The Moldy Past

I've been making noises about painting LARGE scale again for quite some time, but I always felt I'd have to wait until I had my fantasy outdoor studio space because the space I work in now is quite small. Last weekend I decided I'd better try using that small space anyway, because who knows how long it will be until I'm able to afford the fantasy space? So I bought an easel, and made an attempt to weed out some of the detritus that has been taking up space in the studio, in order to give as much room as possible to future (gulp) large-scale painting. Boxes of journals (numbering in the 70's or 80's- I lost count at some point), a box of fabric, and boxes of David's studio "artifacts" got moved out and assimilated elsewhere. At the bottom of a box of journals I found these two monoprints that were originally in a sketchbook at art school, and because they were stored at the bottom of a cardboard box in my mother's musty basement, they are moldy and deteriorating (especially the top one). They were "quickies" but I've always liked them, though I couldn't tell you exactly why. Also, they weren't meant to be self-portraits, but I think the self-portraits I was doing at the time probably rubbed off on them.