Self Portrait
Inspiration
I wanted to base my self-portrait on an artist that I could really connect with, and with one that I thought really communicated my style. My artistic inspiration is an Australian Contemporary artist named Emma Uber. She paints incredibly colorful and vibrant pastel works of faces. She paints mostly very feminine faces that blend in with strokes of popping color, shapes, and flowers in the background. The strokes, drips, and smears of colorful and thick paint bring life and attention to her work. Emma Uber paints both the faces of people that she knows and faces of people with collected mismatched features.
I had an immediate connection with her work because when I look at her portraits I literally see my personality, so I think that choosing to base my self-portrait off of her paintings was a good idea because I could connect with my peice. I love how she incorporates flowers in the hair and patterns like stripes and wallpaper like designs into the background and on the clothing. I also like the way she brings together all different blotches of color to shade the faces and subjects in her portraits.
I also like how many of the expressions on the faces of those in the portraits are neither happy nor sad, but somewhere in between. Shes able to create a sense of the unknown and a dream-like state by painting expressions like this.
I had an immediate connection with her work because when I look at her portraits I literally see my personality, so I think that choosing to base my self-portrait off of her paintings was a good idea because I could connect with my peice. I love how she incorporates flowers in the hair and patterns like stripes and wallpaper like designs into the background and on the clothing. I also like the way she brings together all different blotches of color to shade the faces and subjects in her portraits.
I also like how many of the expressions on the faces of those in the portraits are neither happy nor sad, but somewhere in between. Shes able to create a sense of the unknown and a dream-like state by painting expressions like this.
Fauvism
Vlaminck, M. D. (1905). The Potato Pickers [Painting found in The Fauvist Movement]. In Keithgarrow.com. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
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Fauvism was an art movement primarily in the early 1900s. Fauvism means “wild beasts” and was made up of a group of french painters that liked earlier artists ideas of self expression. Fauvist artists like Henri Matisse used bright colors to show light and space and used pure color as a way of communicating emotion. This art movement placed importance on separating color from the idea that it had to be representational and descriptive, and allowed it to be its own individual element on a canvas. Fauvist artist also value composition and expression.
I was inpirated to incorporate a fauvist style with a style like Emma Ubers together. I wanted to use fauvist strokes mostly in the background and around my face. |
Brainstorming
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When brainstorming for what I wanted my piece to look and feel like, I knew that I wanted to create something that was expressive of my personality and overall self. This is why when I was looking for artistic inspiration, I was looking for an artist that reminded me of myself. This took a lot of searching, but when I found Emma Uber, I knew I wanted to create a piece like hers. I started by creating some planning sketches of what I wanted my painting to look like. The first two show my first idea of how i would position my face and hair. The first one of a close up of the shading I would do around the mouth and nose area. I knew that I wanted to carry Uber's style of positioning flowers around the head to my piece. You can see that I drew them into the second planning sketch. This sketch is the one that I decided to recreate because I like how it's not a completely symmetrical front on view of my face. I also chose to so something like this because I wanted the challenge of shading and proportioning my tilted face right.
My second idea, as shown in the third sketch is more face on, and my head would rest on my hand. I didn't like this one because having a hand in the portrait seemed too posed and I wanted it to be more natural. The fourth sketch was just an idea of how I would shade and place different bright colors around my eyes. Not only is this an aspect of Emma Uber’s portraits, but I also really like to emphasize my eyes. |
Process
I started my portrait by stretching canvas on a frame and using staples to secure it. The next thing I did was apply gesso to the canvas. This created a base for the acrylic paint. Once this dried, I mixed a pink-red base color out of red and white acrylic paint and applied that all over the canvas.
After painting the reddish base on the canvas, I took photographs of myself that I would later project onto the canvas using a projector. Using the projected image, I was able to trace all lines on my face and hair to get correct proportioning. I found this method very accurate IF you make sure the light isn't hitting the canvas on an angle. When I first started tracing, I noticed that it was on an angle, so my face was warped. I changed the height of the easel to the height of the projector to fix this. Once I started to paint the image on my canvas, I worked on giving my face light and shadow using light and dark skin tone colors. This created a base, and made it easier to get the exact shape of my face. Next, I added shadows on my face using a more grey color around my cheek and nose. I also started to apply color around my eyes to look like Emma Ubers portrait. I used the same colors by the eyes and in the background as Uber. I shaded my arm and chest using large strokes of these bright colors so that the background could be more Fauvist-esch. After I had gone over the whole face with a wash of one color to make it less bright white, I started to work on the hair. I tried to paint my actual hair color on the top and then have it fade into the bigger strokes of yellows, blues, and greens torwards the bottom. I also added flowers that intertwine with the hair and are the same color as the lines on the bottom. I wanted to create a pretty exsotic looking peice and so I used bright colors like yeloow, green, and blue on the red background. |
Experimentation
The first time I tried stretching canvas, the four sides of the frame were not even, and so my canvas came out warped. The next time I tried it I made sure that they were all straight.
