<< About #365LoveNotesToSelf << [] >> Part 2: Finding love in another’s eyes >>
#365LoveNotesToSelf is a self-portrait project about giving the person in the mirror two self-loving gifts: time and looking deeply, because…
“If you can’t love yourself, how in the HELL you gonna love somebody else?”*
the gift of love
I have been looking at myself for the past 100 days through ink, charcoal, watercolour, aquarelle, sculpture, collage, digital media, and there’s even a drawing made of light and one I drew with my foot. In each, I have captured something of myself and here I am, 100 days of quirky and fun, awkward or elegant, goofy and gorgeous, serious to happy-go-lucky.
Looking back over these 100 self-portraits and the quotes that go with them, each serves as a daily entry in what has turned out to be a personal journal of sorts, and the image my self-portrait presents all depends on that day of my journey.
The first 100 days – 14 February to 24 May 2017
14 February 2017, #HappyValentines ‘If you can’t love yourself, how in hell you gonna love somebody else?’ -RuPaul #365LoveNotesToSelf #LoveYourself247365
15 February 2017, #wednesdaywisdom ‘I am beginning to measure myself in strength, not pounds. Sometimes in smiles.’ – Laurie H Anderson #365LoveNotesToSelf #LoveYourself247365
16 February 2017, #ThrowbackThursday ‘I think everybody’s weird. We should all celebrate our individuality and not be embarrassed or ashamed of it’ – Johnny Depp #365LoveNotesToSelf #selfportrait (drawn with my right foot) #LoveYourself247365
17 February 2017 #FridayFeeling ‘The hardest challenge is to be yourself in a world where everyone is trying to make you be somebody else.
’-E. E. Cummings #365LoveNotesToSelf #LoveYourself247365
18 February 2017, ‘You’re always with yourself, so you might as well enjoy the company.’– Diane Von Furstenberg #365LoveNotesToSelf #LoveYourself247365
19 February 2017 ‘Be faithful to that which exists within yourself’.-André Gide #365LoveNotesToSelf #LoveYourself #247365
20 February 2017 #MondayMotivation ‘Don’t forget to wear your invisible crown’-Jane Travis #365LoveNotesToSelf #LoveYourself247365 #LoveYourself #247365
21 February 2017 #TravelTuesday ‘If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.’‒Nelson Mandela #365LoveNotesToSelf #LoveYourself #247365 Day 8. Ink drawing on paper.
22 February 2017 #WednesdayWisdom ‘In the inner courtroom of my mind, mine is the only judgment that counts.’-Nathaniel Branden #365LoveNotesToSelf #LoveYourself #247365 Day 9, Ink on paper
23 February 2017 #ThrowbackThursday ‘And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. Anaïs Nin’ #365LoveNotesToSelf, from ‘Limn Reveries’, 2013, installation and performance in ‘Live in your Dreams!’ at The Crypt Gallery, St Pancras, London. Image courtesy the artist.
24 February 2017 ‘I am bigger than the box I’m in.’-Rachel Cohn #365LoveNotesToSelf #LoveYourself247365
25 February 2017 #SaturdaySecret ‘I am my own experiment. I am my own work of art.’-Madonna #365LoveNotesToSelf #LoveYourself #247365 Acrylic paint pen on reused painting
26 February 2017, #SundayFunday ‘People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within.’ – Elisabeth Kübler-Ross ink on paper, #365LoveNotesToSelf #LoveYourself247365
27 February 2017 #MondayMotivation ‘Don’t belittle yourself. Be BIG yourself.’-Corita Kent #365LoveNotesToSelf #LoveYourself #247365 Day 14, Build your own Lego character
28 February 2017 #TravelTuesday “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.”-Richard Lingard #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 15, Sidewalk chalk on slate tile floor
01 March 2017 #WednesdayWisdom “A little nonsense now and then, is cherished by the wisest men.”-anonymous #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 16, Coloured paper and glue
02 March 2017 #ThrowbackThursday “This is the real secret of life — to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, we realise it is play.” ― Alan W. Watts #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 17, Barbie by Mattel from my personal collection.
