All artists know that the most convenient model you have is yourself. In high school I actually got in trouble for drawing myself too often. Every day I would plop down and start a new self-portrait. Not too much planning was involved, I would usually put the mirror in my lap, stare down at it and start drawing. I haven't done too many self-portraits since high school...actually I'm fairly certain that these two that I did today and yesterday were the first I've done from life since high school.
Drawing yourself is a pretty strange experience. I'm probably not going to describe this well enough for you to understand, but I'll try. It's almost as if your mind separates itself from your body. When I'm drawing or painting I kind of go into a floaty state in which sense of time disappears and I become wholly unaware of everything except the figure and my drawing. So when I'm doing a self-portrait, weirdly enough I find myself forgetting that I'm drawing me. I guess at a deep level I always know that it's me but when I'm lost in my drawing I do forget.
Today I reached out a pencil to measure the angle of my hairline and was initially surprised to see the pencil appear in the mirror...I guess I'd forgotten that there was a mirror there. And when the direction and tilt of the face that I was drawing changed I initially got frustrated at the model..and then realized that it was me. I wonder if every artist experiences this disconnect or if it's just me.Here are the two recent portraits:
meh..I guess the black and white looks the most like me (even though, as my Dad said, it also looks sort of like an Indian chief) but I really like the color one a lot better. Strangely it doesn't look anything like me.
3 comments:
E!!!!!
Please forgive me for not commenting earlier. First, I love your art, almost as much as I love the title of your blog*. That color portrait SO looks like you. You should do more entries like this where you include works from different stages in your artistic career; it's interesting to see the evolution.
You know that quote that goes something like, "Writing about art is like dancing about architecture"? Well, it's a fine quote, but I don't think it's quite fair. There are some really good interpretive dancers out there. And I find your art musings extremely interesting. Back when I did art, my AP concentration ended up being portraits because I did so many of them--many of them of myself. I think it's natural to be fascinated by the human face (we're programmed to see them everywhere, even where they're not). I can't remember if I experienced the disconnect you're talking about when drawing myself. Maybe that's because I'm so used to staring at myself in the mirror for longer than I should probably admit, making strange faces at myself. The pen in the mirror thing is hilarious, as is not recognizing yourself for a moment. I guess that just reflects (!) how absorbed in your work you get. Which is awesome! It definitely pays off.
How was the portfolio review, by the way?
I forgot to add the footnote:
*Don't take the "almost" as less-than-extravagant praise for your art. It's just that if the title of your blog was a person, I would marry him (or her). And if he (or she) rejected me, I would spiral into a horrible depression.
Thanks D! I also like the idea of showing progression in artwork. I've been taking pictures of my RISD bike drawing as I've been doing it so that when I'm finally done I'll post a series of photos to show the drawing's evolution. I'm hoping to be done soon.
The portfolio review was fantastic!!! I got lots of helpful criticism. The RISD guy tore apart my drawings. The only one he was satisfied with was Blur.
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