self portrait

No, not metaphorically, I really did attempt this in the literal sense. Sitting in front of a mirror, I spent an hour trying to sketch myself. Possibly, it says more about the way I view myself than it does how artistically talented I am. I really am a wannabe visual artist. Although I think I do have some natural talent in the matter, I rarely have the patience or overwhelming desire to spend a time fussing over lines and shadow. It's not entirely amazing...but there are aspects to my facial structure.

And with it, a picture of myself more alike to what I have drawn than any other I own.

Attempting to draw is always such an enriching experience for me. First, because or the rarity of the activity and also because of the strategy and mindset so differing from other mentally strenuous things.

When I begin to draw, I always have anxiety in a sense. I don't want to start off the sketch on the wrong foot, the wrong line, the wrong original reference point. The first line is always erased 20 times or more. Obsessive? Yes. Even moreso seeing as how that line is usually changed once the other lines around it have made it slightly askew to your new point of view.

Often, if I saw myself drawing from learned "ways to draw something" I had to snap out of it, and erase. What was I looking at? Draw what you see. I obviously struggle with realism, but it is the only way I will learn how to capture the actual appearance of things. If this mindset did not help I had to think harder about what I was looking at. What detail is it that makes this look like it curves more or sticks out more in the mirror and does not in my drawing?

I have learned these things today regarding drawing:

Draw what you see.
There are no pointed shapes in a human face, except those which are for reference.
It is best to draw a figure starting with the innermost attributes.
The spacing is always farther than you visualize, and closer than you originally aim for.

I do not think that I am one to think visually. My mental pictures are usually hazy, unless I spend a very long time examining and thinking about every detail of something while I view it. And even then, I can only remember the details, not the over-all appearance--or even worse, I can only remember how I felt while I was looking.

That's it! I (or rather the human race) remember things by way of feelings. And I suppose, if I were better artistically talented then that would lead to many Impressionistic art pieces.