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| Me, On a "Fine Soft Day" |
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| Me, My Pretty |
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| Me, Right Profile |
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| Me, With Glasses |
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| Me, Left Profile |
I've been busy continuing to work on my 30 days of self-portrait sketches. To keep it interesting, I've been challenging myself by choosing poses and situations that are different. In this batch of drawings, I thought about different ways to see me that just head-on. So in
Me, On a Fine Soft Day, I painted myself at a distance, hiding my face under an orange umbrella on a gray and damp day. In
Me, My Pretty, I thought it might be fun to play with perspective (and give myself an opportunity to draw hands in perspective. I was thinking me as a Brobdignagian (from
Gulliver's Travels), but what I got seems to me to be closer to the wicked witch in the
Wizard of Oz -- maybe I was unconsciously inspired by the fact that this is the month of Halloween.
The final three sketches are normal portrait type of sketches, but they capture me from a different angle than most photos of me do: specifically from the side or with my glasses on. I normally wear contacts instead of glasses, so most people don't see me in my glasses unless they are overnight guests at our home, or I'm sick or have a problem with me contacts. Me, With my Glasses is that view, and while I like the sketch as a sketch, I have to admit it's me minus 15 pounds and years. I was feeling a little guilty about that, and maybe that's why another sketch I like, Me, Left Profile, ended up (I think) adding pounds and years to my normal look.
Doing this 30 day personal challenge has been good for me in a number of ways. First, it is challenging me creatively. Second, it's helping me hone my drawing skills. Third, it's an exercise in self-honesty. What I mean is that normally when I look in the mirror, I see myself as younger that I am, but working to draw what I see (no matter how successful that effort is) forces me to look at me so much more closely -- which is useful, but illusion-shattering. Speaking of creativity. I'd love to hear any of your suggestions for poses.
When I think of you, you're always with someone or doing something. It seems like at some point you're going to have to do a sketch of you sketching yourself, yes? And perhaps you as a face in a crowd, or in the act of talking to someone else?
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