Forever a Wallflower – a pastel portrait.
Forever a Wallflower was first published in March 2017 a few months before transitioning from a landing page for my blog posts to a full website.
What does it mean to be forever a wallflower? Lang Leav provides this description:
Shrinking in a corner,/ pressed into the wall;/do they know I’m present,/am I here at all?”
Lang Leav, Australian best-selling author, Love and Misadventure.
Leav is an accomplished poet and artist whose works of art embellish her books. Her next novel, Sad Girls, will be released in May, 2017.
“Forever a wallflower”. 8 1/2″ x 11″. Pan pastels and Faber Castell Pitt Pastel pencils on Canson Mi-teintes paper.
The downcast eyes and the hair hiding part of the face tell a story of a young woman who doesn't want attention focused on her.
In fact, she is extremely uncomfortable when the spotlight is on her, even when it is in a most natural situation as in the classroom. She would rather not be singled out to answer any questions. Always unsure of herself and of the answers she might have, she avoids eye contact until the lesson is over.
We have all known people like this.
This painting evokes moments when we doubt and close ourselves to others.
To be forever a wallflower means to be paralyzed with fear that someone will notice her, and worse, reject her. She is much like many of the high school students I taught. A little awkward, and somewhat shy.
We can understand that feeling, can't we?
