Self-portrait

This portrait is painted in the style of pointillism. This is my favorite style. When I feel that this technique is suitable for a particular piece of work, I resort to it.

I am interested in portraits that reveal all the complexity and versatility of a person’s spiritual appearance, when the inner content is revealed through the external.
Painting a portrait on canvas is a difficult, exciting, but very interesting activity! My experience in painting is huge – more than 50 years, during this time I have painted hundreds, if not thousands of portraits.
While creating the portrait, I study the person’s face to the smallest detail and try to fully understand it.
By the end of the session, I have learned a lot about my hero, get an idea of ​​his character, what he likes and what he does not consider close; why did the wrinkles appear on his face, what hard reflections caused a deep line on the bridge of his nose …
A portrait for me is a book. An interesting book to read! And with each smear page, with each stroke of the brush, you open up new horizons in the knowledge of man!
As a child, I started painting self-portraits. Even then I wondered: what will I myself be like in ten, twenty or fifty years? Will the years I have lived with their joys and sorrows reflect on me, how it will look on the canvas, is it necessary to hide the truth or is it better to embellish it?
I remember Rembrandt’s self-portraits; as a child, they impressed me greatly. When he portrayed himself in his youth, these were cheerful pictures. Then came a period of maturity: the master was captured with a glass in his hand, and his beloved wife Saskia sat on his lap … It was great, nothing foreshadowed the subsequent collapse … But now – a self-portrait in old age, which depicts a man whose tragedy of loneliness is obvious …
I have already accumulated a whole series of self-portraits, from my youth to the present day. While my craving for creativity and natural optimism do not allow, do not give me a reason to write with a tragic bias. I turn on my favorite music and paint pictures with great dedication and passion.
Every day I try to create life-affirming pictures, filled with gratitude to every moment, admiration for the beauty of the world around us and love for people. I hope that my viewer feels this mood.