Selfies....Why?

 

 

 

This afternoon I did this self portrait to end my current sketchbook. I have made a habit of beginning and ending my sketchbooks with self portraits. It is a way of checking in with myself, to see how things are going. 

 

I am not really a fan of 'selfies.' I do not have a 'selfie stick' for my phone. I rarely take, or even like, photos of myself. (I also confess to deleting many of those my husband takes of me.) But the sketches I do of myself are not to capture my image, as much as to capture my mood, and even more, to capture my life at the time.

The Sketchbook

 

 

This past week I posted on IG this tiny tapestry (7x7") that is a 'selfie' of me, sketching in my sketchbook. In fact, here is another confession: many of the tapestries I have done, though they may not look like me, are 'selfies' in that they are about my life, my interests, my beliefs, or my moods. That is probably true of most artists, if they are honest.

 

 

Acadian Autumn,  Selfie#1

 

This tapestry (8x10") is a selfie of myself as a photographer. It was done at a time when I rarely went anywhere without a camera. It is Me, as an Artist.

Not the Enemy,  Selfie#2

 

The above tapestry is of me, during the years that I marched in several Women's Marches, and marches for intelligent gun control. It is Me, as an Activist. It is also 8x10".

 

 

 

 

Yesterday. I cut the third selfie from my loom, of a masked Me. For three years, I wore a mask as I cared for my father during the pandemic. It is Me, as a Caregiver. It is being blocked right now, but I will post it when it is ready. It is also 8x10".

These small tapestries are woven journal images of my life. They are bits of me, in time, and in tapestry; the medium that is also Me.