Heres a fun solution

I've tried this with my students and it works... Have them stare at a model, could be the person standing next to them... and study the face... I mean really concentrate on it for 10 minutes... Of course this is after their easels are set up and their pallettes are arranged. They should be ready to start painting the portrait immediatley after staring at their model for 10 minutes... Tell them that they have 15 minutes to produce the piece... You'll be suprised and amazed at the results.

Tony

This should work for self portraits as well since we look longer, more often and more closely at ourselves than others, generally. A challenge I hadn't thought about until now. I may give it a try myself, since portraiture is not my normal venue.

Your work is quite diverse, Tony. The piece, 'Americana' is very disturbing and I have to wonder about your message. Do the figures represent Americans as victims or perpetrators?

As a person suffering with bipolar disorder, and post traumatic stress syndrome, as well as OCD, I regard Americana on some level to be a self portrait. As a survivor of a tortured childhood, I can empathize with the figures on another level. As a gay man living in a somewhat backward society I associate with being held as a political and social prisoner. As a vegetarian I can relate to it on another level... I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's a personal and subjective feeling that I get from this piece...and I suppose your reaction is also subjective and personal... the painting was made 2 years prior to Sept.11

Yet on a totally different level I like the abstraction the clothe makes in lieu of the face and the implication that the hands are bound by virtue of them being behind the back. I really just do the work... I really don't think that much about it.

Tony

Good answer. My subjective and personal response is to be defensive where my country is concerned. As with any good piece of work, the meaning is in the eye of the beholder.

Yes, it's the abstraction that gives it it's ambiguity.

As it should be.

I am impressed that you manage to be gay with all those problems! I'd be quite depressed.

Particularly with suffering from vegetarianism - the low level of lipids in your diet will leave you with low levels of serotonin that will make you depressed eventually, which is why vegetarians have higher levels of suicide than normal people.