I did not make one each decade now that I see how important it can be. My last self portrait was in 1964 at age 19. After my first full year at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine arts as a second year student. You can view it in a link at the end of the 2018 page by clicking a link to a life long pdf of my painting career.
This 5 x 6 foot painting was done during the Covid and I there was no one around my studio to shoot the image I wanted of me on my new Trek bike that I bought because the transit was shut down and my studio was not in the city where I live. So I set my iPhone on a small easel and put the timer on. I had only 12 seconds to run across my studio and mount the bike! I was only able to get behind it before the shutter captured my image.
When I went to the Trek bike store on Main Street in Manayunk to pick up the bike that I ordered by phone, I realized that choosing a bike with the biggest wheels was a mistake thinking it would get me to my studio faster in a 7 mile trip than the smaller tire. I was too short to mount it and it was not a true step through! I had not mounted a bike for thirty six years! Trek was kind enough to take the big bike back for a 27.5 inch wheel that I could handle.
Then winter set in and it became my model rather than my transportation!
How beautiful she is in her beautiful teal and black colors. Now I can relate to the guys who love their cycles and am determined to ride her this Spring!!
The painting background was created from an image I shot on my iPhone from behind our Art Museum overlooking the river and Lemon Hill. There are a number of details in this work. One of which is reflecting my current life as the Fellowship of PAFA President noted by my blue FPafa button on my shirt collar. My back yard pet squirrel sits on the park bench with his forked left ear that I suspect was bitten during a spring fling! To the right is the Mercury Pavilion that overlooks the Fairmount Waterworks below and the William Rush statue “Allegory of the Waterworks.” Beyond is the Schuylkill River falls bordered by the expressway.
I am a semi-realist painter but I felt this painting called for a more photo-realist approach.
Now that it is complete, I stand documented in my city and can now move forward toward my more abstract visions of my current Botanical Garden series. This was quite a challenge that took many months to complete. Next week I look forward after looking back to begin a new series with a new set of challenges!
January, 2021