These are the six self portraits I composed over the last week or so. It began with the pencil sketch positioned at 12 O’Clock and proceeded clockwise from 5 O’Clock, ending with the watercolor/marker sketch at 1 O’Clock. I put a lot of thought into these sketches, tapping my prior experience with self portraiture and […]
This is another self portrait relating to my relationship with my autistic brother Mike. He was low functioning and nonverbal and I was never able to establish a meaningful, two-way communication with him. The barrier between Mike (represented by the eye with rays, is Mike’s hand. He would typically have his pinky finger of his […]
Those of you who have been following my blog for a while, might recognize some of the themes in this self portrait sketch. My brother Mike was autistic, low functioning and nonverbal, and I never quite knew if he knew I was his brother. Since we are brothers, we have the same genetic inheritance, so […]
I tried to merge my face with my brother Mike’s. Mike was autistic, low functioning and nonverbal. His eyes didn’t seem to work together. Mike shaped a good part of my life, and he is never totally out of my thoughts.
These are the sketches that developed as I was reflecting on my brother Mike’s life on the second anniversary of his death. I was fortunate to have my library of photographic images to help me remember particularly important moments. I reanimated some of the meaningful times using my skills to recreate the photos by hand […]
This sketch is chock full of information. I began by sketching a photo taken in 1960 on a camping trip, of me and my two brothers standing aside my parents’ 1957 Chevy. I was looking for old photographs that depicted Mike, my autistic brother, in a cheerful mood. I know there were fun times, but […]
Mike would hurt himself (presumably) when he was frustrated. Although at one point in his diagnostic journey, doctors thought he was Tourretic and his hitting himself and biting his hand was nothing more than a ‘complex motor tick‘. Whether Mike had Tourette Syndrome because those responsible for his care could not suggest a plan to […]
One of my first photos of my brother Mike was a portrait of him in his group home. His hand was posed, his wrist arched. I put my own hand in the frame, reaching out to him. On another occasion, I brought my camera, tripod and a shutter-release cable, so that I could snap a […]
The basis of this sketch is a photo my parents took of Mike and me around the year 1955. I was holding Mike’s art and looking up at him. (For those first visiting my blog, my brother Mike was autistic, low functioning and nonverbal). I don’t remember if Mike had a wandering eye at this […]
This is a preliminary drawing of a comprehensive list of images that represent my autistic brother, Mike, and my relationship with him. Included in such a compendium would be some of his unique hand gestures and postures, visual characteristics such as his mis-aligned eye, some kind of visualization of communication, and other symbols, not yet […]
