Yes, that's me

Water's Edge pastel, 12x9

Current events don't typically find their way into my artwork; it's just not what I do, and I think that's true of many artists whose primary subjects are still life and landscapes.  But I follow a number of artists' blogs, and have seen a bit of a trend lately, an exception perhaps to this.  There has been an increase in the number of  water scenes, in particular beach scenes.  I didn't recognize it until after I finished this pastel yesterday.  The oil spill seems to have given a number of artists a need to find a pristine beach, at least on canvas and paper.

This one is based on picture my husband took while we were at Indiana Dunes.  It's a beautiful place, if one can get past the view of the adjacent cooling tower.  Photographs of myself are rare (I'm usually the one taking pictures), and artwork even less common.  But I was drawn to the hat and the shadows on the barely perceived face, and the challenge of unusual position of the figure.  I don't generally like pictures of myself, but if I ignore the fact that it's me, I'm pretty happy with this one.