Cheat sheet for the "words" people are using in their replies. (Depending on how you get to the comments, it can be hard to see the text at the same time.)
Mirror, if you’ve drawn a selfie in the last month
Camera, if you’ve snapped a selfie in the last week
Paper bag, if you are the anti-selfie sort
Fuzzy, if (overall) you trust people; prickly, if (overall) you don’t
Up, if things have improved for you this year; down if they have not
__Day__ of the week you most enjoy reading at Substack; daily, if you read throughout the week
Good morning Amy! Your portrait project is amazing. I have enjoyed your Inktober portraits for years now.
I have done few selfie photos. When I draw myself it is usually more cartoon like. I don’t like having my picture taken, by myself or others. Don’t like what I see perhaps. The mirror never lies. My Dad used to say.
Not my own preferred model. Prickly…not trusting.
I care about the process but I also like a nice outcome.
Thank you for reading, Gail. (And, again, I hope Suki is okay after the morning adventure.) When I started drawing my weekly selfie, I realized I didn’t ever see myself in the drawings. It was such an odd thing to me. I still don’t! I don’t let it worry me now, and I don’t necessarily spend a ton of time on the weekly selfie drawing. I think that advice from Dad sounds a bit hard to hold. There are a zillion angles …. We look drastically different in some angles, meaning we all take good and bad photos. But recognizing that person in the mirror…. Worth it.
Camera, from fuzzy to prickly, both up and down, and Substack on Sundays. I've been so out of the loop lately, wanting to create and journal, but can't seem to get much on paper. Part of it is life, behind the scenes. Another part is dissatisfaction with my art and journaling lately. It is so hard for me not to overthink everything and care too much about how everything looks. I don't know why I put so much pressure on myself even in a private journal, but I do and it's frustrating. I've been trying to remedy that this week by just working on mindless, ugly art that I don't post. Some of it actually turns out alright once I give myself permission to not care how it turns out.
I absolutely love your portrait series, and I am always grateful for your prompts each week. Even though I haven't posted as much lately, I'm using the prompts in my messier written journal. I go to your page often just for inspiration and I look forward to your posts, both on Instagram and substack! Also, I love the idea of your morning light series. It inspired me to get up early and finally walk around my new neighborhood. It's the first time I've done that alone since I've moved here, and it helped reconnect me to myself in the way that I was doing something I had loved to regularly do back home. I was also able to catch some beautiful sunrises I would have normally slept through!😊
I think it is wonderful, Susan, that you are spending time in your journal and not sharing it…. I think it’s very easy to get caught in a pattern of overthinking pages and documentation because of the sharing process. Your work is always beautiful, but when the sense of external expectation starts to steal the joy and add pressure, stepping back is a solid act of self-care. You don’t “owe” social media anything. Just keep that in mind. — I appreciate your kind words. I hope things have really started to settle in where you are, and bravo for the early morning walk. That sounds like a really important step to reclaiming something that matters to you. ❤️
“I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best.” ― Frida Kahlo
I can really relate to this quote. I feel prickly when I see myself in photos, all of my negative self thoughts rush to the surface. Surely that isn't how I really look?? I want to do some experiments where I loosely trace a photo selfie, to see if I can see myself better that way. Although I can control the selfie to look more like I want to look.
The 100 Day Dress project didn’t break down your thoughts on selfies? Your selfies are always great, and I really like the drawing of you here, too. I think it’s fairly common for us all to be too hard on ourselves, and for us to feel some form of disjunction between what we see and what we think. I find selfies better than dealing with photos others take! (No need to reply here, but I forgot to ask this morning how everyone is doing. Hoping things are okay.)
Oh yeah, I like my photo selfies better than most pics others take of me! Do you mean how my kiddo is doing? He still won’t eat (regular food, today he ate 4 cookies and a dilly bar, but calories?) so I’m having to convince him to let me use his gtube. His sed rate (marker for inflammation) is still high so the gi thinks it’s a crohn’s flare up causing it all. My gut says that’s not it.
I hope it ends up feeling ‘up,’ but complicated makes sense. You project ‘up’ through it all, and that is admirable, Kiersten. Thank you for being part of my Sunday, too. I am grateful for that.
Appreciating the portraits all over again, Amy, and feeling honored to have been included. I can't imagine the investment of time and energy involved. I love seeing them all together, and labeled even. The care comes through.
I'm glad you stuck with the project; it seems like a good tradition to keep. I knew you shared your request more than once on notes but, for what it's worth, it never occurred to me that you were asking too much or too often. In the end, did you have just enough volunteers, or more than you needed? I hope you follow up on the inclination to make connection in the trans community. I think your way of seeing could be invaluable.
