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Dear Jean,
Linda has some great ideas and her suggestions of "props" should make the self-portrait really unique and different.
My self-portrait is as a veiled middle eastern patriarch after Jean-Leone Gerome's "Caucassian Lady". I chose that pose, garment and background all because I found it decorative, as well as being a statement of my heritage and personality.
The pose is commanding and fills out the space and the look is stern, yet I am sort of hiding behind the veil.
Visitors to my home can't miss it, since it hangs in our formal room. Some recognize me in an instance and with a big grin ask: "Self-portrait?-others keep looking back and forth at the painting and then me, wondering if they should dare ask.
A self-portrait allows you to take liberties that you might not be able to take with a commissioned piece, so have fun with it and push the envelope!
I just think as a promotional tool you can open yourself up for a lot of direct critique, whereby using a cute "girl in a white dress" does not.
Can't wait to see how you choose to portray yourself.
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