Self Portrait

 

Oil on hardboard.  Self portrait.  My wife has always been after me to get myself in one of my paintings.  I got the urge to do the self-portrait just to express my feelings about the mystery muscle ailment which has changed my life, from being active, to being sedentary.  As I've said elsewhere, its a great consolation to be able to paint.  But I also spend on lot of time on the computer, as an engineer, and as a photographer.  This scene is my at my home study.   One day I just set my camera on the desk, on delay timing, because this was the scene I'd decided upon for the painting, my back to the outside, focused on the world inside.  It worked out pretty well I think.  I especially liked the curtains to the left and their reflection off the glass of the antique book shelf.  And the face does look like me if I do say myself, except the mouth is a little off here in this older photo but fixed on the painting.  You can see the awards behind me that I racked up in my one season of serious running, at age 47, before the ailment hit.