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The Everyday Portrait Habit


Beautiful me looking up inside a yew tree, the branches are silhouettes


Outside the clouds tremble with fine rain. It drops from them sparsely, clearly mocking my decision to hang the washing indoors. I have the windows open. I don’t mind.
It occurs to me that I take each day as raw materials from which to construct a portrait of myself, and I like this idea. It shows me the magic of everyday things. It isn’t too grand, it allows for unassuming - it allows for all the variables.
Some days are daubed in turbulence and now they are not bad days but in fact part of a series of studies; my moody phase, my this-is-overtired phase, my shadow sketches; some are gleefully oversaturated, glitter-spattered, sequinned-and-celestial.
Each day is subconsciously coloured in uncountable shades, textured with everything I see, touch, hear, taste, or smell; has one or many points of interest, it is as sparse or as crowded as I choose. Today I am a kitchen maniac, cooking up coq au vin, pate, stock, lentil curry, chocolate sauce, cheese sauce, roasted and steamed vegetables; a mosaic of blur and focus; and I am the slightly dishevelled woman looking out of an upstairs window, amused by the fickle weather. (Apologies for the spareness of my output here- between the land and writing the current novel time is happily but also unfortunately squished. I hope you are well, I wish this for you.)


Comments

It is lovely to see another post from you. And thank you for your wishes.
Many of my portraits are much the same. Perhaps I need to take a closer look.
You are definitely cooking up a storm today.
Lisa Southard said…
I have been busy with land, writing, family, earning a living, and so on; again this blog has been neglected, but THANK YOU to my faithful readers, I really do appreciate you :-)
Lily1959 said…
Thank you for your stories, they inspire me. XXX

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