Self Portrait 1 2 3...

"Outside Looking In"
5" x 7"


Transparent clear glass, flashed with black powdered glass then sandblasted and painted with Glassline Paints.







"Outside Looking In"
5" x 7"

Painted with Paradise Paints on clear iridised glass.

"Outside Looking In"
5" x 7"

Glassline Paints w/ pen.

The process of doing a self portrait can be daunting. The questions I'd ask are, how do I represent myself? Do I show you what I want you to see, do I tell the God awful truth and expose the hazards and wear and tear of a life lived...Or the airbrush version of a life desired?

I expressed some of this same thinking in my "Visual Memoir" post, but now the Self Portrait project has come to a close, and the work, mine and that of all the participants, has been submitted, I feel like it's a good time to talk about my thinking about the pieces I did for that project.

I'm in the process of "hanging" that show. Now that all submissions are in, I wanted to show the three faces of Cynthia ...Or the three approaches that I took for that project.

I wanted to show myself as I am, or as I see myself. No airbrushing away my age or blemishes, but to honestly describe an aspect of who I am...if I could. Each one, though taken from the same drawing (you can see the pencil drawing I used in "Visual Memoir") evokes a very different effect or feeling. The first one, which is the one I chose to submit for the self portrait project, is very graphic, like a comic book drawing... and feels flat yet pensive. I chose this one for the project because it was descriptive of me, but also displayed an array of techniques that other glass workers might enjoy.

The second one in Paradise Paint is more painterly than the other two. It's softer and feels mysterious and melancholy to me.

The third one is done with Glassline using the pen nibs. I like the way I could draw and describe contour with line, but I used the color right out of the tubes...and they are so harsh and bold that it makes the portrait feel angry or hostile with a great red slash for my mouth and a red hot shadow.

Are any one of these a more accurate description than the other? Who could say?