I have always struggled with painting faces, so I decided to try and recreate portrait paintings from master artists and hopefully become better at painting faces. In the past, I would try and paint a face, and then I would quickly give up if it didn’t look right. In doing this painting, I realized how many layers are needed to create a lifelike, three-dimensional figure. I also discovered that it is okay if my painting looks bad at the beginning because it will look better and better as I continue painting. The overall process was actually really fun, and I especially enjoyed glazing my painting at the end.
The pictures below show my painting process of my study of Artemisia Gentileschi’s Self-Portrait as a Lute Player. My painting definitely isn’t perfect, but I am happy with how it turned out, although I may do a few more adjustments after I post this.
Annika Marthinuss 