Month: February 2026

Anatomy of a Self Portrait

I’ve recently taken up watercolor painting. A couple of weeks ago I completed a self portrait which came out a bit clumsy looking, then executed a somewhat better portrait of an indulgent friend (thanks RK!). I decided to try portraying myself a second time, and this time to document my progress over the course of the 4 days, on and off, it took me. I hope you find it interesting.

Here’s the so-called reference I’ll be drawing from:

Reference photo
After several erased and redrawn heads, eyes, noses and lips, a sketch I’m happy with
I tape down the edges of the paper to an old cutting board and outline the parts I want to leave unpainted in yellow
I lay a thin wash of yellow on the face. First mistake: the brush was a little ‘dirty,’ as you can see.
I lay a thin diluted wash of red over the yellow. Feelings of despair. I seem to have a blotchy mess. Maybe all I’ve done is to ruin a promising pencil sketch.
I use small brushes to color the mouth, eyes, and whatever those little pink things at the corners of the eyes are called.
Always keeping an eye on the photo I add some reddish highlights to the face. Hmm, this guy is starting to look familiar.
Let’s add the shadows around the nose, and the sides of the face
Shading added around the eyes. Adds a scowl effect I didn’t intend.
Add shading under the nose and mouth. Also a thin watery glaze of the shadow color across the eyes so they’re less spectrally white
Using the end of a flat, pretty dry brush I dab on a beard
Add mustache and eyebrows the same way. Darken the upper lip a little. I definitely know this guy.
Add hair. Definitely looking less brutal.
Add throat. Used wet on wet wash. Worked unexpectedly well, I was able to sort of sculpt the shape of the throat with the wet paint. But I had dipped the brush in the wrong puddle. It looks like a color head on a black and white neck.
I glaze over the throat with a brown tone, looks a bit better
Used wet paper again to fill in the shirt. Came out pretty blotchy. Can I be honest? I’m pleased with the result so far but I’m getting a little tired of this project.
Add a little collar detail, t shirt collar, and shadow on the shoulders.
Add a background, a wet wash of cerulean fading away from top left to bottom right. You know what, I think I’m done.
Peel off the tape and sign and date. What do you think? I believe I’ve actually improved on the original. A low bar, I know!

Read the New Translation of Luigi Pirandello’s short story “Ignare” / “Oblivious”

I’ve been lucky enough to be one of the translators participating in the Pirandello Society of America’s ambitious project to eventually provide English versions of every one of the 300 or so short stories written by the master. The latest one from me is a translation of Pirandello’s grim account of the aftermath of a barbaric assault on a Catholic mission, “Ignare,” or, “Oblivious.” (“Ignare” literally means the ignorant, unknowing, unaware, naïve, or oblivious ones.) You can read it here. Enjoy.

While you’re there I encourage you to check out other stories by Pirandello, translated by me as well as others. It is truly a labor of love on all our parts.

My thanks to Lisa Sarti and Michael Subialka of the PSA for driving this project and for their attention to and suggestions for my translation, and to their reader Nicole Trigg for her suggestions and corrections as well, and also to the Pirandello scholar Daniela Bini for her reading and suggestions.