“Birthdays” by Chattanooga based painter Mia Bergeron. I love this project so much! I’ll let Mia explain:

“Most people don’t know that I have done self portraits most of my life. In the past years, I have done one on my birthday every year to mark changes in my self, my thoughts, my techniques, and just generally to journal time in the mirror. It’s a little vulnerable to put some of these up on the Internet, I must say. Not many artists show work from when they were young (and not very skilled!). But when I looked through them all, I realized there were a lot of changes, and those things are worth showing, I guess. Being broke for all of those years, a self- portrait was my way of being curious about form and drawing, without wasting anybody else’s time. I was not a born draughtsman, as you can see.  I worked very hard, and fought through a lot of my issues with drawing with dozens upon dozens of sketchbooks filled with horrifying sketches … I didn’t paint any self-portraits while I was 23-25, due to my time in Italy studying, and frankly being too enamored with everything around me to care about a mirror.  In 2017 I got married, so my  husband appears in the portrait with me.”

Vulnerable, and beautiful. I can’t wait to see what 38 holds for her. Happy Friday.