03 March 2017 #FridayFeeling ‘We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything, than when we are at play.’-Charles E. Schaefer #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 18, Oil crayon on newspaper
04 March 2017 #SaturdaySecret ‘We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing’.-George Bernard Shaw #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 19, Crayola crayon on printed page
05 March 2017 #SundayFunday “Go and play. Run around. Build something. Break something. Climb a tree. Get dirty. Get in some trouble. Have some fun.” – Brom, The Child Thief
06 March 2017 #MondayMotivation I asked my friends once to describe me in one word and I am still humbled by all the words they said #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 21, printed text
07 March 2017 #Tuesday K is for “kind” (from ‘text self portrait’ project, 2012) & drawing my face with font #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 22, ink on paper
08 March 2017 #WednesdayWisdom E is for “enthusiastic” (from ‘text self portrait’ project, 2012) & drawing my face with font #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 23, ink on paper
09 March 2017 L is for “luminous”, “loyal”, “loving”, and “lovely” (from ‘text self portrait’ project, 2012) & drawing my face with font #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 24, ink on paper
10 March 2017 #FridayFeeling I is for “insightful” and “inspirational” (from ‘text self portrait’ project, 2012) & drawing my face with font #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 25, ink on paper
11 March 2017 #SaturdaySecret S is for “sweet”, “sister”, “sketchy”, and “sparkly fun person” (from ‘text self portrait’ project, 2012) & drawing my face with font #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 26, ink on paper
12 March 2017 #SundayFunday E is for “eccentric” (from ‘text self portrait’ project, 2012) & drawing my face with font #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 27, ink on paper
13 March 2017 “There are hundreds of languages around the world, but a smile, speaks them all”-anon #365LoveNotesToSelf #LoveYourself #247365 Day 28, Collage on paper
14 March 2017 #TravelTuesday You invoke a new future when you envision your past in the light of your present -Eric Micha’el Leventhal #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 29, ink on paper #arttherapy #selfportrait #abstraction
15 March 2017 #WednesdayWisdom Each star is a mirror reflecting the truth inside you- Aberjhani #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 30, aluminium and mirror
16 March 2017 #ThrowbackThursday Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears – Les Brown #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 31, (l) oil on canvas, (r) collage
17 March 2017 #FridayFeeling Found this in a Glamour mag I used for a sketchbook. It’s not my face yet it’s still so me! #365LoveNotesToSelf
18 March 2017 #SaturdaySecret You may be the only person left who believes in you, but it’s enough. It takes just one star to pierce a universe of darkness. Never give up. Richelle E. Goodrich #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 32, collage and ink on paper
19 March 2017 #SundayFunday “Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.”— Anthony J. D’Angelo Day 34, collage and biro ink on notepad paper #arttherapy #selfportrait #collage
#MondayMotivation “I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.” — Mahatma Gandhi #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 35, ink on paper #selfportrait #arttherapy
21 March 2017 #TravelTuesday Above all, be true to yourself, and if you cannot put your heart in it, take yourself out of it. -Unknown #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 36, ink on paper #arttherapy #self portrait
22 March 2017 #WorldWaterDay #WednesdayWisdom “Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.”-Maori Proverb #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 37, chalk
23 March 2017 #ThrowbackThursday “We cannot direct the wind but we can adjust the sails.”-unknown #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 38, charcoal on paper, 2014 #arttherapy #selfportrait
24 March 2017 #FridayFeeling At every given moment we are absolutely perfect for what is required for our journey.-Steve Maraboli #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 39, digital drawing
25 March 2017 #SaturdaySecret #EU60 Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.-Helen Keller #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 40, digital drawing
26 March 2017 #SundayFunday May I never miss a sunset or a rainbow because I am looking down.-Sara June Parker #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 41, digital drawing
27 March 2017 #MondayMotivation The difference between a stumbling block and a stepping stone is how high you raise your foot. -Benny Lewis #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 42, compressed charcoal on paper
28 March 2017 #TravelTuesday “The world is full of cactus, but we don’t have to sit on it.”-Will Foley #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 43, compressed charcoal on digital print
29 March 2017 #WednesdayWisdom At the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can.-Frida Kahlo #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 44, ink on paper
30 March 2017 #ThrowbackThursday You are magnificent beyond measure, perfect in your imperfections, and wonderfully made.-Abiola Abrams #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 45, acrylic on canvas, 2006
