YO en Seis Fotografias
Medium: Acrylic
October 2020
25 in by 20 in
October 2020
25 in by 20 in
Exhibition Text:Yo en Seis Photographs is a continuation of "Hoy si me Arrelgle". They are both inspired by Frida Kahlo and the event that's led her to create each artwork based on life events, adding deep meaning to each work only increasing the value. Another artist that I used for inspiration is Paul Gauguin. The theme that art focused on throughout this artwork, is beauty and religion
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Inspiration
Self Portrait in a hat by Paul Gauguin in 1893
Girl with Death Mask (She Plays Alone) 1938.
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Self Portrait with a Palette created in 1894.
Another artist that I used for my inspiration is Frida Kahlo. The artwork that I used is Girl with Death Mask (She Plays Alone), made in 1938. The painting has a theme of death from which no one can escape is taken up. It was painted while Frida Kahlo was mourning the death of her baby by miscarriage. The girl is wearing a traditional mask, that comes from Mexican culture. Known as "The day of the dead". Where death is celebrated and mourn. I used this inspiration in the painting, where my face doesn't have a face. The reason for this is because, the artwork was made throughout covid, and I lost 5 family members in Mexico. This picture was taken at a rosary, gathering where my family mourned at the time, 3 family members. |
A portion of my self-portraits was inspired by Paul Gauguin who was a French Post-Impressionist artist. He was recognized for his experimental use of color and Synthetic style that were distinct from Impressionism. He was also sought to achieve a “primitive” expression of spiritual and emotional states in his work. ". He painted Impressionist landscapes, still lifes, and interiors heavily influenced not only by Pissarro but also by Paul Cézanne, whom he had met through Pissarro. Gauguin adopted and adapted Cézanne’s parallel, constructive brushstrokes; he bought several paintings by Cézanne to study the brushwork more carefully. "(October,2020 ). "The artwork that he made that inspired me to do mine was Self Portrait in a hat by Paul Gauguin in 1893. It is done while he is on his way to a trip to Tahiti, made with an oil base. In the artwork, he shoes himself, .in his Paris studio with Spirit of the Dead Watching in the background"(October 2020). The other artwork that I used by Paul Gauguin is Self Portrait with a Palette created in 1894. " In this picture, apparently done from a photograph, since it shows his brush in the right hand - compare the mirror portrait - he is dressed in the costume described by his friend Armand Seguin (one of the artists of the "school of Pont-Aven"): " " In the picture has about it an air of dignity and repose, and a simplicity, that contrasts with the intensity and bravado, or alternately the irony and suffering found in most of the self-portraits". |
Planning Sketches:
- My planning was made in my mind, I was very indecisive is I wanted to make a huge self-portrait or do a collage of different self-portraits. I concluded that I wanted to do the collage because I could not figure out which selfie to choose, I liked many and I wanted to cry all of them. Therefore I decided that I wanted to do all of them, in the same size it to make them fit, id have to cut down the sizes, but still large enough so the small features and details would be noticed.
- My planning sketches are technically different amount of selfies because I am not a photogenic person, so I spam with 100 pictures just to not like any or only ended up liking two or one.
- Another planning was organizing the pictures and trying to give them the same distance from each other.
- It was also, making sure the size was accurate to the canvas itself.
Process:
- First I had to choose the pictures that I was going to paint.
- Then, I had to print the pictures and put them in google docs, to arrange the sizes, etc.
- Then, I cut the pictures and arranged them, on the canvas, to make sure that was the desired outcome
- Next, I used a technique that I learned during my freshman year which was to scribble the back of the picture, and when I would flip it and trace it the picture would transfer onto the canvas, so that I would not have to freestyle the drawing.
- Before I would trace the picture, I tapped it using blue wash tape, to hold down the picture and avoid smugging.
- After the tracing was done, I began to paint, and mix colors to achieve the desired skin tone.
- Then, I would use blue tape and place it around the painting so wet paint would get on the next painting.
- When it came to painting the artwork, I would always start with the face First, because it would take up the most time, trying to define each feature on the face.
- Them, id move onto the background and add any details
- Lastly, I would do the body.
Experimentation:
- The experimentation that took place in my artwork was, a variety of color mixing trying to achieve a light/dark skin color. I am a very shade of brown and I wasted unnecessary paint trying to get a skin color. The pictures below, show I would come off too dark, and sometimes to light, there was never a "just right" skin tone for me. I even tried using my foundation and mixing it with acrylic but that just made the paint bumpy and it did not give a desirable outcome.
- Experimentation also came with using the right brushes, some were too thick and produced huge lines, this happened twice, and it was with black paint when trying to fo the eyes, so I had to start all over.
- I also did a lot of experimentation on the nose, it was hair to give that hard yet natural contour effect, I always felt like it was not detailed enough, or too detailed, the same thing with the eyes, I felt that's where I struggled the most.
Compare and Contrast:
Differences:
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Similarities:
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Reflection:
Overall the time and work that it took creating the collage of six different self-portraits were worth it. Although I faced many challenged when it came to trying to paint the small features on the face and, match the skin tones. I am still proud of myself because I did not let those challenges get in the way, I pushed forward and moved onto the painting and was able to complete it. Also, I did not let small excuses get in the way either. Even though I did not have enough paint, I found a way, when I could not get the eyes correct, I found a helpful technique. I never gave up and that is what I am proud of my artwork. I do admit my painting skills do require improvement in many selected areas but, I will only improve if I keep painting and that's what I choose to do with, "Hoy si me Arregle", I continued it with "Yo en 6 Fotografias". What I enjoyed the most about the production of this painting was that I had a lot on my mind, and when I would begin to paint because the painting required a lot of concentration I would forget all, my worries as if my stress would go away. The stress that I encountered while doing the artwork was good stress, it was stress that kept me challenged and motivated. I am proud of completing this artwork.
Bibliography
Kang, Cindy. “Paul Gauguin (1848–1903).” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/gaug/hd_gaug.htm (March 2011
(n.d.). Retrieved October 16, 2020, from https://www.gauguin.org/self-portrait-with-palette.jsp