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Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Self-Portrait Tuesday - All of Me #1

ambient lightraking light

One of the first things I was taught while studying for my degree in Art Conservation was that raking light showed all the imperfections. A painting could look perfect in carefully set-up lighting, but once you put a raking light across the surface the cracks, creases, past damages, past corrections, the effects of time, would often come, well, to light.

I am not completely comfortable with the whole idea of aging - with the effects of time. I sometimes can't believe I am 35. Then I look back at what I have experienced. Where I have been. At my husband. At my two amazing, beautiful daughters, who themselves are growing older. I have done all this. It has taken time.

More Self-Portraits here.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I feel like I want to say something inspirational, about how beauty and age are not mutually exclusive, bla bla bla. But aging is a weird process. I saw myself on tv a few months ago, and was totally shocked. Even though I look in the mirror every day, that was not how I looked in my mind. I still picture myself at about 20. Those groves between my eyebrows (that you don't need raking light to see, thank you very much)? Those aren't mine. Anyway. I'm 100% for aging gracefully, and 1000% against cosmetic surgery for vanity's sake, but I have to admit, I'm not always happy with the way things are going. My approach? Find new things to love. For example, I'm loving my hair, which is not coloured and is getting a lot of grey in it. It's getting more gorgeous all the time. Not loving how dry my skin is now that the flush of youth has passed, so doing what I can to sooth it and ignoring what I can't change.
xo C.
(PS Beauty and aging aren't mutually exclusive, and you are beautiful, my friend.)

Tracy said...

me too! love you c!

Anonymous said...

You will always be my little girl--! I do believe that age is a state of mind, rather than the portrait in the mirror. Love you heaps,

Mom xx oo xx