The story behind “Faceless portraits”
I started this series mid October, and If you keep up with my work you’d know that I joined inktober this year. After about two weeks of October I got to the point where I really really really missed painting with colors. In me there was two kind of urge, first was to set on my desk and paint like I have always did, the other was to continue with the challenge and spend half of my days painting with ink, filming,editing and uploading on youtube every single day. Since the latter required most of the energy and time, and the first was not going away, an idea came to my mind, maybe i can still paint, but ill make sure to use less colors,also I will not get into to many details. And that was where it all began.
Looking at the tubes of paint resting on my shelf, There were so many tubes with a variety of numbers and wide range of choices. I went for the primary colors only, this way i will be using the minimum amount of colors and it’s also will be a form of color theory studying, and I have to tell you, even though that this piece of information since i was a child in primary school, I was shocked by the amount of hue and tones i could create using only the primary colors. The minute you apply your knowledge, you will be surprised by the things you could do.
Once again, I realized that it’s so much easier to work with a limited color palette instead of putting all the paint tubes in front of me. Especially as a self taught artist, using a similar color palette reduced all the ” decision making” process in choosing the right colors, which is a subject i am still way behind at. This leads me to the second thing that is so obvious in this series, Why all the portraits have no features?
Where did their faces go?
I wanted to create a series of paintings, portraits to be more specific. But knowing myself and my abilities at this stage I knew that I lack the skill to paint a proper portrait, an acceptable one even. The eyes, the nose the perfect skin tones, everything. Yes, I may have painted many portraits before using a variety of mediums, but I was never pleased or satisfied with the final result. And honestly, Once i had the thought of creating this series I didn’t want to postpone yet another project till i master the topic or have all the information out there related to it. I only had and idea and i started to go toward it.
These faceless portraits might not have eyes to open up the way to their souls or a smile to let you know how they feel, they might not have features but they sure have some kind of identity to them. Some in the way their hair looks, some in their clothing choice, others in the colors they are made of.
The little stories
Sweater of memories
She wears the same sweater every afternoon because it smell of coffee and sounds like the falling leaves. It’s her memory that collects between its knits all the good days and sleepless nights.
Sky surfer
There are a thousand stars that gaze at her every night, and the silver moon in the pitch black sky as well. So she stares back and finds peace in her heart. She often gets lost in observatory.
Spoken words
Many of the people she know fear the forest, but she doesn’t. She finds herself when she’s lost in the woods, when the sunlight breaks through the towering trees and kisses her skin. There is where she belongs.
White beads
In front of the sea she stands, her heart skips a beat. All the ships refuse to sail and the sun hides behind the heavy clouds. There is only her with all the crashing waves.
Golden sun rays
When the sun rays meet the stands of her hair, they turn to gold. It makes the streets so quiet, so motionless regardless of the kids who filled the playground, regardless of the laughter coming from the busy old cafe.
Through the passing years
Childhood refuses to leave her hair. Every time she brushes her hair, she looks at the child she is in the mirror. She never grows up, she never changes.
Living for the sun and the moon
Her favorite thing is to listen to melodies while spacing out in the depth of the moon. Of corse, after laying under the warmth of the sun for endless hours.
Wing of a butterfly
The view inside of her is fireflies dancing and screaming with joy. A big head that is filled with hopes and fears.She cant form the right words to express her feelings so she gently carries the whole world inside of her.
Midnight
With her unbearable excitement and cup of hot coffee she sits for hours to watch the snowflakes building layers on top of another. Every thing was white except the street light. It was a masterpiece of art.
The mediums and tools used
As i mentioned before I only used a limit number of colors, in my palette there was Cadmium yellow , Cadmium Red and Phthalo Blue. I also =uses Titanium white to lighten any bright areas and Raw sienna in where i mixed it with blue to create a darker shades.
I worked using only two Flat brushes,a large one for mapping out the shapes and another fine one for blending and details.
All of the above artworks are acrylic on canvas with the size 24×18 cm.
Interested in owning one?
I am very excited to let you know that some of these original paintings are up for sale in my Shop. I made prints well that comes in A5 size, There is also a set of three prints, and am planning to add a collection of postcards later on. Check all the details and prices by clicking on the “shop” button in the header, or following the link: http://rimabbadi.tictail.com
Reading your thoughts is always something that makes me happy and id would love to hear your feedback about this series so feel free to leave a comment.
Love,
Rim