Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Self Portraits

As you can obviously tell from my previous few blogposts, the past couple of weeks have been a time of definite introspection for me. I think it's good to occasionally step back and re-assess how we're spending our time, if those things are helping or hindering in terms of reaching our creative goals, and if our relationships are uplifting and inspiring. A lot of that takes a good, honest looking-inward.

A lot of my sketchbook is pretty personal stuff, and I feel like everytime I draw something "just to draw", it ends up being sort of a self-portrait of how I'm feeling, what I'm going through in my life (good or bad), and a recollection of my emotions. I really, really believe in self portraits. A lot of people will plunk down the vain card and just write it off as "myspace photos", but I think self portraits are an incredibly important way to document the different phases of our lives. It will be something we absolutely value when we are older.

I don't know about you other artists out there, but when I look at an old painting I've done, I can still remember what movie I was watching, what music I was listening to, and every emotion and reason for painting it.

Untitled, Self Portrait - Composite photos and drawings
© Erin McManness 2012

Do you take/draw/create self portraits?
Link me up! I wanna see it!

6 comments:

  1. I love this even though I think it's a bit different from your usual style. The different media look really good together :)
    As for self-portraits, I take them all the time (I enjoy photography more than drawing, probably because I'm better at it haha) and I don't think that it's about vanity, but rather about self-growth.
    And since you asked so nicely...:)
    http://www.behance.net/gallery/Black-and-white-self-portraits/4799109

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  2. What a fun way to do a self portrait!
    I used to take a lot more photos, but for some reason I've noticed I don't take near as many anymore. I'm going to make a conscience effort to take my camera with me more often!

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  3. The only self portraits I ever take are to document outfits for blog posts. But interestingly, I can usually remember what I was doing or where I was going that day. I guess it's kind of like a diary without words.

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  4. It's beautiful! Stopping by from blogging buddies.
    Thanks
    Angie
    godsgrowinggarden.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. Interesting thoughts on self portraits. Beautiful composite you've created. If I was able to draw (which I really can't), I probably would never think to do a self portrait. I don't know why...But you've given me some insight. Thanks for the post!
    ~Kim
    from Blogging Buddies
    http://2justByou.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete

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