Daily Painting, "Self-Portrait in Pencil"

"Self-Portrait in Pencil
11X8 1/2
Pencil on Brown Bag Art Paper

I guess it would be more than 27 years ago that I sat down to draw a portrait of Betsy, my daughter, with color pencil on the only thing I had at hand at the time, a piece of paper cut from a grocery bag. I worry that this grocery bag paper will eventually disintegrate and her little portrait will be lost with it. It's little, like she was at the time. And I was practicing drawing anything and everything in the house, the cat, the dog, the backyard, etc.

Anyway, I have been noticing lately that just about every famous artist, living and not, has done a self-portrait. So I decided that if I ever want to be famous I better get busy and do one. I never wanted to do one...am not that fond of staring at myself for hours...and can't imagine why anyone would want this. But I found this great paper at the art store that is actually called "Brown Bag Art Paper" that is acid and lignin free, works with all kinds of media, and, because it reminded me of that grocery bag drawing I did of Betsy so long ago, I had to give it a try. The thing I really love about it is the soft subdued color. It makes a drawing look like it just emerged from ancient history, some tea stained image that survived floods and wars in someone's attic. Which some days is just how I think of myself..stained and battered from time, but some image of my personhood survives it all. So there you are, my self-portrait for ages past and ages hence.

"Betsy at 2 and a half"
6X5
Pencil on Grocery Bag Paper