new 100 portraits project (2017)

This time I`m following another love of mine; photography.  Black and white film, no filters, no touch-ups. 100 personalities in black and white. Come check it out at my new blog site, scotthamiltonart.com and let me know what you think!

Cheers,

S.

See My Better Side

“When you know yourself you are empowered. When you accept yourself you are invincible.”  ~Tina Lifford

See My Better Side 22″ x 28″ wood, paint, stain and varnish Scott Hamilton 2015

The phrase, “put your best face forward,” is presented quite literally in this piece, along with as much varied meaning the viewer takes from it. A continuation of my journey of getting away from literal translations in realism.

See My Better Side

See My Better Side

See My Better Side

See My Better Side

I have recently found a lot of peace in the notion of accepting myself for who I am, rather than who I want to be or think I should be. The unfinished side of the face is a reflection of how we are all a work in progress; the expectation to be perfect, (either in our own eyes or in the view of others,) only leads to the damaging of self worth.

Stats vary, but at least one million selfies are posted every day. What drives this phenomenon? How do you want to be seen?

~Love yourself, (because you are worthy!) just the way you are.~

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Deep roots; face imprinting

I believe the human face holds more mystery and intrigue and imprints the heart and mind more powerfully than any other singular image. I am excited to embark on another study of this subject through a series of monoprints, formed by carving and inking 3-dimensional faces and printing them on a variety of surfaces and backgrounds. After first printing, I am delighted to find that this method produces some unpredictable yet totemic images; I cannot help but feel drawn in a deep way (I’m not a psychologist but I suspect due to the instinctual imprinting that remains with us since infancy), and look forward to beginning a new series of works exploring the subject.

I find the paper prints somewhat reminiscent of Rorschach test images and the canvas prints not dissimilar to an ancient burial shroud left with impressions of the long dead.

No two prints are the same. Let me know what you think…

head #1, ink on paper

head #1, ink on canvas

head #1, carved printing block

 

For interest, here is a National Science Foundation report on the psychology of the image of the human face.  http://www.face-and-emotion.com/dataface/nsfrept/psychology.html

Thanks for watching!

artboy68

new painting, different direction

Ok so I lied, this is nothing like what I said I was going to do but hey- I should just keep my mouth shut more often…

‘the walls before me’
acrylic & ink on panel
10″ x 13-1/4″
artboy68 2013

This was really fun for me, a welcome departure from the realism, which I do so wrestle with at times.

edge detail

If you like it, let me know!  Thanks,

artboy68

new painting: “Porcine Man”

“Porcine Man”, acrylic on paper, 18 1/2″ x 22″

You may recognize this as a drawing I posted last year;  I’ve also taken the liberty of renaming it. (Hey it’s my picture and I can do whatever I want with it…)  Really though, this was a great way for me to get the brushes out without having to think too much- just what I needed to kick off a new year.

Enjoyed the process, feel free to leave your honest opinion!

Thanks,

artboy68

portrait #3: “muzzle”

“Muzzle”, 15″ x 15″, black carbon & colored pencil

Portrayed here is my alter-ego; the woodworker- my daytime persona.

I’m thankful for having work, but one day I would really like to hang up the mask and reveal my true identity.

Cheers,

artboy68

portrait #2: “I AM MY OWN WORST ENEMY”

“I AM MY OWN WORST ENEMY”, carbon transfer on paper, 15″ x 18″

Duality. Mental make-up. The shadow we visit in the mirror when we forget who we are.

Some days the sky is so blue you can taste it; others the air can press on your chest so hard you cannot breathe…

One day is a success. The next, a failure.

Human nature.

This is a private showing of artboy68 one and a half. This dual image unnerves me; combined from two separate photographs, the me under that face is actually smiling.

Can anyone relate?

cheers,

artboy68

“I AM MY OWN WORST ENEMY”, detail

“Lament for a girl”

So I feel the need to write a bit about this one.

There are all kinds of celebrity portraits out there, understandably I guess. I’ve told myself that I would not do this, as I believe that in our own way, everyone is a celebrity, and no one person is more special than another. However, I recently read for the first time a brief biography of Marilyn Monroe and was greatly saddened by her tragic story. It got me thinking about a piece of film negative that I have with Marilyn’s image on it, which I found during a house demolition under a window sill. (There were also newspapers from the 40’s in the walls.) I believe it to be a ‘copy’ negative of Milton H. Greene’s iconic photo of Marilyn.

The butterfly is a Great Mormon, (Latin: Papilio memnon).  It is a species labeled as polymorphic, which means (simply put) that they can appear with different markings depending on their environment.

Symbolically, the butterfly shown here is a male, the intent being to show her oppression.

Feel free to comment,

artboy68

"Lament for a girl", carbon transfer on paper, image size 16" x 20"

"Lament for a girl" detail

“Hello, darling”

Number three in the series The Portrait Within is “Hello, darling”. Open for comments.

"Hello, darling", carbon transfer on paper, 16" x 20"

detail

Thanks,

artboy68

All the way from Scotland

Straight from the heart of Scotland, home of my ancestors, came a wonderful package of all things Scottish. I saw on HelenMcClory’s  blog, Schietree, (Helen was portrait number 81 of my 100 Portraits project), that she was giving a collection of photos (including an awesome photo book of her own and an amazing little book about the islands surrounding Scotland, one of which I discovered was a stronghold of my own family from the 16th century), a couple of very cool postcards from early 1900’s and some wonderful woolly photos of those Scottish sheep, which I also discovered do not form a solid wool carpet across the entire country. I just had to enter my name, an lo and behold the lords of the clan held up for me; I received this in the mail soon after.

Thank you so much Helen! Glad we ran into each other!

artboy68