The Self Portrait Retrospective

By Jessica Alvarez

I have been shy about posting my self portraits because they are never really finished. For an artist, sometimes the only model who will have as much patience in holding still as the artist needs is the artist herself. This retrospective is meant to show the growth of technique over time.

Since learning fine art of drawing when I was about 16, I have been my own most patient model. Everyone else in my personal life, save two or three, has wanted to get up and walk away after ten minutes of sitting. As you'll see, sometimes these portraits take half an hour, and sometimes several hours. I've gathered all my sketchbook drawings for this retrospective, thus you will see a variety, from rough quick sketches to finished works of art.

Click on the slide show to open it in Picasa and have access to my notes/captions and geo placements of where I was when I drew the image. Within Picasa, please find the "slideshow" button and click it.