In this small, vertical self-portrait painting, we confront a tightly cropped face that fills almost the entire panel. A young woman looks straight out at us, her pale, cool-toned skin built from heavy, ridged layers of pinks, whites and greys. Dark, glassy eyes sit in smeared sockets. From each, black tears of pigment seep down her cheeks like running mascara, catching on an uneven paint surface. Her nose and mouth are rubbed raw in hot rose tones, suggesting chapped skin or recent crying. Her lips are softly closed, neither smiling nor frowning, and strands of dark hair frame the face against a deep brown backdrop. The neck dissolves into rough brushwork at the bottom edge, giving the impression that the woman is emerging from, or sinking back into, the paint itself. The impasto is so thick that the surface reads almost like scarred skin, inviting touch as much as sight. Lisa Stokes is a British painter based in Plymouth, England whose work often mines memories of childhood, family, and loss. This self-portrait distils those themes into a single, confrontational image. Trained in graphic design and medical illustration, and later apprenticed to the painter Robert Lenkiewicz, she brings an anatomical precision to the placement of features even as she lets the paint break down into crusts, drips, and smears. The combination of oil and graphite adds grit and darkness around the eyes, intensifying the sense of insomnia, grief, or exhaustion. Painted in 2013, when the artist was exhibiting emotionally charged self-portraits in major portrait prizes, this tiny canvas feels like a private counter-image as there is no costume or clown mask here, only the bare face of Stokes registering her own vulnerability. Within the Ruth Borchard Collection’s long tradition of British and Irish self-portraiture, Stokes’s work brings a contemporary, psychologically charged voice that speaks quietly, but insistently about sadness, resilience, and the work of holding oneself together.

“Self-Portrait” by Lisa Stokes (British) - Oil and graphite on canvas / 2013 - Ruth Borchard Collection (London, UK) #WomenInArt #LisaStokes #Stokes #SelfPortrait #artText #art #emotion #ContemporaryArt #WomensArt #WomanArtist #WomenArtists #BlueskyArt #ArtoftheDay #bskyart #RuthBorchardCollection

This self-portrait shows a light-skinned young woman seated indoors against a softly muted interior background. She gazes quietly outward, yet avoids our gaze. Her features are soft in warm tones, with cheekbones and a straight nose defined through subtle light and shadow. Under a large brown hat, her wavy auburn hair frames her face without drawing attention. She wears a plain, cream-colored dress with long flared lace sleeves and a black boa draped around her neck and side held in place with her right hand to expose a small wristwatch. Compositionally balanced, the artist’s face is centered and illuminated against the gently textured backdrop. The overall mood is calm, introspective, and quietly confident, as if the artist is considering her own reflection with a steady yet gentle gaze. English artist Lucinda Louise Mackay’s 1971 self portrait was painted at a time when Women’s Liberation was beginning to make a mark. She portrays herself as a somewhat alternatively fashion-conscious young woman of her time. Her long, casually dishevelled hair is complemented by the sensuously shaggy feather boa. The brushwork evokes gradations of grey and black as the boa variously catches the light. The pale features are painted immaculately as to appear initially like those of an antique porcelain doll, although there is nothing remotely doll-like in the artist’s still, self-assertive look. The prominent watch on her upraised right wrist may act as some kind of memento mori, marking the passage of time, passing of youth. Curiously, the colors Mackay wears are traditional, archetypal western colors of the wedding dress and of mourning. Mackay, raised in Scotland and trained at Edinburgh College of Art, uses controlled brushwork and measured tonal shifts to anticipate poised realism. The canvas doubles as personal record and cultural document: a young woman artist looking steadily at a collecting system learning to see her.

Self Portrait by Lucinda Louise Mackay (English) - Oil on canvas / 1971 - Ruth Borchard Collection (London, England) #WomenInArt #artText #WomanArtist #art #LucindaLouiseMackay #artwork #WomensArt #Mackay #PortraitofaWoman #EnglishArtist #LucindaMackay #bskyart #RuthBorchardCollection #RuthBorchard