Self Portrait: A Process

I'm FINALLY breaking in my 'Art & Design' page -- four years after creating this blog! Fun fact - did you know I have an art account on IG? Follow me at @artbydivya to see more cool stuff like this. I didn't plan this post at all...it just serendipitously worked out. It's been a long time since I focused and make some art. Yesterday was quite anxiety inducing for a variety of reasons, including the fact that I had a coffee at 9am (I do not drink coffee because I am super sensitive to caffeine) so I had a lot of excess jitters and energy. I got home and decided to channel it into art. I've had a vision for a portrait in my mind for a while, but didn't consider doing a self-portrait until I actually set up my materials at 9pm last night. I decided I would do the portrait in color pencil, and the background would be a mix of chalk pastels and oil pastels to create the effects I wanted. This all-nighter took me back to my college days as an art student - often toiling away through the night in the lonely studios of Krober Hall at UC Berkeley. I remember the lights would automatically turn off (which I learned the hard way during one 3am session) and I'd have to jump away from my easel and wave my arms frantically to trigger the motion sensor, splattering paint everywhere. Good times. But yeah, thanks to that 9am coffee on Wednesday + general excitement whenever I start a project I am excited about, I was able to stay up all night and finish the portrait. I'm probably rambling, because it's now 6:30am and I am crashing...anyway. I thought some of you may like seeing what my process is. Check out the captions in the images below to see how I get from initial concept to a finished piece.

That's all I've got folks! Hope you learned something from this. If so, let me know in the comments and share your art with someone (or me!).