Flash Back Friday/ Self Portrait 1980

"Rebecca Lansdowne /  Self Portrait 1980"

© rebecca lansdowne

Lately I have been finding old artwork stuffed in drawers, and this little jewel was retrieved from the attic last week when I was looking for clip art books to loan to a friend.  This is from my senior year in high school, and yes that is me with my Farrah Fawcett hair under a black derby. I use to love to draw, and I had forgotten how much I liked shading. Somewhere in college I discovered "line" and I sort of abandoned realistic shading and tight renderings. Today I much prefer contour drawings and loose quick sketches.  

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At 48 I find that it is fun to look back at where I have been with my art. I was 17 in the self portrait above and so I guess I can say I have been an artist for well over 31 years. One of my classmates asked my teacher once "when do you get to a place where you call yourself an artist". When I heard that question, I thought about it and realized I can not recall a time when I did not consider myself an artist.  Other roles in life such as wife, daughter, aunt, manager, student, teacher, well ...  those roles are less intuitive and take thoughtful concentrated effort, not that they are hard, but they do take a lot more thought and effort to be outside yourself a bit in order to show up well, and be truly giving.  The role of the artist is often one of pure, self-absorbed "id", and I guess that is why it is like breathing air for me.  I can not imagine life without art.