Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Day 181

This self-portrait was a bit of a leap for me.

Despite the fact that many of the artworks in this project might tend to suggest otherwise, I've always found it difficult to work in an abstract manner. I'm more of a realist - perhaps the better term would be literalist - and creating imagery that has no clear meaning has always been a challenge.

Then I finally took the advice that I've given to students so many times over the years:

so what

It doesn't matter if anyone knows what an artwork means or not (they can always come up with their own interpretations anyway).  It doesn't even matter if I don't know what my artwork means (I can always figure it out later on).  What does matter is that I am making art.

Honestly, I love today's self-portrait.  And honestly, I have no idea what it means!  Perhaps I'll come to a conclusion about an interpretation for the drawing, but for now I'll simply find contentment in the fact that I was incredibly motivated during the drawing process and that I am very pleased with the end result.

#181 April 19, 2011, Charcoal, acrylic, and red marking pen on illustration board

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