Camera--but possibly longer than a week ago.
Fuzzy--which is something of a privilege.
Up--because of starting a new job that feels like a better fit for me (but otherwise, mostly a plateau)
I read daily. I can't keep up any other way, and struggle regardless.
I am glad to see ‘up’ for the year - and I hope the job is going well. I read daily, too, and I have a few people I know to look for on specific days, like you. Thank you for being willing to be drawn and for your kind words. Everything you project in your writing shows your belief in the human spirit and the individual stories that remind us of that.
I am very much in the “enjoy the process and not the outcome” with some of my art right now Amy! I still feel calm after I do it, and I guess that is the outcome I need more than a “beautiful image.” Thank you!
I was glad to see what you’ve been working on this morning, Lauren! I think we appreciate both, the satisfaction of the product and the calm in the process…. Both is good! But if there is just one, let us embrace journey. Hope things are settling in for you all.
Hi Amy, I really enjoyed reading this and learning more about your process. As the process is what matters not the outcome wow so many different angles to view your creative process from
I I am very happy with the portrait that you drew of me. I have never been comfortable having my photo taken since a very young age. I used to run away and hide in the back of a big deep closet as if no one would find me because I always went to the same place. There is a story there. I want to do something special with my portrait because it does feel special to me. I won’t forget. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much for your comment, Prajna. I love your portrait - and you shared great photos with me! I am sorry for that reluctance to be photographed that persists. What a memory that is to carry. Given that, I applaud your willingness to be drawn this time. I know it was around a birthday, too, and I especially love that and the bravery of the step.
Thank you again for this project, and for including me (panel 6 above if others are curious).
I just had occasion to have characters in a story discuss Goustave Courbet’s “Burial at Ornans” and some of his writing: “Beauty, like Truth, is relative to the time when one lives and to the individual who can grasp it.”
Thank you for your generosity and courage in initiating this project and seeing it through, Amy. It’s difficult enough just putting one’s work out in public without the added pressure of making art that is so personal to each of the individuals that participated. You have given a gift to each of us, and I’m honoured to be a face-among-many, alongside total strangers that somehow now feel like a part of my broader community.
Thank you, Glyn. I appreciate your comment, and I appreciate you seeing that "whole" of this one small set of portraits of writers (who also didn't all know one another) who are captured together here. Thank you for participating!
I love Amy how you captured us. I have to admit after taking a few selfies - I thought yuck! Not used to taking pictures where I am not smiling- it felt uncomfortable, but let’s be honest- to be a writer, you have to embrace both discomfort and vulnerability. Love how brought us to life through your portraits, thank you again.
Thank you for being a part of it! Smiling was fine — just mouths closed. But I love your comment. I think volunteering to be drawn is a bold move, and I’m glad you did!
Well I’m really glad you put the paper bag away and sent me a photo. I enjoyed getting to know your words leading up to the birthday, and I’m glad you volunteered and shared your photo. I admire your weekend restraint!
Your daily light viewing project has inspired another project for me - my plan is, beginning Dec 21, to document - in writing - what I see at sunset (probably on Notes) daily for 30 days! I remember reading an early comment from you on my daily chronological memoir project - about the importance of these challenges - and it's been so fun to witness your own experiments, and to experience the overlap and alignment. Thank you!!!
I love that for a project, and beginning on the solstice. Wonderful! Sunset was supposed to be part of this month for me.... but we don't always make things happen. Looking forward to your tracking - and what you see. I hope things are going well, Francesca.
Amy, you're an amazing talent! But more than that, you are a kind and generous spirit. Thank you so much for drawing us writers. What a great gift you've given us 💖💕
Thank you for your kind words. It was so nice to draw all of you, and I’m really glad I had the chance to draw a photo from just after a hair cut. I love the cut on you! Thank you for sharing your photo and being a part of this series.
Cheat sheet for the "words" people are using in their replies. (Depending on how you get to the comments, it can be hard to see the text at the same time.)
Mirror, if you’ve drawn a selfie in the last month
Camera, if you’ve snapped a selfie in the last week
Paper bag, if you are the anti-selfie sort
Fuzzy, if (overall) you trust people; prickly, if (overall) you don’t
Up, if things have improved for you this year; down if they have not
__Day__ of the week you most enjoy reading at Substack; daily, if you read throughout the week
Such a lovely project — I’m glad I got to be included!
So happy you were a part of it, Jonathan. I loved your train photo.
Great line: “it’s fine to care more about the process than the outcome.” Amy, this is true in so many places in our life.”