31 March 2017 #FridayFeeling Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle. -Christian D Larson #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 46, white conte on coloured paper
1 April 2017 #SaturdaySecret As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.-Audrey Hepburn #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 47, graphite on paper
2 April 2017 #SundayFunday Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent.- Victor Hugo #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 48, ink and aquarelle on paper
3 April 2017 #MondayMotivation She who pauses to admire beauty becomes, herself, beautiful.-Eric Micha’el Leventhal Day 49, iPhone digital drawing
4 April 2017 #TuesdayThoughts “A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”— Roald Dahl #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 50, iPad digital composition
5 April 2017 #WednesdayWisdom Don’t water your weeds.-Harvey MacKay #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 51, iPad digital drawing
6 April 2017 #ThrowbackThursday If you want to find the real competition, just look in the mirror. After awhile you’ll see your rivals scrambling for second place.-Criss Jami #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 52, iPad digital drawing
7 April 2017 #FridayFeeling You’re only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it. -Robin Williams #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 53, digital collage
8 April 2017 #SaturdaySecret Talk to yourself like you would to someone you love. Brené Brown #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 54, digital drawing
9 April 2017 #SundayFunday Dare to LOVE yourself as if you were a rainbow with gold at both ends.-Aberjhani #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 55, iPad digital composition
10 April 2017 #MondayMotivation I believe that love–not imitation–is the sincerest form of flattery. Your imitator thinks that you can be duplicated; your lover knows you can’t.-Marilyn Vos Savant #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 56, aquarelle and ink on paper (red)
11 April 2017 #TravelTuesday A cloudy day is no match for a sunny disposition.-William Arthur Ward #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 57, biro and coloured pencil on paper (orange)
12 April 2017 #WednesdayWisdom Search not for happiness outside yourself, for nothing could be further from the truth.-Eric Micha’el Leventhal #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 58, charcoal on paper (yellow)
13 April 2017 #ThrowbackThursday Don’t try to fix me, I’m not broken… Evanescence #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 59, oil on canvas with paper collage, 2013 (green)
14 April 2017 #FridayFeeling Self-love, it is obvious, remains always positive and active in our natures. Gordon W. Allport #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 60, biro ink on paper (blue)
15 April 217 #SaturdaySecret Self-talk reflects your innermost feelings.-Asa Don Brown #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 62, coloured pencil on paper (indigo)
16 April 2017 #SundayFunday Unless we take that first step into the unknown, we will never know our own potential! Allan Rufus #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 63, coloured pencil on paper (violet)
17 April 2017 #MondayMotivation Let your dreams stay big and your worries stay small.-unknown #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 64, ink and coloured pencil on paper
18 April 2017 #TravelTuesday You are allowed to be both a masterpiece and a work in progress simultaneously. -Sophia Bush #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 65, ink and aquarelle on paper #selfportrait #arttherapy #adrawingaday #colourtherapy
19 April 2017 #WednesdayWisdom Don’t settle; don’t finish bad books. If you don’t like the menu leave the restaurant. If you’re not on the right path, get off of it.-Chris Brogan #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 66
20 April 2017 #ThrowbackThursday A diamond doesn’t start out polished and shining. It once was nothing special, but with enough pressure and time, becomes spectacular. I’m that diamond.-Solange nicole #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 67, digital drawing #ipad #sketchy
21 April 2017 #FridayFeeling You matter. Unless you multiply yourself times the speed of light squared. Then you Energy.- anon #375LoveNotesToSelf Day 67, ink and coloured pencil on paper
22 April 2017 #EarthDay I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.— Abraham Lincoln #375LoveNotesToSelf Day 68, ink and coloured pencil on paper
23 April 2017 #SundayFunday There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly.-R Buckminster Fuller #375LoveNotesToSelf Day 69, ink on paper
24 April 2017 #MondayMotivation The greatest tool of self-love is self-awareness. Once you truly know yourself, love is the only option.-Vironika Tugaleva #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 70, coloured pencil on paper
25 April 2017 The best way to dispel negative thoughts is to require that they have a purpose.-Robert Brault #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 71, coloured pencil on paper
26 April 2017 There are always flowers for those who want to see them.-Henri Matisse #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 72, digital print and collage
27 April 2017 #ThrowbackThursday You were not meant for a mundane or mediocre life!-Steve Maraboli #365LoveNotesToSelf, Day 73, customised digital avatar
