Enjoy this collection of fascinating and intimate portraits by oil painter Sameer Sharma. Visit his website to see more of his portfolio.
![self-portrait in oil by Shameer Sharma](https://www.artsyshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/A-Patient-Wolf.jpeg)
“A Patient Wolf” (Self-Portrait) oil on canvas, 36″ x 36″
For me, painting is an act of surrender to both the process and the product. It is a continuous letting go of what I think I see to observe and feel with pure awareness.
![oil painting of a man reaching out by Shameer Sharma](https://www.artsyshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Wound-of-Light.jpg)
“Wound of Light” (Self-Portrait) oil on canvas, 24″ x 30″
My process is guided by the idea often attributed to the French poet and philosopher, Paul Valery who said, “To see is to forget the name of thing one sees.”
![oil painting of a woman and dog sleeping by Shameer Sharma](https://www.artsyshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Shannon-and-Louie.jpeg)
“Shannon and Louie” oil on canvas, 16″ x 20″
This forgetting allows me to perceive what was previously hidden from sight. Shapes, colors, and brush marks emerge from a subconscious, visceral level that is free from the rational mind’s critique.
![oil painting portrait of a woman by Shameer Sharma](https://www.artsyshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Andrea-e1703111988708.jpeg)
“Andrea” oil on canvas board, 9″ x 12″
Yet this fluid, instinctive process is contained within the frameworks of classical painting techniques and principles I’ve learned from my formal training as a representational painter.
![self-portrait in oil by Shameer Sharma](https://www.artsyshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Atonement.jpeg)
“Atonement” (Self-Portrait) oil on canvas, 24″ x 36″
Loose, expressive brushwork sits atop a scaffolding of accurate drawing. I choose colors based more on their emotive quality than their accuracy to the subject.
![portrait of a man in oil by Shameer Sharma](https://www.artsyshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/The-Empty-Cup.jpeg)
“The Empty Cup” oil on canvas, 8″ x 10″
I’ve always loved painting figures and portraits. Capturing someone’s likeness is one of the most satisfying challenges for me. Expressing an emotion through the subtlest turn of a lip or the strength and determination in a clenched fist requires me to see both the form and the feeling that it evokes.
![emotive self-portrait by Shameer Sharma](https://www.artsyshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/A-Gift-of-Darkness.jpeg)
“A Gift of Darkness” (Self-Portrait) oil on canvas, 18″ x 24″
This is the yin and yang, the balance of oppositional forces, that I try to find in my work. It also extends to the ideas that inspire me. As a practitioner of the martial arts and student of eastern philosophy, the concepts of impermanence, emptiness and Wabi-Sabi (the beauty in imperfection) influence both my choice of subject as well as my painting process.
![self-portrait as a clown by Shameer Sharma](https://www.artsyshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/The-Illusion-of-Both-Selves-e1703112360364.jpeg)
“Illusion of Both Selves” (Self-Portrait) oil on canvas, 24″ x 30″
Ultimately, every painting becomes a reflection. If I’ve been true to myself and my process, then the painting paints itself. If I can lose myself in the first brush mark, I can find myself again in the last one.
Speak Your Mind