When I started my peice, I was unsure as to which colors I wanted to use in the background. This picture is a picture od when in the begninning I thought I would stick to a more red pallete of colors. The first thing I did after tracing my face was start to build up the background using pinkish and purple tones of red. Eventually, I decided to go with different colors and so I painted over this. When I began painting th face, I had used extremly bright colors for arounf the eyes and lips, and once I had painted more arounf the face, I felt that thing was too bright. I also felt like I had contoured my face a litter too much to be replicating the style that I was. To fix this, I painted over the whoel face with a light wash of the same color. I belive that this and toning down the lips and eyes brought the features together and made my face look more suttle and less clown-like. |
Reflection
Overall, I think that my peice connects pretty obviously to my inspiration. I usedc bright colors and different strokes. In the beginning, I felt tthat my peice was too sperated from istself because of the difference between the face and the body. To fix this, I made the face all one color and blended the hair into the background, bringing colors on the bottom up into the hair and face. The colors arounf the eyes also helps to create a oneness within the peice.
I also think that I did a good job at communicating my personaltiy within the peice. It looks exsotic and bright. It brights out more of the inside me, and I like that. One thing that I would change is how different the strokes are between the background, bottom, and face. I do however think that having it the way I do communicates my artistic inspiration.
This peice has helped me to develop my skills when painting. Firstly, I learned how to stretch a convas. I feel that this is a very valuable skill that I will use for the rest of my life. Another thing that I did was learn how to blend acrylic paint better. I needed to be able to effectively blend on my face.
I enjoyed painting my self portrait, but I would have rather worked with a smaller convas. Next time, I want to try using different materials.
I also think that I did a good job at communicating my personaltiy within the peice. It looks exsotic and bright. It brights out more of the inside me, and I like that. One thing that I would change is how different the strokes are between the background, bottom, and face. I do however think that having it the way I do communicates my artistic inspiration.
This peice has helped me to develop my skills when painting. Firstly, I learned how to stretch a convas. I feel that this is a very valuable skill that I will use for the rest of my life. Another thing that I did was learn how to blend acrylic paint better. I needed to be able to effectively blend on my face.
I enjoyed painting my self portrait, but I would have rather worked with a smaller convas. Next time, I want to try using different materials.
Connection the the ACT
(1) How are you able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork?
My inspirations was really the foundation for my peice. One can see how the style of my self-portrait is largely similar to that of Emma Uber. There is also a strong connection between fauvism and the backgroud/hair/chest of my portrait. I wanted to create a peice that integrated two different styles of art work together. My inpiration caused me to create a peoice with these two different styles, and also caused me to use many bright colors.
2) What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
I feel like both Emma Uber and many Fauvist artists felt very free about their work and used their art as a way to express themselfves. Emma Uber has very bright-but-still-calm and free-flowing peices, and I really wanted to send the same message in my ow self-portrait.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
While researching Emma Uber, I learned that she was rejected from many art galleries even though I look at her work with such admriation. From this, Iv'e learned that a lot of people think that art has to be a certian way.
4) What was the central idea for theme around your inspirational research?
The cenral idea or theme regarding my inpirational reasearch (Emma Uber) is celebrating feminity and self-expression.
5) What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I made an inference that Emma Ubers work is very calm, peceful, and cheery. I got this feel when I looked at her work and while researching, because I dont really see and twisted darkness in her work or anything.
My inspirations was really the foundation for my peice. One can see how the style of my self-portrait is largely similar to that of Emma Uber. There is also a strong connection between fauvism and the backgroud/hair/chest of my portrait. I wanted to create a peice that integrated two different styles of art work together. My inpiration caused me to create a peoice with these two different styles, and also caused me to use many bright colors.
2) What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
I feel like both Emma Uber and many Fauvist artists felt very free about their work and used their art as a way to express themselfves. Emma Uber has very bright-but-still-calm and free-flowing peices, and I really wanted to send the same message in my ow self-portrait.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
While researching Emma Uber, I learned that she was rejected from many art galleries even though I look at her work with such admriation. From this, Iv'e learned that a lot of people think that art has to be a certian way.
4) What was the central idea for theme around your inspirational research?
The cenral idea or theme regarding my inpirational reasearch (Emma Uber) is celebrating feminity and self-expression.
5) What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I made an inference that Emma Ubers work is very calm, peceful, and cheery. I got this feel when I looked at her work and while researching, because I dont really see and twisted darkness in her work or anything.
Citations
Emma Uber – Pastel Portraits of Women. (2015). Retrieved December 08, 2016, from http://www.featherofme.com/emma-uber-pastel-portraits-of-women/
Emma Uber. (n.d.). Retrieved December 08, 2016, from http://www.studioremy.com/emma-uber.html
Fauvism Movement, Artists and Major Works. (n.d.). Retrieved December 05, 2016, from http://www.theartstory.org/movement-fauvism.htm
Emma Uber. (n.d.). Retrieved December 08, 2016, from http://www.studioremy.com/emma-uber.html
Fauvism Movement, Artists and Major Works. (n.d.). Retrieved December 05, 2016, from http://www.theartstory.org/movement-fauvism.htm