Self Portrait
Ocean
Title: Ocean Size: 91cm x 91cm Medium: Acrylic on Canvas Date: October 2017 |
Exhibition Text: "Ocean" is a self portrait inspired by Vincent van Gogh's 1889 Self-Portrait, and Picasso's 1901 Self-Portrait. The color blue in the shirt and background invoke depth and stability like the sky and ocean. Whereas the horizontal blue, black, and white lines represent things constantly changing and moving quickly like the ocean.
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Inspiration
The inspiration of my self-portrait came from Post-Impressionism and Expressionism.The Post-Impressionism art movement was alive from the early 1880s to 1914, and derived from their fore-runner's breakthroughs. Post-Impressionism artworks described the world around them through the correlation of shape and color. Artists from this movement wanted to express their emotions through color and light.
The detail, shading, and background from Vincent van Gogh's 1889 Post-Impressionism Self-Portrait influenced my artwork to include similar colors and line techniques. Art-vanGogh.com. (n.d.). Retrieved October 31, 2017, from http://art-vangogh.com/saint-remy_30.html
Post-Impressionism Movement, Artists and Major Works. (n.d.). Retrieved October 31, 2017 |
Self-Portrait - Vincent van Gogh (1889)
Self-Portrait. (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2017, from https://www.nga.gov/Collection/highlights/highlight106382.html
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Expressionism developed in the early 20th Century as a reaction to a dehumanizing effect of large cities and industrializations. The goal of Expressionism was art that emphasizes the extreme expressive properties of art forms in order to explore subjective emotions and psychological truth. Picasso's 1901 Self-Portrait is a good example of expressionism because of its colors evoking moods and ideas.
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Self Portrait - Pablo Picasso (1901)
Picasso, P. (1970, January 01). Self-Portrait, 1901 - Pablo Picasso. Retrieved October 27, 2017, from https://www.wikiart.org/en/pablo-picasso/self-portrait-1901
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Planning
Tools
1. Wide brush used to coat the canvas with gesso.
2. I used this brush to cover large blank areas with paint, and to gesso hard-to-reach spots. 3. This brush is used for not too large areas like the black of my hair on my self portrait, and the skin color of my face. 4. I used this thine brush to make thick lines like the ones on my eyebrows and sideburns, swell as lips. 5. This is the smallest brush i could find, and i used this brush to make the smallest detail like the lines on my lips and the small detail in my eyes. |
1. Metallic Blue paint that i bought from Michaels. I used this paint mostly on the shirt, but i also incorporated it into some of the horizontal multi-colored swatches that cover most of my canvas.
2. This black i also bought at Michaels and it was used for painting my hair and mixing with other colors to make them a darker tone. 3. This white i bought for mixing into reds for the color of my lips and into my skin tone to lighten it up for lighter parts pf my face. 4. Red paint used and mixed with white to paint my lips in. 5. My raw skin tone mixed with white on some sides and black and brown on other sides used for my face and neck. 6. The most used blue, i used this blue as the background even behind the swatches. I also used this blue to mix for swatches. |
Process/Technique
Here I already traced my outline and had a background wash onto the canvas. I also painted the hair roughly and my eyebrows, I started to put my skin tone onto the easier side of my face, and i realized that color was too dark but that was ok because it was going to serve as a light wash before i actually put the real illuminated skin color. I was nervous about how i was going to get the perfect skin tone with the effect of being illuminated by the sun and not just an ordinary light. I also wanted to put shade onto the right portion of my face but i wanted to conserve fine detail that is usually hidden in darker colors and shades. As i was painting the hair in i was contemplating on making the hair very finely detailed in a way that you could actually see the strands of hair, or if i should make it Pop Art style with not much attention to detail, but more of shape and color. In order to figure out how i was going to leave the hair, i went down to a smaller scale to experiment, on my eyebrow. I decided to make all my hair into a Pop Art inspired hair in order to include components from more than two art movements. After the hair came the rest of the skin on my face. I covered my whole face with the standard skin tone i made to later on put lighter shades and darker shades where needed but with the standard skin tone already on the bottom to make the colors more complex and avoid white unpainted spots. Then i started putting in color on the neck, and i realized that was the wrong color because that part was also illuminated by the sun. I fixed it by putting a lighter tone of my skin color onto where i had painted too dark. At that point i didn't know how i was going to shade and paint my nose and eye. Finally here i had already put all the illuminating and shading that was needed and the metallic blue onto the shirt to stand out from the dull gray blue in the background. I already had my lips done and painted with two different shades of pink. Painting the ear took a lot of time and effort because of the curvy and intricate nature of an ear. I also added in a halo of highlight around my figure to symbolize that I'm living in time while the world around me is constantly changing and moving quickly. This was also before the swatches that represent motion.
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Experimentation
On the right i have my self-portrait but theres a big empty space on the right over the background. I wanted more symbolism therefore i added in the swatches/lines that stand for movement, change and instability. Once i added the lines i realized i was satisfied with the product and felt like i included the right amount of symbolism, because previously the only symbolism came from the color scheme.
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Reflection
My artwork has components from both of my inspirations. As seen in the symbolism from colors and shapes that portray how i feel, which is what Expressionism was based on - the artists feelings. I also incorporated color scheme and painting techniques on the background and my face to connect more to the typical Post Impressionism artwork. The horizontal lines/swatches represent rapid change around me, and the light hue outlining my figure is a shield from the effects of change and also symbolize me separating from that change, and me being in the moment . All the blues represent depth, stability and instability, In the process of making this artwork i had trouble with the shades around my eyes and nose as well as the lighting meeting the shade at those spots. If i could go back i would've added more warm colors than just the lips because warm colors also have a lot of symbolism. Even though it was challenging i noticed that i got better at shading and lighting my skin tone. A success was the background and lines, but overall the face was the most challenging part which i could improve on by contrasting less around my eye.
Connection to the ACT
1) Clearly explain how you are able to to identify the cause-affect relationships between your inspiration and its affect upon your artwork.
Components like painting techniques and color schemes that make up Post Impressionism artworks are what i based the visuals of my portrait on, the symbolism and theme come from Expressionism feeling of the world changing.
2)What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Very informative and not biased. Formal display of examples and thorough analysis of the examples that exemplify techniques from both art movements.
3)What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Feelings inside and environment externally around you impact and reflect onto your artwork.
4) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
Rapid change in environment and my relation to it and how i feel amidst all of it.
5)What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
Art movement are linked through passed down techniques and can sometimes be opposites. I also inferred that art movements can depict whats currently going on around them whether it be war, despair, industrialization. Therefore art tells a story.
Components like painting techniques and color schemes that make up Post Impressionism artworks are what i based the visuals of my portrait on, the symbolism and theme come from Expressionism feeling of the world changing.
2)What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Very informative and not biased. Formal display of examples and thorough analysis of the examples that exemplify techniques from both art movements.
3)What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Feelings inside and environment externally around you impact and reflect onto your artwork.
4) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
Rapid change in environment and my relation to it and how i feel amidst all of it.
5)What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
Art movement are linked through passed down techniques and can sometimes be opposites. I also inferred that art movements can depict whats currently going on around them whether it be war, despair, industrialization. Therefore art tells a story.