As a kid I loved to draw, and I wasn't half bad at it either. I haven't drawn anything in years now, but I thought if I took my time I could probably do a pretty good job on a self portrait. At least well enough that you all would be impressed and surprised. I thought I would do my portrait in charcoal because it would be one of the easier mediums to work in, and probably one of the more forgiving as well.
I have never been able to close my eyes and draw an image from my head. I need a picture in front of me to "copy" in order for anything to turn out well. Because of this, I had the genius idea to take a picture of myself, print it out and then draw it in charcoal. I waited until Kevin was out of town, and had a solo photo shoot which took over an hour. As it turns out, photographing yourself while amusing, is also quite difficult. After over 80 photos had been taken, I finally got the one I was hoping for.
Weeks have gone by since I took the photograph, and today I thought "Oh NO, I have to draw this picture tonight, when will I find the time." And then it hit me, photography is a medium itself. I've already made a self portrait, I took the picture! Below is the finished product and I'm really happy with how it came out. To the casual observer this is just a picture of a girl, but there is so much in it that represents me in my twenties. For a lot of my twenties I was a shy girl, that kept most of her thoughts to herself. I spent a lot of time observing the world, while trying to keep the world from observing me. I'm wearing a ring that has huge sentimental value to me, but that is now part of a past I'm able to let go of. And I couldn't be wearing anything other than camoflauge as a salute to my best friends in Richmond that taught me so much about who I am. I am so proud of this girl, and so excited for the path that she is on. I can't wait to look back on the eve of my 40th birthday and describe who I was in my 30s.
28 down; 2 to go
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