Portrait of Prof. Jāzeps Vītols goes home

Professor J.Vitols established the first Latvian Conservatory of Music, which was later renamed the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music in his honor, and he ran the composition classes there between 1919 and 1944.

J. Vītols loved to spend his summer holidays in Gaujiena- a small, picturesque village where my parents reside. Gaujiena also hosts a yearly music festival known as J.Vītola music days- this is one of the biggest events in the local calendar:) So we used to hear about him. 

Portrait of Prof.J.Vitols has been presented as a present to Jazeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music on 18th June, 2014 by my father:) So proud of myself:)

Painting a self portrait

Up to now I have always used a reference photo when painting a portrait, so I decided to move on to the next level and try painting from live. Every artists best model is the artist itself:) I guess we all have tried to paint/ draw a selfie:)


Here is mine:) oil on canvas, size A4, spent about 2 hours on this project in total.

Selfie in oil