I was thinking about “issues” I have that might be addressed in a painting. I  realize that my biggest issue always boils down to “me”. I’m the issue. The mere fact that I chose to be an artist is something I ponder, but that is long story for another time.

a multi-figured self-portrait of Susan Krieg in the process of painting.
A multi-figured self-portrait of Susan Krieg. Mixed media on stretched canvas 30″ x 30″.

I asked Robert (my husband) to take a couple photographs of me at my easel. I posed with brush in hand and freely moved into postures that came naturally. I wasn’t thinking about the mirror that I keep behind my easel. My initial intent was to use just the back of me in the process of painting as reference material. I intended to create a painting of someone (not me) in the process of creating art. When I uploaded the images I realized that this huge range of emotion, doubled and tripled by the mirror, embodied my process of painting. The outcome was a multi-figured self-portrait of me facing my issues as an aging artist, aka A Work In Progress.

Here’s the good part. I painted this portrait in August/September 2018. Unbeknown to me at the time was an upcoming Self Portrait show in the Art League Gallery at the Torpedo Factory.  In spite of the torture of rejection, and with a tiny glimmer of hope for acceptance, I entered the painting and it was accepted. Seeing it right in the doorway to the gallery was a welcomed happy surprise.

The opening reception is Thursday October 11, 2018 at 6:30 at the Torpedo Factory. If you live in or near Alexandria I hope you’ll come.