My how things and people change!

[Bartc]

In honor of my 75th birthday, Nancy unearthed my first painted portrait. I created this one in acrylics when I had first begun painting. So this is a 45 year old view of myself. Below it is a more recent self-portrait at 73 painted in Ceracolors. Quite a difference!

 

[Bongo]

you shaved!

 

[Bartc]

you shaved!

Had that beard for over 20 years. Shaved at 40. Grew back for one year during Covid height. Shaved it off again. Makes my face a decade older and I don't need that!

 

[AiArts]

It is cool that you have kept the first portrait for this long. I like how your art has grown and reflected in your later year self-portrait and see your happy expression.

 

[Bartc]

It is cool that you have kept the first portrait for this long. I like how your art has grown and reflected in your later year self-portrait and see your happy expression.

Not sure about grown.

When that first one was painted it was very early for me. In those days I couldn't wait to paint. Ideas flowing through my head constantly. Though I had been drawing from life since childhood, painting was primarily from my imagination. Trying every kind of style, etc. It was all fresh and absorbing.

These days I'm more constrained, though I've mastered a few media and have painted a wide variety of subjects, and I don't always feel that I'm branching out. I don't paint much from imagination and find that I stick to landscapes or en plein air from life.

Midlife I painted a lot of impromptu portraits. Quickies at family gatherings. These days I almost never paint people. And I still don't get mouths quite right, LOL!

So growth in some ways, limits in others. Just the way it's gone with me.

 

[Enyaw]

Yes, things and people change. My first painting was a white gull against a blue sky and the sky was one color blue and the bird one color white. I didn't have a clue. Still learning but I do know a lot more now than then. I'm quite sure you feel the same.

 

[Bartc]

Oh yeah, Wayne!

 

[Artyczar]

How neat to see this. And how great that you kept it!

 

[Terri]

What a great idea your wife had, to pull this out so you could have the fun of comparison. Sometimes birthdays - or other days special to us for various reasons - are excellent times to pause and reflect. Hopefully we reach a place of acceptance with what's past.

 

[Jo Castillo]

Awww, sweet. You and your style changed a bit! Great idea and fun to see them together.

 

[snoball]

I think we should always keep our earliest paintings. It gives us a reference point to see how far we've come. Or digressed as the case may be.

 

[Artyczar]

Yes, I have some of my very earliest works as well. At least when I was sixteen or so, maybe seventeen.