Early self-portrait 1969

Follow today's blog down the page to reveal my self-portrait from early on, a photo of me around that time, and whatever I can tell you about it. I recall my aunt saying, upon seeing it, you were really hard on yourself. You're much prettier than that...
So much for my personal insights!

Above is a self-portrait from my early years as an artist, 1969. You may notice that my long brown hair is much shorter now...and, amazingly, much BLONDER!! I wasn't aiming to paint exactly how I looked, and I was enjoying the severity I applied to my image. It was the drama that I was savoring as I worked on it.  It was an introspective portrayal  of  "self".This was painted in gouache on watercolor paper.

I've included the above photo of myself taken around the same time, or a few years earlier. Found it in the family archives.  What ever happened to that "nice girl'? She went the way of most women, found herself, found she had a voice of her own, discovered her own direction, plumbed the depths of "self", and developed her unique style and ideas. Fortunately she has learned many things about life and her responses to it, finally emerging as her own person. When will I paint another self-portrait? Possibly never!