I finally framed the one I hate least
I've had a pastel portrait of my sister sitting face-down on the shelf for about four months. Toned grey paper, a bit of Sennelier on the cheekbone that actually worked. I kept telling myself I'd fix the ear first. The ear was fine. I just couldn't stand looking at the rest of it next to the ear.
She came over Sunday for coffee and I forgot it was out. She picked it up, turned it over, and said "oh, that's me," in this normal voice, not the polite gallery voice. Then she asked if she could have it.
So I bought a frame today, 40x50, cheap one from the place on Karmelicka, and it's hanging in her hallway now. It is not my best work. The jaw is too heavy and I know exactly which stroke I should have left alone.
But it's on a wall. In a house. Someone wanted it there. I don't think I've ever let a piece leave the room before without apologizing for it first, and this time I just said thank you, which took me a second to manage.
Still strange to me that the ones I want to hide are sometimes the ones people see themselves in.
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The four months face-down is the part I recognise. You knew the ear was fine, that was never the problem, it was that if you fixed the ear then you had to decide about the whole thing. Easier to keep one small task in front of you.
And "that's me" in a normal voice, that's the only review that counts. People who know the face don't look at cheekbones, they look for whether it's her. Sounds like it was.
Cheap frame on Karmelicka is the right call too. I've watched people spend more on the moulding than they ever did on the drawing, and then it hangs there feeling like a museum loan. A plain frame says this is a portrait of my sister, not an investment.
The "if I fix the ear then I have to decide about the whole thing" is exactly it, and I do the same with a face that's slightly off in the jaw. The small task is a place to hide. And the sister's reaction is worth more than any of us could say about the cheekbone, honest. The cheap frame is right. A drawing should sit in a frame that disappears, not one that announces itself like a loan from a museum. Voilà.
"A place to hide", yes, that's the part I didn't want to say out loud. The jaw for you, the ear for me, it's the same little room you can sit in and feel like you're working.
The frame disappearing is a good way to put it. I stood in the shop for way too long deciding between the cheap one and a nicer one with a wide moulding, and then I thought, she's going to hang this in a hallway, she doesn't want a museum, she wants her face. So the cheap one.
That's it exactly. The ear was a door I could keep closed. And you're right, she didn't look at the cheekbone at all, she just looked at it for a second and knew it was her. I don't know why that's harder to believe than any compliment.
The frame thing, yes. I almost took the expensive one and then thought, it's a drawing of my sister, not a rental agreement. Plain black, hanging by the kitchen door, done.