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Squinting to See the Light (funny story)

Squinting to see the light

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Watercolor in large Moleskine notebook

Today at work, 10 of us were sitting around the table in the lunchroom eating and chatting. I sat across from our director, facing the picture window and our 27th-story view of Oakland, the San Francisco Bay, Mt. Tamalpais and the huge, cloudy sky. I was thinking about what I learned in my painting class last Sunday about the importance of learning to see color temperatures and value. A good way to do that is to close one eye and squint, which helps to blur the details, so that you can see shapes and values. I decided to practice on a blue house and a large brick building that I could see in the distance. I tried one eye and then the other, curious if it made a difference between my left and right eyes.

Suddenly I realized the conversation had stopped, our director was asking me if I was OK, and everyone was staring at me. I burst out laughing realizing that I was sitting there making weird squinty faces and they were all thinking I had an excruciating headache or had suddenly gone mad. I started trying to explain what I was doing and they looked at me perplexed. They finally realized it was an “art thing” and went back to chatting about work and TV shows and travel.

When I got home tonight, I looked in the mirror to see just how funny I looked and had to do this quickie self-portrait in my sketchbook. Amazingly it actually looks like me!

29 replies on “Squinting to See the Light (funny story)”

TOO FUNNY, Jana!!!! But your portrait is fantastic!! I love how you captured that ‘squinty’ look — I can just imagine what your cohorts were thinking! LOL It’s funny too, isn’t it, how an art idea gets into our heads and keeps us looking at the world differently?!

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Very funny, though the painting is excellent. Now do a similar one without the distortion!

My favorite office-worker story is a guy who decided to put a plastic bag over his head to see how long he would last … then the CEO walked into his office. At least you didn’t do anything life-threatening.

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I really, really like this self-portrait. The story is funny too. I’ve noticed that since my eyes have gotten worse as I age, I’ve become a better painter. I supposee that’s because I’ve lost some of the details when I look! Anyway, thanks for posting this painting.

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love your story and the portrait

great expression on your face and oh the colors! and I’m especially impressed with that nose, I have the hardest time rendering noses.

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great sketch , Jana! It’s so hard to catch a likeness – and especially of yourself. This is a great job.

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