The First AED 200 Blog: Week Fifteen- Art Gallery Visit #3: Self-Portraits Art Making/Material Exploration Blog

For this project I chose three specific self-portraits because of their surreal characteristics, also, because I enjoy works of art that are less realistic as well as having a somewhat "cartoony" appeal to them. Moreover, I think paintings that have qualities like this convey a better sense of creativity for particular artists, rather than attempting to depict a duplicate copy of an image it allows an artist to step outside of the traditional guidelines and into a world of imagination. Additionally, I chose acrylic and water color paint because it was available; I have yet to indulge in the use of oil paints or any other forms of paint because of the dedication that is necessary for obtaining my college degree.

Some of the challenges that I faced during the creation of this project was overcoming the thinking about what I was doing (the painting) and if it was up to a professional’s standards. I understand that I am an amateur artist, probably not even that, but the insecure thought process was difficult to overcome. Specifically, this piece represents myself through my thinking and physical characteristics. The thinking can explained by the content of the painting and how it was done, the use of natural and unnatural colors, as for the physical aspect I think that I did a great job at capturing the features in my face and hair, as well as the type of clothes I wear, if that makes sense. The elements and principles that I incorporated into my self-portrait are shape, value, color, space, and unity. Particularly because of the hues I used, the two-dimensional structure, spacing between the image and background, and natural flow of the painting (how everything seems to complement one another, unity). Lastly, I thought this project was great and I am extremely proud of my finished product. As aforementioned I was insecure during the process of making the self-portrait, however, this was easily circumvented after I came to the conclusion that I enjoy painting and creating art regardless of others opinions and most importantly I think the portrait is quite unique and "hip." Below are the inspirational pieces, photograph used for the self-portrait, and the painting itself. Enjoy!