“A cultivated style would be like a mask.  Everybody knows it’s a mask, and sooner or later you must show yourself, or at least, you show yourself as someone who could not afford to show himself, and so created something to hide behind.  You do not create a style.  You work, and develop yourself; your style is an emanation from your own being.”  Katherine Anne Porter

I’m pretty good at hiding.  My husband doesn’t quite get why most of my “self portraits” are so abstract and vague.  The purpose of participating in this challenge is so that I will be forced out of my comfort zone and take some risks . . . and hopefully in the process find more of my inner muse.  I’ve always felt myself to be a Creative, but have always struggled with expressing that creativity.  And this despite the fact that people that know me think I am very creative!  Therein lies the conundrum I face every day . . . how to shut off my inner critique and trust in the flow of free expression.

For this self portrait, I positioned myself behind a patio chair.  I thought my face would actually show through some, but mostly you see the color from my shirt, and the impressions from my face pushing on the fabric.  I took it in to PhotoShop and processed it with Topaz Labs plug-ins as well as a couple of PhotoShop’s built in effects.  

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