Art Journal Self Portrait 2

Singing is as integral to who I am as much, or maybe more than visual arts and crafts. I have memories through my life that are connected to singing. I remember skipping and singing about the moon as a very young girl. One thing I loved about kindergarten was learning music. We sang "Away in the Manger" at the Christmas program. Much later that song would have a big impact in my life. A "big girl" on the school bus taught me "Silent Night." I cried at the big family Christmas gathering when they kept singing songs I didn't know. My aunt took notice and we sang "Silent Night." Dad got me involved in the church and town choirs. I loved going to practice with him. I have sung in school choirs and honor choirs. My husband & I sang songs to each other at our wedding. The past several years it has been my privilege to sing with our church's praise band. It brings me great joy. I am an OK piano player and that was very therapeutic for me for a number of years. But it became difficult in recent years when I was having tendinitis and carpal tunnel issues. I haven't really played for two years since Dad died. My sister and I would play for him at the nursing home. It seemed to help him connect as Alzheimer's took him away. Lately I've been thinking that I would like to try to play again.

As for this journal page. It's loosely based on a photo of me, but I don't think it looks like me. I sketched with graphite, then drew in the lines with a Pitt sepia pen, colored with watercolor pencils that I lightly washed with water. The journaling is all Pitt sepia. I altered some sheet music with distress inks and glued it into my journal. The watercolor card was glued onto the page.

Self Portrait Challenge for Art Journaling

When I was growing up, I usually had short hair. I grew it out for a while, but it didn't look good. We didn't have the styling products in the 60's & 70's that give volume and control like we have now. Super long straight hair was popular. My sister had that. My hair was fine with a bit of wave and didn't work for that style. I had shag haircuts that actually worked for my hair. But that is NOT what I wanted. I would see models with long, luxurious hair. Artists would draw girls with long flowing hair. Hair was such a big thing that there was a song and a musical.
So, my first entry for the self-portrait challenge that Misty Mawn posted provided an opportunity to get nostalgic. As a teen, I would draw girls like this following the illustrations in sewing pattern catalogs.
This is on watercolor paper. After sketching in graphite, I drew in the lines with a Pitt sepia marker. The color was filled in with water soluble colored pencils that I gently blended with water. It's too bad that spell check didn't catch me writing "luxurious" wrong. I even looked it up before writing it, but I had to go back in & correct it after I'd penned it in wrong. Argh!
For the record, I have come to appreciate my hair and am thrilled to have a great stylist who gives me razor cuts. There are wonderful products that bring out the curl and keep down the frizz. And then there is my friend "L'Oreal" to thank, too. LOL