The young man at the Arlington Art Festival widened his eyes at me.
“You know what they say about portraiture?”
I smiled. “Pretty sure we both know.”
But he told me anyway. Yes, every portrait is really a self-portrait.
I turned to self-portraiture both out of necessity, because live subjects who weren’t chickens were hard to find, and because it seemed logical and I could portray myself as I chose. I elected to be queen of my own universe, no matter how small it had become. The starling represents Wally, a fledging I rescued from the barn floor. He was a delightful companion in the garden and even went to a State Fair, but it wasn’t fair to keep him as a pet.
20 x 20″ acrylic on canvas