So far, this has not been a great year for art. I'm having trouble finding the energy and interest. Well, the energy. I do have the interest. And so, when I know I want to create and feel aimless, I fall back on that old favorite, the self portrait. The top version is a freehand one made distorted on purpose. I originally tried working with that, cutting down on the distortion but I didn't like it. So I did a quick and dirty version where I did a 30 second 'trace,' noting the position of features only, no real drawing and then 'painted' directly without a sketch. And that part went pretty well though maybe it lacks some feeling? The background I fully admit tracing because the lettering would be a pain in the ass. And I do like the final. I think the approach, without drawing felt more like a painting and came together decently. That being said, I think I will go back and directly use the original drawing and do the lettering by hand and see what happens. All too soon, I will have more than enough self portraits for a book. It is NOT because I think I'm a great subject, I just don't care what I do with my own image which gives a freedom I don't have with any other subject.