a r t w o r k : s e l f p o r t r a i t
Title: Self Portrait
Size: 91.44 x 91.44 cm Medium: Acrylic Paint on Canvas Completion: April 2019 Exhibition Text:
My first actual painted Self Portrait, shown to the left, is made from acrylic materials on a hand-stretched canvas. Using the unique artistic abilities of France painter Helene Delmaire, I develop a self portrait that shows only some bits of myself while also excluding others. It might as well be a representation of how I'm not my full self yet; using direct inspiration to the way Delmaire likes to execute her several "Eyeless" series paintings.
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Inspiration:
Artist In Focus: Helene Delmaire
Helene Delmaire is a painter located in Northern France that creates, by majority, oil based paint works. She pushes at the usual aesthetics of artwork in her radius, using different types of brush stroking methods to disfigure the figures in focus from being more universally exquisite than personally. She words it as follows, "The subject is often swallowed or hidden by its pictorial environment; truncated or erased with a swipe of the brush. The face and the eyes, the commonly named windows to the soul, are turned away or masked, turned towards an inner world that can never be wholly communicated to another, despite a shared depth. Paradoxically, the discovery of this inner world comes when personal identity is let go of."" |
Above, to the left, is my main inspiration from her work. Ths series it is formed from is called "Eyeless", and I wanted to try and replicate the rough brush stroke background while also using the mode of shmearing paint over the girl's face to formulate that alike concealment in both of our works.
The pieces to the right, both still from her oil paint series titled "Eyeless", were minor inspirations towards my final product. I use alike darker hues and color variations to the farther right piece while also using the color mess and mix of the closest right one in our top coat brush stroke. To be quite honest, all of Delmaire's pieces became major inspiration for me. Her artwork is just inexplicably incredible, so I tried to my best to test it on my own.
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Planning:
Around this text lies a breakup of my main planning page. For the self portrait, I felt that I didn’t really need that many planning sketches, as I’d be projecting my chosen photo (which will be shown later on below) onto the canvas with a projector. However, as seen more directly to the right, I did sketch out a quick face of mine from my experimentation photos to get the gist of what it’d look like on a blank canvas.
I wanted to look irritated, in a way, but also leave an open opportunity to later on cover up different parts of me. Doing the left eye was a struggle for me, so I was already thinking that’d be where I’d plant my top coat brushstroke. |
Close Up of My
Journal/Planning Page |
To the right you can see me specifically draw out the right eye, as this one would most likely (as it did) be open to the viewer to see. This meant I had to make this one pop out, really have that sort of emphasis on my art piece through hue choice and outline of bolder black.
Next to that photo is me already covering up what would be covered with that final stroke. The open areas would be areas I’d have to truly try hard on executing well enough. |
Journal/Planning Page 3
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Experimentation:
The following are photos I took of myself to analyze facial expression patterns, and to practice drawing emotion into my sketches.
Here was me playing around with facial expressions and poses so I could connect back to the look of my artist's piece.
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The image above is the one I'm going to replicate onto my Canvas
These photos were all taken in day lighting, as to fully capture my features clear enough. I tried to do different facial expressions that really captured my personal mood swings, but ended up going with the one above because of how irritated I looked. That’s just how I was feeling in the moment, and I liked how my right eye looked the most.
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Just a reminder, most of my experimentation happens during the process. It’s hard to do this beforehand, so I’ll explain as I move into that portion of this page. There was a lot of experimentation.
Experimentation with Medium: Acrylic Paint
Admittedly, working with paint is one of my hardest mediums in art. I recall painting a lot during my sophomore year for art class, and doing work that wasn’t… too great, perhaps it was generously notable, but it wasn’t anything I was very proud of. This is why I had to experiment a lot with my way of mixing colors, the style I’d place paint onto canvas and the brush choice I’d use to do so. A lot went into creating this self portrait (seriously, I still find myself tweaking stuff the more I look at it), and I learned so much on paint etiquette through this process that it’s almost beyond my belief.
