Self-Portraits

Jane Davies here. Who is NOT afraid of self-portraits? Have you ever tried to sketch or paint, collage, or quilt a self-portrait? I have done a few collage self-portraits using a photo of my face for the face, but I had never really tried to draw or paint myself.
Why do I have such resistance to it? Do you? Part of the point of this Sketchbook Challenge, for me, is to stretch myself, try things that are out of my comfort zone, and play more. So this is how I broke the ice with self-portraits: I started by doing a few self-portraits with a white crayon on white paper without looking. Then I bravely applied watercolor washes over the crayon. How bad could it be? Here are my first - really, my very first - results.

In this one I look like the Wicked Witch of the West. I gave myself a little lipstick pout with oil pastel.These portraits just kept getting worse, but still fun.
In the spirit of February's theme, Opposites, I decided to try a self-portrait using big thick brush strokes with watercolor, and then thin lines with gel pen. This is two self-portraits layered one on top of the other, in, you'll notice, opposite, or complimentary, colors. I look so SERIOUS!
And, finally, I did the one at the top of this post, starting it blind (without looking at the page), and then enhancing it with a few extra marks in black oil pastel. It is drawn on one of my torn paper sketchbook pages (see post on my blog), then I applied the blue watercolor wash. Again, using Opposite colors. Also, the left half of the page is complex with collage and paint, while the right half is the opposite: calm and simple. I would love to see if any of you try self-portraits of any type in your sketchbooks!