The Many Reasons for a Self-Portrait

Hello. If anyone is familiar with my art, you'll know I do a lot of self-portraits. Sometimes I get comments like "oh, do you paint anyone else?" or questions about why I paint myself so much. The reasons aren't vain, and it's not that I don't trust myself to be able to render another person faithfully; there are other reasons than that.

I recently Stumbled Natsumi Hayashi's self-portraits, seen here on My Modern Met. Her personal website is here, with text in Japanese.

I really love all of these shots. They remove you from reality, and add an element of the peculiar to everyday life scenes. I don't think it would have the same effect if it were photographs of models, or a different person in every shot. These photos read like a diary; the normal everyday life of a woman who happens to be able to levitate. Aside from the obvious charm, you get a glimpse into her personality and it leaves you wondering more about her.

When I paint myself, it's never really to show a new side of myself, or to have the viewer get to know me better. It's hard to describe, but what I really want to do is create a context that the viewer can place themselves in. I use myself as a constant. We are all a bit self-indulgent and self-centered, especially in the culture of the present, and there really is no easier context to digest the world than the eyes of oneself. So, in a way, when I paint myself, it's not to show you what I see, it's a way to show you what you see.

If you couldn't tell, I'm not much of an artist with words. Hope that made sense and hope this little ramble finds you well. I'll send you off with a few pictures of me and Malcolm. He's actually my boyfriend Keith's dog but I'm taking care of him right now (quite happily, I might add.)

Mini-Golf and Relaxation

Today was one of those days where I sat down to work on my painting, and just wasn't getting anywhere, so it was pretty clear it was time to go out and have some fun.



I've been struggling with the face, and just keep painting over it. Painting while frustrated isn't really productive, in fact it's the easiest way to ruin a piece. I kept thinking "this sucks. I need to paint over the whole thing with a new idea," but if I did that, I'd lose weeks of work, and I don't honestly want to let go of my concept.

What to do in that situation? Mini-golfing? Uh.. sure! It was one of those impulses that you usually wouldn't act on, but it ended up being a lot of fun.



This course is an underwater themed, and it's all dark and blacklight with neon colors, like the bottom of the ocean (I assume). A little corny, sure, but it was fun, especially when you're terrible AND competitive!





Par for each hole was 3. Par for the course was 54.

What was this star's score? 94!

Afterward, we headed to one of my favorite diners that I've been going to since I was a kid. Of course, I loved it so much because you can draw on the tablecloth.

I drew Keith.



Keith drew the guy behind the counter.










Hope you're doing well! Thanks for reading.

Seahorses and Hungry Purses

Went off to YAC today!
The art show is coming up, so I have to make sure I have enough pieces to display. Right now I have a few paintings and a drawing, along with a few prints, but I wanted some more.


This is Keith. He painted a bit too.

I decided I wanted to do a bit of drawing, so I chose to draw some seahorses.
As you can see by the painting behind me, seahorses are a bit of a motif right now. I have to finish that painting in the next two weeks! Ahh!


I was going to do some progress pictures, but I really only took the one.
I found this great green paper, and decided to use oil pastels. My favorite are Sennelier, but Portfolio and Sakura work great, too. If I had an extra $400, I'd go and get a big case of Senneliers for sure.




Then, I got to framing. I think the large seahorse really works well with the purple mat board! It brought out the colors really well.


I like how the texture on the red seahorse's frame looks like a real seahorse! I saw the frame and knew it was the one.


On an unrelated note, LOOK, MY PURSE HAS A FACE!




"FEED ME GRATUITOUS AMOUNTS OF LIP PRODUCT"


Why do I have so many lip things in my purse? I don't think there could be a sufficient answer. The worst part? This is a brand new purse, so this is about a one-week buildup of lip stuff. Give me a couple more months and I'll have a beauty store in there.

Have a good one, and thank you for reading if you made it this far!

Brand New Blog!

I've decided to start a personal blog, just a space to post any random ramble or topic that comes to mind. Whether it's a recipe I've tried, a sketch I've done, or some silly thing from the internet I want to share, it will go here.
Hopefully sitting down and writing a few lines every couple days will inspire me in the other aspects of my life as well. Who knows? Maybe I'll find out something about myself by publishing this little blog.
Now, I don't expect anyone to read this, beyond maybe my mom, but I'll write it as if I have an audience to keep myself from going TMI. Don't want anything fishy to show up if someone Googles me, right?

Well, if you've read this, thank you! I won't abandon you like those geocities pages from middle school (that are thankfully destroyed)!

I leave you with my favorite post of the moment, a photography project where a man shot his Grandmother in amazing superhero situations!
See here on My Modern Met!