Self-portrait
I started out typing “I’m no artist.” I’ve been saying that for as long as I can remember. I’m trying to unlearn it.
I have this crazy idea that where I’m really blocked is as an artist, and if I can unblock there, I’ll unblock in my writing.
So I’ve been playing with art. Painting. Making collages. Learning to draw.
The other day I stood in front of the bathroom mirror and sketched what I saw. My self-portrait startled me. I didn’t know I was tall and thin. And butch. The flat-top surprised me, too.
Have you ever tried sketching yourself? What did you discover?
2 Responses to “Self-portrait”
I’ve only sketched my left hand. I discovered I was still in the grip of teenage angst close into my middle twenties– I curled the fingers like claws, added some pointy nails, and wrote, “To Thine Own Self Be True” at the bottom. So dramatic!
I love the idea of painting, drawing, and collage as avenues to overcoming writer’s block and also as tools to help us see ourselves as artists. Painting and collage especially. There’s something so free-flowing about it– or there can be, anyway– and I find one of my biggest obstacles in writing is wanting to control, control, control what makes it onto the page, to the point that nothing gets written at all.
Time to break out the paints, scissors, and glue!
“one of my biggest obstacles in writing is wanting to control, control, control what makes it onto the page, to the point that nothing gets written at all”
Margaret, that’s precisely the topic of the post I’m working on now. You’d be startled if you saw how many drafts I save before I hit the publish button!
I find it interesting that it’s so much easier to share a drawing of myself than a piece of writing. I guess there’s less ego riding on it.
Thanks for your comment!