We Tick, We Chime, We Strike The Hour

There is something about the human face that draws me back again and again. I find myself watching people. Instead of listening to what they are saying I am busy trying to analysis their features...long nose, deep set eyes, plump lips, etc. We are attracted to beautiful people. We can recognize intelligence or foolishness just by looking into a person's face. We intuit feelings by watching facial expressions and adjust our responses accordingly. A baby comes into the world intensely interested in his mother's face.

Obviously facial fascination is not exclusive to me. Think about all the ways we use the word in language.

baby face
face in the crowd
face like thunder
face that could stop a clock
face that only a mother could love
long face
poker face
about face
as plain as the nose on your face
at face value
blue in the face
cut off your nose to spite your face
get your face on
egg on your face
face facts
face the music
face up to
fly in the face of the evidence
in your face
it's written all over your face
keep a straight face
kick sand in his face
laugh in your face
face it
face the music
lose face
on the face of it
plain as the nose on your face
put a brave face on
save face
set your face against something
shut your face
slap in the face
face that launched a thousand ships

I cannot sit down with my sketchbook without looking for a face to draw. I know, I've tried. I am inextricably drawn to draw the human face.

I loathe the expression "What makes him tick." It is the American mind, looking for simple and singular solution, that uses the foolish expression. A person not only ticks, he also chimes and strikes the hour, falls and breaks and has to be put together again, and sometimes stops like an electric clock in a thunderstorm. - James Thurber