Self Portrait

Self Portrait, Oils on Board, ~2004

This is my self portrait. I painted in oils during... maybe my Freshman year of college, I'm guessing around Spring 2004. I remember the pain of having to do a self-portrait. Dreading it, really, and making the professor take several pictures of me before I could find one I liked, or at least could tolerate. Seems silly now. This is the logical first post in an art blog- to start at the most basic level. A simple image of who you are. Or were, in this case. I'm no longer 19, I'm no longer blonde, and I no longer have SUCH low self-esteem that I cannot stand to stare at my own image for a few hours for a painting. But who you were is a stone in the path of who you are and who you will become. That sounded pretty hokey. This blog is meant to show you (whoever you ends up being) the PROCESS, not so much the result. I'll have a separate website for the result- the polished, portfolio-worthy stuff. This will be a journal of sorts- to show you art to do for fun; art that is about MAKING art, not just having something pretty to put up on your wall. I hate categorizing art as "good" or "bad"- it's so polarizing, and it distances art-making from people who don't consider themselves "artists" (to be said in the snobbiest tone possible). I prefer to categorize them as either something you would like to put up on your wall or something that you enjoyed making. Something that turned out the way you hoped it did or something that turned out unexpectedly. I'm also a therapist, so no doubt that will be part of it- art as therapy. I hope this blog is inspiring, revealing, and connecting. Welcome.