No! I am not crazy!

Hi everyone,

Oh boy, the self portrait looks like I am nuts or have a mental health issue. But I can assure you all that this is not the case! I am healthy and a very friendly guy.

I learned something interesting doing the portrait. Using a mirror I had to turn it a bit to get my face into the frame, the result gave me a nose up look. And drawing myself life from the mirror gave me these concentrated staring eyes.

While reading art history I saw several paintings and sketches like these. Here the author of the books said that the pose of the artists shows confidence and pride of their achievements. They called it the mature phase of the artist life.

Well, I don't know about that. Maybe they too had too small mirrors and had to change the angle to fit their faces in. I wonder about all these funny smiling portraits, these relaxed looking artists if they where in truth not painted from photos. I feel sorry for my models that they have to suffer these crazy eyes starring at them. ;-)

I am still into sketching people around me and enjoy the ride big time. I am learning a lot. I hope that next week I will be able to pick up the paintbrush again. The last weeks where crazy because we where waiting for a new family member which arrived last Tuesday. A little girl born to my daughter! Here are some of my sketches.