pencil on paper

The self portrait is an exercise that so many artists seem to undertake and much as has been written about the self-portrait. It is said of good portraits that they speak about the sitter in some way. I read recently that there is a bond between artist and his subject yet in many instances they have only just met and at best the artist will only know the person superficially. Yet with the self-portrait, the artist is depicting the one person that he/she knows above all others.

I seem to have spent an excessive amount of time staring at myself in the mirror over the last week. There have been moments when I have been reduced to giggles over features that have been the subject of family legend to moments of wondering whether it would be possible to have other parts of my face surgically altered. Mainly this has been no more than an exercise in drawing from life. Not perfect – more practice required!

I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best. Frida Kahlo