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Stay in place. Stay! I said, stay. Staaaayyy.
We are all feeling it. I decided to do a few self-portraits based on the isolation of Covid. I limited myself to just a couple of hours and all honesty: no make-up, frizzy ponytail, and gray roots. I had never created a self portrait and wouldn’t have except I think of Rembrandt, Van Gogh and other artists who would create them, especially when a model just wasn’t available. It’s good practice, especially for the time crunch. If you are an obsessive drawer/painter/creator of anything, it’s freeing to set a time limit. Aggravating, but freeing. Of course, the perfectionist in me is twitching. I’d like to try out a few more just as this pandemic continues and changes.
Waiting Series
While pursuing my MFA in Dundee, Scotland, I focused some of my work on the human figure in repose and waiting. I looked for those moments when someone is truly waiting, sometimes ‘zoned out’ and not focused on anything.
In Scotland, I would camp out across the street from a bus stop with my camera and zoom lens, ready to catch people in the moment. I start with a photo because firstly, people do not stand still long enough for me to draw them, and secondly, I am a very slow (slightly The British have a way of queueing up, even when there are no signs directing them to do so and a method for lining up for the bus. Everyone forms a line, when your bus arrives, you step out of that line and line up with the others using that bus, staying in the order you were in from the original line. So queueing up was an important part of the composition of the figures. Also, while we are waiting, sometimes we encroach into someone’s personal space. I drew each figure on individual strips of vellum, sometimes overlapping one with another.
The line or queue and the overlapping also represents how we are all traveling on a time line towards a final point, and there are moments (large and small) when our time line intersects or overlaps with another’s. It may be a few moments in a queue or years of togetherness. The passing of time and how we measure it is of great interest to me. I was able to do a little research at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich and study the different ways humans have tried to control the intangible concept of time.
A couple of funny stories about this project. One day I was camped out on a bench in front of a pastry shop (great location for work and pleasure!) and a man exited the shop, took one look at me with my camera, and asked, “Are you a private detective?” I responded very seriously, “Yes. Yes, I am.”
And then there was this woman:
I drew her 3-4 times, in different positions. All from one moment at the bus stop. She was really great at waiting. I spent several days working on her drawings. Spent hours with her. Then one day, I was in a shop, waiting in line (of all things), and I realized she was standing in line in front of me. I was so excited! And I thought, how do I start a conversation, without sounding super crazy? “Hello. You don’t know me, but I have been drawing you for days. I have several photos of you and have sketched every inch of you.”
So I said nothing. I probably looked like a Cheshire Cat, I was so thrilled to see her – waiting!
bethany cobb 