Self-Portrait Tuesday: Personal History, Week 2

My History as a Self-Portaitist (Is "Self-Portraitist" a real word??) This topic got me thinking about self-portraits in general, not just self-portrait photos. This deal of photographic self-portraits is fairly new for me, but years ago, primarily when I was in my teens and twenties, I used to do a lot of drawn or painted self-portraits. My own face was an easy, readily available subject! I don't still have them all, by any means, but I have a few around here, so I decided to dig them up and post a few, and to do a sketch of myself now and post that too as this week's entry on the topic of Personal History. So here is me just after I finished my current self-portait sketch: "A Self-Portrait of a Self-Portrait" (you can see the drawing in more detail at the end of the post if you like) And now for some blasts from the past: Oil paint on primed paper, 1980 Graphite on newsprint, 1980 Magic marker on paper, 1982 Colored pencil on paper, 1983 or '84 Graphite on paper, 1986 or '87 Commercial cotton fabrics, cotton thread, colored pencil, 2005 (Added especially for Amy who asked in comments about fabric self-portraits) Graphite on paper, 2006 One problem with doing these things by looking in a mirror instead of from a photo is that it's too hard to smile consistently when drawing myself from life, so I always try for a neutral expression and usually end up looking pissed off instead! Oh well.