My friend Becky who does great watercolors, said, “So the American Artist Magazine is having a Self-Portrait Cover Competition. You do people well. You should enter.” She handed me the page she had ripped out of her magazine.
So I pondered it a bit and thought I’ll give it a try. There are a lot of things to think about when I’m starting a watercolor. What colors should I use? Is it a nice design? Will it fit into the size of the cover? How do I hold the camera and push the button and take a picture of myself, all with one hand?
I finally got the “hold the camera and push the button with one hand thing” down but I kept missing my head. So hold my arm out and keep trying. Finally success and I started on my sketch. A self portrait would not be right without one of my characters staring back at me. They all clamored to be in the picture but this little guy won out. I had my head leaning against one of my hands but I thought “It needs a little more action.” So I put the paint brush in my other hand and started painting. That told a better story. I transferred the sketch onto the watercolor paper. I asked my husband what he thought. Something nagged at me from the very back left corner of my right brain. Finally I found it, two right hands. Now that would not do on the front cover of the American Artist magazine. So what do I do? You can see the finished painting and what I did. Just click on the following link and click on latest entries and scroll down and click on Sherry Meidell. www.americanartistcompetitions.com There are a lot of nice self-portraits entered. Mine is the only one I saw with a critter.