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Process:
My first task was to stretch a 3ft by 3ft canvas to use for my self portrait. I gathered the following materials:
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Although not pictured, I gathered together a thick paintbrush and gesso so I could easily apply gesso onto my, now fully stretched, canvas. This would secure the material so it’d be easier to paint on, and I applied two coats to enhance this claim.
Next, now focusing more to the left, I used a projector to project the image I took of myself (that was placed into an editing app to look more sketched out) onto my large canvas. I carefully traced every little line and detail onto the canvas. This insured me getting placement of features correct while also giving me a later sincerity on where to paint and where not to paint. My face would take up the majority of my canvas for this self portrait, as it’ll be the piece that has the most emphasis. |
It was finally time for me to start painting, so I decidedly (using the guidance from fellow YouTube artists that paint quite a lot) started on my skin. This was the hardest part of my entire self portrait. I am not exactly skilled at blending or successfully making skin tones look realistic through paint, so I played around a lot with browns, whites, pinks, and so forth to create my ideal skin tone. I ended up purchasing a peach skin acrylic paint, and applied a lot of white to it, so I could finally get my pale features correct. I began from the nose, using a flat paint brush, and then moved into my cheeks and forehead with a large wash brush. I dipped its bristles in water to spread an equal amount of peach around my face, but while also considering the layer of skin tones that capture the texture in Delmaire’s art piece. I touched up some parts with white to highlight different areas of my face, while also using brown to create a more realistic skin look.
Choosing to move on from working with my skin was hard (again, this was my most difficult part, so I kept having a constant inner conflict with my abilities to do good), but I chose to move into painting my eyes and glasses. The eyes were a mixture of blue and yellow acrylics, touched with white to lighten it, and I think I captured my actual eye color perfectly here. I outlined the eye with a thin liner brush in black, using a delicacy to not smudge anything, and then continued towards my glasses with the alike hard black. |
Before doing the hair, as this would soon overlay the background, my focus went directly on the execution of an alike outside look that Delmaire’s piece had. I created this odd looking light brown and white tone by using just that, also mixing it with grays and darker browns for color variety and overlap. I used a thick wash brush again and did long strokes around the background to produce this alike style and texture of her work. I created a sense of harmony in overlaying colors onto other colors, and soon enough I had a background closely linked to Delmaire’s to the left.
Hair was next on my list (mind you, I let these dry day by day so I wouldn’t be working on fresh paint), so I used a mixture of browns, blacks, yellows, and whites to produce this. My mother suggested I went with my original brown tinted hair because I dye my hair so randomly. I began by covering the hair in a lighter brown first (using both my brown, yellow, and white paints to produce this). I took note on line to do long, delicate strokes down my head to create that hair look on the painting. You have to let the bristles do the work more than you to create this detail, so I moved along my face carefully with my round brush (later switching to a large wash brush again). Repetition of these alike brush strokes would occur each time with the color variation.
Of course I made little touches before doing this next part, but it was finally time to apply the last stroke/paint chunk on my work to fully link back to Delmaire’s pieces. I wanted to cover the left side of my face more than the right (say its me not liking how the right turned out more than the left and you’d be correct), but I wanted it to also communicate my final message of covering up half of myself. |
With painting, I honestly wasn’t ready to try my hand at a full face for everyone to view, I’m not there yet as an artist, so the brush stroke will represent me being almost all there, but not quite, in this medium region of art. I tried out what I liked on the left, and then began applying the paint on the right with a paint roller and large wash brush.
Critique:
This next area will be comparing one of my artist inspiration's, Helene Delmaire's, "Eyeless" oil painting series works to my own.
Similarities May Include:
- We're both place a somewhat direct emphasis on a female figure. For Delmaire, hers is a female with short hair, and, with me, mine is myself (another female in centered with short hair and young features)
- We both cover up the faces of our figures in some way to connect back to some sort of message. My piece directly infers me not being all ready yet, being halfway there, while hers tries to eliminate human features |
to make the figure more symbolic than anything. They both serve some sort of purpose for being there over the main female.
- Delmaire and I fall simularly on the way our backgrounds are painted. This is a more obvious inspiration, as I really wanted to try a hand at using layering in paints and types of brushstrokes to do an alike messy background to hers. Mine are softer, however.
