Deane, Self-portrait about 1970 – 1971
The exact date is uncertain but we know he started growing a mustache at around 1969. It first hung on a wooden privacy screen in my parent’s bedroom for many years, then came out and was hung above the floor furnace. It replaced the location of Anne, nude (!) I really hope to find an image of that one!
You can imagine that Deane’s portrait was just low enough to attract sticky fingers and pencil marks. And just three weeks before I got this from Kelsey to restore, it managed to attract a red marker (you can see that by scrolling all the way down)! Jill took a deep breath and painted over the white and the solid colors in Summer 2021 (this is twenty-one years after Deane’s death). It came out pretty good. Maybe because it is not varnished!! Will it need another restoration in fifty years? Well, I won’t be around to do it!
Did you happen to catch the scene in the crook of his arm? There is debate on who that could be. Some siblings say Gina, some believe just a random girl running through the roses 😀 .
Kelsey took Deane’s self-portrait out of the Ingraham house after the 2012 fire, among other paintings. It was in a bluish-gray frame, lower profile, much lighter. I wouldn’t be surprised if he made the frame. There was no frame shop label. The painting is on thin masonite fiber board, rough on one side, smooth on the other. It is very light for being so large ( 29 1/2″ x 48″) . In the image to the right you can see the back of the frame is charred. I regret not getting a close up of the front side of the original frame.
But now, since the old frame was not very usable, I bought the first frame that would work – a large, returned frame with scrollwork that was discounted by almost 90%. I got it for $41 from Hobby Lobby so I thought that was a steal! The frame is not an exact fit, about 3″ too wide and 1 1/4″ too tall. So I glued the original painting to a thin hardboard using Liquid Nails; this also helped the painting from bowing!
The black line is NOT shadow. It is the thin hardboard painted black that was glued to the back of the masonite board the self portrait is painted on. The strip of tan is the part of the frame that creates a shadow box look; it is set back from the scroll-front about 1 1/2″. And now, this painting with board attached to the back and the frame is a whopping thirty-two plus pounds!
IngrahamTulsaArtist 