2006-10-08 Self Portrait -- Illustration Friday -- Trouble

2006-10-08 Self Portrait -- Illustration Friday -- Trouble
Originally uploaded by royblumenthal.

It's been a while since I last did a self-portrait. And when this week's Illustration Friday topic turned out to be 'Trouble', I thought I'd make a suitable subject.

This works for me on several levels.

Firstly, since I stopped shaving my head, I've basically been letting my hair grow wild. And I assure you, it is TOTALLY wild. The only thing I'm doing with it in the mornings is washing it and combing the knots out. I let it dry as a mop of strangeness.

So, in a way, my hair is the opposite of trouble, since it's no trouble at all to deal with it. But it's also real trouble, cos it's unmanaged, untamed, and says something about me, I suppose. (Or maybe I'm just hoping it does.)

Secondly, I reckon I'm a BIT of a handful as an individual. Even though I've mellowed out significantly in the past few years, I certainly do have my quirks. The word 'eccentric' is actually a bit of an understatement for me.

And I've really thought about this. Some of my eccentricities are cultivated. Some of them are realllllly just part of me.

For instance, I'm a total hermit when I'm in hermit mode. I don't open my door for anyone, unless I know they're coming to visit.

I don't EVER answer my home phone. In fact, only about six people in the world KNOW my home phone number.

I wear strange socks. (Wow, Roy, THAT's eccentric! Yeah. Whatever.)

Some years ago there was an Israeli film festival playing at Cinema Nouveau, the arts cinema in Rosebank, Johannesburg. This was at the (then) height of the suicide bombings in Israel, and passions were running high in South Africa at the time.

I walked into the cinema, spread my arms, and said VERY loudly, WITH ABSOLUTELY NO VOLUNTARY CONTROL OVER WHAT I SAID, 'Excuse me,' I bellowed, 'would all the Palestinian suicide bombers please move to the NEXT cinema. Thank you.'

Stunned silence.

That's a quirk, isn't it?

I dunno.

I don't really think of myself as 'trouble'. But I AM on the odd part of the spectrum.

This painting was made on my Toshiba Tecra M4 tablet pc using ArtRage 2.11 software while sitting in Mugg & Bean Cresta, demonstrating the painting software to Ockert and Keith, managers of the place.