Camera fuzzy up Sunday 💜 I love my portrait!
Thank you, Linda! I’m happy you were part of this series - and I loved drawing your hair from that specific photo. Have a good week ahead.
Thank you for reading, Jill!
I usually do read (and enjoy!) you, and I don't read that many...
Thank you. That means a great deal to me to know.
I thought this was a great project! Thank you very much for including me Amy! 💖
Thank you, Tania. I appreciate you commenting, and thank you for volunteering to be drawn!
Good morning Amy! Your portrait project is amazing. I have enjoyed your Inktober portraits for years now.
I have done few selfie photos. When I draw myself it is usually more cartoon like. I don’t like having my picture taken, by myself or others. Don’t like what I see perhaps. The mirror never lies. My Dad used to say.
Not my own preferred model. Prickly…not trusting.
I care about the process but I also like a nice outcome.
I think we have different filters over our eyes, depending on what we look at. So do we ever really see ourselves objectively?
Of course! You are right!
Thank you for reading, Gail. (And, again, I hope Suki is okay after the morning adventure.) When I started drawing my weekly selfie, I realized I didn’t ever see myself in the drawings. It was such an odd thing to me. I still don’t! I don’t let it worry me now, and I don’t necessarily spend a ton of time on the weekly selfie drawing. I think that advice from Dad sounds a bit hard to hold. There are a zillion angles …. We look drastically different in some angles, meaning we all take good and bad photos. But recognizing that person in the mirror…. Worth it.
Camera, from fuzzy to prickly, both up and down, and Substack on Sundays. I've been so out of the loop lately, wanting to create and journal, but can't seem to get much on paper. Part of it is life, behind the scenes. Another part is dissatisfaction with my art and journaling lately. It is so hard for me not to overthink everything and care too much about how everything looks. I don't know why I put so much pressure on myself even in a private journal, but I do and it's frustrating. I've been trying to remedy that this week by just working on mindless, ugly art that I don't post. Some of it actually turns out alright once I give myself permission to not care how it turns out.
I absolutely love your portrait series, and I am always grateful for your prompts each week. Even though I haven't posted as much lately, I'm using the prompts in my messier written journal. I go to your page often just for inspiration and I look forward to your posts, both on Instagram and substack! Also, I love the idea of your morning light series. It inspired me to get up early and finally walk around my new neighborhood. It's the first time I've done that alone since I've moved here, and it helped reconnect me to myself in the way that I was doing something I had loved to regularly do back home. I was also able to catch some beautiful sunrises I would have normally slept through!😊
I think it is wonderful, Susan, that you are spending time in your journal and not sharing it…. I think it’s very easy to get caught in a pattern of overthinking pages and documentation because of the sharing process. Your work is always beautiful, but when the sense of external expectation starts to steal the joy and add pressure, stepping back is a solid act of self-care. You don’t “owe” social media anything. Just keep that in mind. — I appreciate your kind words. I hope things have really started to settle in where you are, and bravo for the early morning walk. That sounds like a really important step to reclaiming something that matters to you. ❤️
“I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best.” ― Frida Kahlo
I can really relate to this quote. I feel prickly when I see myself in photos, all of my negative self thoughts rush to the surface. Surely that isn't how I really look?? I want to do some experiments where I loosely trace a photo selfie, to see if I can see myself better that way. Although I can control the selfie to look more like I want to look.
My Haiku:
mirror, mirror on
the wall. do i see myself
blurred, fuzzy, daily?
The 100 Day Dress project didn’t break down your thoughts on selfies? Your selfies are always great, and I really like the drawing of you here, too. I think it’s fairly common for us all to be too hard on ourselves, and for us to feel some form of disjunction between what we see and what we think. I find selfies better than dealing with photos others take! (No need to reply here, but I forgot to ask this morning how everyone is doing. Hoping things are okay.)
Oh yeah, I like my photo selfies better than most pics others take of me! Do you mean how my kiddo is doing? He still won’t eat (regular food, today he ate 4 cookies and a dilly bar, but calories?) so I’m having to convince him to let me use his gtube. His sed rate (marker for inflammation) is still high so the gi thinks it’s a crohn’s flare up causing it all. My gut says that’s not it.
Camera, fuzzy, up & not up (a very complicated year) and Sunday (in large part because of you)
I hope it ends up feeling ‘up,’ but complicated makes sense. You project ‘up’ through it all, and that is admirable, Kiersten. Thank you for being part of my Sunday, too. I am grateful for that.
Appreciating the portraits all over again, Amy, and feeling honored to have been included. I can't imagine the investment of time and energy involved. I love seeing them all together, and labeled even. The care comes through.
