Blog / 2015 / The Psychology of Self-portraiture

In 2002, I went to Paris to study mime. While there, I was hosted by a former runway model turned painter who smoked constantly and ate very little. I’m not certain she could have been more Parisian unless she wore a beret.

It was fascinating to live in a working artist’s space, and, for the most part, I found her art interesting. That said, her self-portraits definitely freaked me out a bit. In the flesh, she was a slender woman, but her portrayals of herself took skinny to an anorexic extreme. I remember staring at them and thinking that there’s nothing quite so powerful and strange as the look of someone looking at themselves.

It may seem strange to say, but there is such a thing as a perfect portrait subject. I describe the qualities necessary in these three posts: about Katie, Caitlin, and Sylvia. I am not perfect yet, but I am working on it.

You can hire me to paint or draw your portrait!