28 April 2017 If your eyes are fixed on the rear-view mirror, you’ll miss that important turn coming up.-Richard Branson Day 74, coloured pencil on paper
29 April 2017 If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito-Dalai Lama Day 75, charcoal on paper
30 April 2017/1897 #SundayFunday at the Moulin Rouge “All you need is love, love is all you need” #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 76, charcoal on paper
1 May 2017 #MondayMotivation There’s always a sunrise and always a sunset and it’s up to you to choose to be there for it,’ said my mother. ‘Put yourself in the way of beauty.-Cheryl Strayed, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail #365LoveNotestoSelf Day 77, ink and charcoal on paper
2 May 2017 #TuesdayThoughts The best place to find a helping hand is at the end of your own arm.-Swedish proverb. #365LoveNotestoSelf Day 78, ink on paper
3 May 2017 #WednesdayWisdom “A well-read woman is a dangerous creature.” Lisa Kleypas #365LoveNotestoSelf Day 79, charcoal on paper
4 May 2017 #ThrowbackThursday Your flaws are perfect for the heart that’s meant to love you.-unknown #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 80, tin, wood, and electric light (‘inside-out self-portrait’, 2001)
5 May 2017 #FridayFeeling “Bonjour, everyone! Don’t worry, everything is bon!” -Team America #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 81, ink on paper
6 May 2017 #SaturdaySecret When you find people who not only tolerate your quirks but celebrate then with cries of “Me too!”, be sure to cherish them. Because those weirdos are your tribe. -unknown #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 82, ink on paper
7 May 2017 Where hope grows, miracles blossom. -Elna Rae #365LoveNotestoSelf Day 83, ink on paper
#MondayMotivation Don’t take yourself so seriously; it’s not like you’re going to get out alive. -Louise Smith #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 84, ink on paper
9 May 2017 #TravelTuesday Let my soul smile through my heart and my heart smile through my eyes, that I may scatter rich smiles among sad hearts.- Paramahansa Yogananda #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 85, ink on paper
10 May 2017 When someone told me I lived in a fantasy land, I nearly fell off my unicorn.-unknown #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 86, ink and aquarelle on paper
11 May 2017 #ThrowbackThursday #tbt Let difficulty transform you. And it will.. we just need help in learning how not to run away.-Pema Chodron #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 87, charcoal on paper, (an impossible self-portrait, 2001)
12 May 2017 #FridayFeeling I always wanted to be happy, so I decided to be.-Neil Baldwin #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 88, ink and aquarelle on paper
13 May 2017 #SaturdaySecret Keep the first thing, the first thing. -Bob the Drag Queen’s mom #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 89, ink and aquarelle on paper
14 May #SundayFunday Be yourself, you’re already fully equipped to succeed at that.-Rob Liano #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 90, ink on paper
15 May #MondayMotivation A girl should be two things: who and what she wants. -Coco Chanel #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 91, ink on paper
16 May #justanotherTuesday Some days you gotta say to yourself, Not my circus, not my monkeys… #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 92, pencil and ink on paper
17 May #WednesdayWisdom #365LoveNotesToSelf Raise your words, not your voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder. -Rumi Day 93, collage, ink, pencil
18 May #ThrowbackThursday #tbt “She who knows others is wise; she who knows herself is enlightened.”-Lao Tzu #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 94 , charcoal on paper (‘handmade goggles’, 2012)
19 May #FridayFeeling No apologising today, darling, for who you are, for how you see life, for how you breathe. No hiding either. No shame. You just be you. The world will catch up with your fire eventually. – SC Lourie #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 95 photo capture of light drawing
20 May #SaturdaySecret In your light, I learn how to love. In your beauty, how to make poems. You dance inside my chest, where no one sees you… – Rumi #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 96, ink on paper
21 May I choose to be kind because it makes me happy. But I will defend my boundaries and my loved ones without hesitation. Make no mistake: I am fierce.-Nanea Hoffman #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 97, collage
22 May 2017 Had a different plan for my self-portrait today… until I stepped into my studio this morning and saw this (left image)… and I said to myself, oh no the hell you don’t! And I grabbed a red pen and some courage and edited that sketch for good.
23 May #Tuesday I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship. -Louisa May Alcott #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 99, ink on paper
24 May 2017 #WednesdayWisdom Go live your lives. Make choices that work for you…The only thing you will regret not owning is your happiness.- Tangela Eckhoff #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 100, ink and aquarelle
All images Kelise Franclemont, ‘365 Loves Notes to Self’ series, 2017, various media.
*Above quote courtesy fabulous drag superstar, RuPaul.
<< About #365LoveNotesToSelf << [] >> Part 2: Finding love in another’s eyes >>