Self Portrait


This is a self portrait that I drew about a week ago. It was the first one I had done in almost two years. The drawing is in pen, in my 8 1/2"x 11" sketchbook. I wanted to think about where I am now, and to engage and energize that thought process through making a drawing.

Now I am painting in a small studio space. Thinking about what I might do next, as I work on a large painting that is due in two weeks.

The drawing reminds me of a self portrait that I drew years ago, in my freshman year of college, thirty four years ago. Both images have a dark background, with a close-up view of the head. A few angular, impatient marks that are trying to find the shape of my glasses, on the right side of the drawing, remind me of marks I made in that past drawing, trying to draw the similarly shaped but larger wire framed glasses that I wore then.

That drawing I made in college was in pencil, in my 18"x 24" sketch pad. At 18 years old I was full of thoughts, feelings, and a sense of excitement. The head was way over life size, something I did then. But it was realistic in form, with dramatic light and shade.

Today I almost always choose to draw heads at life size, or a little under. Strong thoughts and feelings are still central to my work, but I welcome the external or rational check that awareness of actual scale provides.


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