Portraits

A willow, like me.

In my high school art classes, we often did projects that were self-portraits. And throughout grade eleven, grade twelve and my first year of art school, I worked on self-portraits often in response to various assignments. (And sometimes when I drew other people, they ended up looking a little bit like me too – because I’d had so much practice making visual images of myself.) At that time, I knew what I looked like… with the level of detail and descriptive objectivity that are required to create a representational portrait. But I haven’t made a self-portrait in the form of a drawing or a painting since that time. Perhaps that’s something I’ll try again soon, especially because about five years have passed since I’ve made a drawing of myself.

As I posted my favourite books on my blog-profile this week, I was thinking about how this particular collection of books that are so important to me creates a portrait in the form of a list. My thinking and wondering and being have been directly and deeply influenced by these books. This list reveals another dimension of my experience that can’t be conveyed in a visual portrait.

Here’s another form of portraiture about being and acting. (I’d like to include some of these ideas in my next visual self-portrait too.)

If I were a stone, I would be living at the edge of Lake Okanagan.
If I were a tree, I would be a willow, brushing the ground and dancing in the wind.
If I were a bird, I would be a sparrow.
If I were a machine, I would be a traditional printing press.
If I were a tool, I would be a 2B pencil.
If I were a plant, I would be a carrot from the garden.
If I were a kind of weather, I would be a summer downpour in the evening.
If I were a mythical creature, I would be an elf.
If I were a musical instrument, I would be a djembe.
If I were an animal, I would be a white-tailed deer.
If I were a colour, I would be warm marigold yellow.
If I were an emotion, I would be gratitude.
If I were a vegetable, I would be a potato.
If I were a sound, I would be an inhale and an exhale.
If I were an element, I would be earth.
If I were a car, I would be useful.
If I were a song, I would be "Field of Stars" by Oliver Schroer.
If I were a food, I would be a baking powder biscuit with strawberry jam.
If I were a book, I would be a book of poems by Mary Oliver.
If I were a place, I would be home.
If I were a language, I would be body language.
If I were a fabric, I would be well-worn cotton.
If I were a taste, I would be cold water.
If I were a spiritual path, I would be in the forest.
If I were a smell, I would be lavender.
If I were a word, I would be on the tip of your tongue.
If I were an object, I would be a ceramic mug.
If I were a body part, I would be a hand.
If I were a facial expression, I would be gentleness.
If I were a subject in school, I would be art class.
If I were a shape, I would be a sphere.
If I were a number, I would be four or seven.
If I were a month, I would be June or October.
If I were a day of the week, I would be Thursday.
If I were a time of day, I would be 10:30am.
If I were a direction, I would be up.
If I were a piece of furniture, I would be a soft couch that seats three cozy people.
If I were a historical figure, I would be a healer.
If I were a liquid, I would be strong chai with milk and brown sugar.
If I were a kind of death, I would be something sudden, involving the natural world.

o