I paint self portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best.
Frida Kahlo

Long time gone from the blog page, but my schedule has been so busy lately that it’s been tough to grab the time. I’ve been busy working on a new version of Gulliver’s Travels and illustrations for a Harvard Magazine article along with some design work, (I’ll be posting a sample of the Harvard Magazine art soon). But I did have a chance today to try out a new app for the ipod touch called Brushes. It’s one of a number of painting programs designed to be used with Apple’s ipod touch/iphone line up. The Brushes name may ring a bell since the tech news has been showcasing artist Jorge Colombo’s use of the program to create the cover art for The New Yorker. You can read more about it in a blog post on TUAW.

A big part of Brushes appeal to me was its ability to export the paintings you create to your computer in either of two flavors: a higher res version, that can be further manipulated in a program like Painter or Photoshop, or as a Quicktime format file that plays back the entire painting process. Very cool feature that you can see in action by clicking on the painting above. I hope to write up a full review of the program in a future post but in the few minutes I’ve had to play with the program I can see its value as a super mobile color sketchbook.

The color self portrait sketch here was my first attempt at using Brushes, although setting for the sketch was just the same as the first two drawings, sitting at my studio drawing table and staring into a small round shaving mirror that I keep around to reverse check my work. The mirror’s frame can be glimpsed in the first two drawings, (done with a Bic Ultra ballpoint pen- a favorite tool), in a couple of different sketchbooks. There’s a long history of artists painting their own portraits. I always figured it’s because we’re cheap and available and for the most part don’t complain about the time spent posing.