#365LoveNotesToSelf – Part 2 – Kelise Franclemont

<< Part1: The gift of Love << [] >> Part 3: Loving what’s already inside you >>

#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?”*

Finding love in another’s eyes

For Part 2 of #365LoveNotes (from 25 May 2017 until I make up my mind to change my mind again), I plan to switch gears a bit. I’ll still be looking at myself (cuz what’s not to love there, right?), but this time, the gaze is through the lens of a bit of art history. What I want to try and do is to emulate the self-portraits of other artists, from long-dead medieval craftsman that I’ve dug up from down the back of the Internet, to some of my living peers. The exciting thing is, I don’t know what to expect or what I will find by looking through another artist’s eyes; but I’m excited by the prospects. At the very least, this approach may suggest new avenues for my own artwork by as I toy with ways of making that maybe I haven’t used or considered already.

The next 100 days – 25 May to September/October 2017

What’s in a name #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 101, collage

26 May 2017 Me as Rene Magritte ‘The False Mirror’ 1928 #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 102, ink on paper

27 May 2017 Me as Gillian Wearing 1990s #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 103, hand-coloured plastic mask

28 May 2017 Me as Master Gerlachus 1150-1160 #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 104, pen and coloured pencil on paper “Rex Regum Clare Gerlacho Propciare” [dear God, look on Gerlachus propitiously]

29 May 2017 Me as Renée Sintenis 1923 #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 105, ink on paper More: http://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/sintenis-renee-1888-1965

30 May 2017 Me as a Susan Hiller ‘Painting Block’ 1972-1984 #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 106, cut-up self-portrait, 110 cm x 110 cm 2011/17, oil on canvas

Me as Cambridge University librarian and amateur draughtsman Thomas Kerrich 1774 #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 107, graphite and white pencil on paper

Me as Mona Hatoum ‘Performance Still’ 1985 #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 108, digital photograph 2017

2 June 2017 Me as Pablo Picasso c. 1900 age 19 #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 109, graphite on paper 2017

3 June 2017 Me as Franz Xavier Messerschmidt 1770s #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 110, graphite on paper

4 June 2017 Me as John Coplans ‘Hand spread on knees’ 1985 #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 111, digital photograph More: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/coplans-self-portrait-hands-spread-on-knees-p11673

5 June 2017 Me as Bob Dylan ‘Self Portrait’ album cover 1970 #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 112, oil on canvas. Interestingly, this album was heavily panned by critics, calling it, “What is this shit?” and “a bizarre mishmash of pop covers” and just plain “weird”. (Side note: as an artist, I get that a lot LOL but in the end I just gotta go with what I got going for me.) Here’s a second look by Rolling Stone magazine which explains everything: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/what-makes-bob-dylans-weirdest-album-self-portrait-great-20160608

6 June 2017 Me as Andy Warhol 1986 #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 113, digital photographs (series)

7 June 2017 Me as Salvador Dali with Babou (an exotic ocelot) 1960s #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 114, digital photograph with C-Fer Cat, a Ragdoll domestic feline

Me as David Hockney wearing red braces 2003 age 66 #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 115, ink on paper

Me as Robert Mapplethorpe 1980 #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 116, digital photography

Me as LS Lowry 1938 #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 117, ink and Prismacolour pencil

#sundayfunday 11 June 2017 Me as my brother, photographer TD Deuel https://tddeuelphotography.com/ #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 118, digital photography

Me as George W Bush in the bath 2012 (with pink mood lighting) #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 119, ink and Prismacolour Pencil

Me as James Ensor 1899 #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 120, ink (the many masks we wear)

Me as Pablo Picasso ‘facing death’ 1972 (the year I was born) #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 121, ink on paper

Khadija Saye with her camera (Photo credit: Lauren Frame). 21 June 2017 #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 122, tribute. A friend of mine suggested artist Khadija Saye as one that I might emulate for my #365LoveNotesToSelf self-portrait project. But I can not, not today, not tomorrow, not in a year. I just can’t. And I can never presume to copy, emulate, or borrow anything other than inspiration from this artist who had so much to give before her life was cruelly taken. The only way to honour her now is to share her work with others, and thus is today’s “Love Note to Self”, an ardent reminder to all of us: be true to yourself, trust your calling, find courage and determination, and never give up on your goals. I urge you to learn more about Khadija Saye and see her work on : http://www.sayephotography.co.uk/

What it’s like in London right now. Me as St Bartholomew by Michelangelo 1536–1541 #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 123, prismacolour pencil

Me in Giacometti’s studio drawing with self-portrait 1927 #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 124, graphite

Me as Kirchner in the studio with model 1910/26 #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 125, oil on canvas

Me as Ambrose McEvoy 1900 #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 126, graphite and tea stains on paper

Me as Leon Kossoff 1952 #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 127, oil on canvas

A newly-discovered Fauv-ourite painter 😉 Me as “radical Swiss painter” Alice Bailly 1917 #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 128, oil on canvas

Me as Paul Gaugin with a snake and a halo 1889 #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 129, ink on paper

Me as Pablo Picasso 1907 (with alien eyes) #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 130, oil crayon on canvas

Me as Parmagianino 1524 #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 131, ink on paper

Me as Frida Kahlo with necklace 1933 #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 132, oil on canvas

Me as Edward Munch 1895 #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 133, ink and charcoal on paper

Me as Francis Bacon 1975 (and a bit of a headache) #364LoveNotesToSelf Day 134, ink and coloured pencil

Me as Van Gogh 1889 #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 135, pencil on paper #selfportrait #arttherapy #loveyourself #artistsofinstagram #rememberingvincent

Me as Frida Kahlo Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird 1940 #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 136, watercolour and coloured pencil, with thorn necklace, swallow, my two cats, tomatoes, and a bumblebee

Me as Chuck Close 1968 #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 137, charcoal and coloured chalk, 1.3 m x 1.5 m

Me as Rembrandt Self Portrait (copper plate etch) 1634 #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 138 ink on paper

Me as Sue Webster self-portrait 2017 #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 139 steel wire

Me as British scientist Elsie Widdowson (1906-2000) who often observed herself closely for scientific research #365LoveNotesToSelf Day 140, microscope image of my hair