12.19.12, self portrait in my mother's coat with yellow scarf, graphite, gold epoxy paint and chalk
12x15", ©Karen Kaapcke 2012
When I reached my 51st birthday, after doing a self-portrait each day for the previous year, I could not imagine stopping. The date seemed arbitrary, and it's the drawings that get to have the last word.
Inspired by a recent drawing in which I bear a very strong resemblance to my mother, I took out her winter coat, the one she loved because she saved up for so long to get it. She died too young, when I was just finishing up college, and the coat was barely worn. And yet I cannot wear it - my arms are too long, for starters. So it sits, nearly 'new', in my closet. This morning I put on the coat and started to draw. My emotions were conflicted, and I worked nearly all day - breaking only for some chocolate for lunch (which was not such a bad thing) until I had to go pick up the kids. Even still, the drawing haunted me, as it remained at that earlier stage, way too dark. I took an eraser to a large part of it after putting the kids to sleep, and the paper started tearing off; this I liked and kept it.
12.19.12, self portrait in my mother's coat with yellow scarf, graphite, gold epoxy paint and chalk
12x15", ©Karen Kaapcke 2012
12.19.12, self portrait in my mother's coat with yellow scarf, graphite, gold epoxy paint and chalk
12x15", ©Karen Kaapcke 2012
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