I'm glad you stuck with the project; it seems like a good tradition to keep. I knew you shared your request more than once on notes but, for what it's worth, it never occurred to me that you were asking too much or too often. In the end, did you have just enough volunteers, or more than you needed? I hope you follow up on the inclination to make connection in the trans community. I think your way of seeing could be invaluable.
Camera--but possibly longer than a week ago.
Fuzzy--which is something of a privilege.
Up--because of starting a new job that feels like a better fit for me (but otherwise, mostly a plateau)
I read daily. I can't keep up any other way, and struggle regardless.
I am glad to see ‘up’ for the year - and I hope the job is going well. I read daily, too, and I have a few people I know to look for on specific days, like you. Thank you for being willing to be drawn and for your kind words. Everything you project in your writing shows your belief in the human spirit and the individual stories that remind us of that.
I am very much in the “enjoy the process and not the outcome” with some of my art right now Amy! I still feel calm after I do it, and I guess that is the outcome I need more than a “beautiful image.” Thank you!
I was glad to see what you’ve been working on this morning, Lauren! I think we appreciate both, the satisfaction of the product and the calm in the process…. Both is good! But if there is just one, let us embrace journey. Hope things are settling in for you all.
Hi Amy, I really enjoyed reading this and learning more about your process. As the process is what matters not the outcome wow so many different angles to view your creative process from
I I am very happy with the portrait that you drew of me. I have never been comfortable having my photo taken since a very young age. I used to run away and hide in the back of a big deep closet as if no one would find me because I always went to the same place. There is a story there. I want to do something special with my portrait because it does feel special to me. I won’t forget. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much for your comment, Prajna. I love your portrait - and you shared great photos with me! I am sorry for that reluctance to be photographed that persists. What a memory that is to carry. Given that, I applaud your willingness to be drawn this time. I know it was around a birthday, too, and I especially love that and the bravery of the step.
Thank you again for this project, and for including me (panel 6 above if others are curious).
I just had occasion to have characters in a story discuss Goustave Courbet’s “Burial at Ornans” and some of his writing: “Beauty, like Truth, is relative to the time when one lives and to the individual who can grasp it.”
Thank you, Andrew. I really enjoyed drawing your portrait, and thank you for sharing this quote. Very nice.
Thank you for your generosity and courage in initiating this project and seeing it through, Amy. It’s difficult enough just putting one’s work out in public without the added pressure of making art that is so personal to each of the individuals that participated. You have given a gift to each of us, and I’m honoured to be a face-among-many, alongside total strangers that somehow now feel like a part of my broader community.
Thank you, Glyn. I appreciate your comment, and I appreciate you seeing that "whole" of this one small set of portraits of writers (who also didn't all know one another) who are captured together here. Thank you for participating!
I love Amy how you captured us. I have to admit after taking a few selfies - I thought yuck! Not used to taking pictures where I am not smiling- it felt uncomfortable, but let’s be honest- to be a writer, you have to embrace both discomfort and vulnerability. Love how brought us to life through your portraits, thank you again.
Ah! kōtare! I grappled with writing a similar comment but felt myself tripping over my words. But I feel exactly as you describe here. Thank you!
Thank you for being a part of it! Smiling was fine — just mouths closed. But I love your comment. I think volunteering to be drawn is a bold move, and I’m glad you did!
You are right. It was outside of my comfort zone, but thank you for encouraging that!
Paper bag - fuzzy - up - daily! (Although trying to limit all screens on Saturdays and Sundays, which includes substack!)
Thank you for including me!!
Well I’m really glad you put the paper bag away and sent me a photo. I enjoyed getting to know your words leading up to the birthday, and I’m glad you volunteered and shared your photo. I admire your weekend restraint!
Your daily light viewing project has inspired another project for me - my plan is, beginning Dec 21, to document - in writing - what I see at sunset (probably on Notes) daily for 30 days! I remember reading an early comment from you on my daily chronological memoir project - about the importance of these challenges - and it's been so fun to witness your own experiments, and to experience the overlap and alignment. Thank you!!!
I love that for a project, and beginning on the solstice. Wonderful! Sunset was supposed to be part of this month for me.... but we don't always make things happen. Looking forward to your tracking - and what you see. I hope things are going well, Francesca.
Amy, you're an amazing talent! But more than that, you are a kind and generous spirit. Thank you so much for drawing us writers. What a great gift you've given us 💖💕
Thank you for your kind words. It was so nice to draw all of you, and I’m really glad I had the chance to draw a photo from just after a hair cut. I love the cut on you! Thank you for sharing your photo and being a part of this series.