Self-Portrait Spring Azure

oil on panel, 24" x 20"

Oh, look, it's another picture of me! I really don't own any of the "All About Me" line of clothing, but I suppose I might just as well.

It's funny, everytime I wake up, I'm there, and everytime I go to do something, I'm there; it's like I just keep showing up. I can imagine that one impetus behind Cindy Sherman's http://www.cindysherman.com/ work may be to be someone else for a change. Not me, though, I'd rather stick it out, accept my quirks, and wait for the wisdom that is supposed to come with age. If you are bored with me, you can go look at someone else's blog.

I have these rings on the brain lately, and here they have made it into my head and through it. This started as a normal-looking portrait, but it didn't feel finished and was rather mundane. The head was well-defined (all done from imagination rather than direct observation), and the rings were there, but it was too controlled and didn't have enough life in it. I decided to add the spring azure butterfly, one of the first to be seen in spring, and to bring the background into my head and vice versa. It gave the painting the kick it needed as well as added meaning.

I look through the lens of the butterfly wing with one eye (it is the lens of spring optimism) while the other eye is perhaps more "realistic" in its treatment as well. The fluid relationship of the background with my head connotes the interconnectedness of life. The rings have symbolized souls in my other artwork. I had the pleasure of realizing after painting this (this is what I love about making art) that in this case they are also "social circles." The holidays left me attending several gatherings where I enjoyed the company to the fullest. This brings us to another trendy slogan on little girls' shirts: "social butterfly" (accompanied, of course, by a picture of the insect). That is the other meaning of the butterfly here. The gray winter skies of western New York are made to feel like blue spring ones because of the presence of friends.