- Delmaire and I fall simularly on the way our backgrounds are painted. This is a more obvious inspiration, as I really wanted to try a hand at using layering in paints and types of brushstrokes to do an alike messy background to hers. Mine are softer, however.
Differences May Include:
- Delmaire's pieces are primarly created using oil paints, mine were created with acrylics. I'd directly blame this on my personal limit to other paint materials, but I was also far more familiar with acrylics so working with oil paints would have to wait for another time.
- Her art style and mine, although crossing in some small aspects, differs quite a bit. My painting doesn't have the same amount of roughness as Delmaire's has in its overall configuration; mine is softer, even smoother texture in areas like the face and skin.
- My piece's purpose isn't really to de-human myself, quite the opposite actually. According to Helene Delmaire's personal art site, she chose to cover the facial features of the people in her works to make them less personal, less realistic to instead make them figures of nothingness. They become more random and less personal, while my piece is to demonstrate my growth towards soon enough being able to uncover my whole, true self. My piece is more self-identity orientated than anything.
- Her art style and mine, although crossing in some small aspects, differs quite a bit. My painting doesn't have the same amount of roughness as Delmaire's has in its overall configuration; mine is softer, even smoother texture in areas like the face and skin.
- My piece's purpose isn't really to de-human myself, quite the opposite actually. According to Helene Delmaire's personal art site, she chose to cover the facial features of the people in her works to make them less personal, less realistic to instead make them figures of nothingness. They become more random and less personal, while my piece is to demonstrate my growth towards soon enough being able to uncover my whole, true self. My piece is more self-identity orientated than anything.
Reflection:
I've said it quite a bit above, but I'll say it again here in my final reflection; painting is something I'm pretty insecure about doing and my abilities were very limited in this area. That being said, no matter my fear to take on the subject, there's this inner rise in confidence and experience. I felt myself growing with every limitation, with every tiny struggle I had on the way, and, even though I got sick one night because I forgot to air my room of paint toxins, I think this was a great job for being my first ever experience with an enlarged painting. It's growth that's brought me to where I am now, and, to get way too cheesy, I can feel myself entering a soon future where my skill level with painting will only excel further the more I work with it. The piece does represent an "almost" capture at confidence. It's truly a reflection of me almost being comfortable with my painting abilities, but not quite in the sense of the large blotch of paint covering half of myself. One half of me is ready to show itself out to an audience, and, the other half, just isn't there yet and that's okay.
My favorite parts of this to do would probably be in the eyes, I'm better at doing small detail stuff and outlining, and I also liked producing the paint swatch over my face. I have to sincerely admit, if the large paint stroke wasn't there, I'd have a totally different view of my piece. I didn't enjoy doing the skin at all, and I still find myself wanting to tweak the heck out of it every time I look at my portrait. Blending and finding perfect variation is just extremely difficult for me. Overall, as I look over my final piece, there's just this wave of both satisfaction and exhaustion. It took a lot of my time, but I think I've done a great job.
My favorite parts of this to do would probably be in the eyes, I'm better at doing small detail stuff and outlining, and I also liked producing the paint swatch over my face. I have to sincerely admit, if the large paint stroke wasn't there, I'd have a totally different view of my piece. I didn't enjoy doing the skin at all, and I still find myself wanting to tweak the heck out of it every time I look at my portrait. Blending and finding perfect variation is just extremely difficult for me. Overall, as I look over my final piece, there's just this wave of both satisfaction and exhaustion. It took a lot of my time, but I think I've done a great job.
Connecting to the ACT:
1.) Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork:
Helene Delmaire's uniqueness to reshape the normality of modern day painting aesthetics with booming paint stroke patterns and layout was exhilarating. I wanted to replicate a familiarity of those substances in my final piece (both in my self portrait's background hue and texture, and then in the final paint strokes that would cover out main figures).
2.) What is the overall approach ( point of view ) the author ( from your research ) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
She wants to eliminate the personal factors and features that makes one human, covering it up, so they seem more object like.
3.) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
A single paint stroke over a figure in your piece can seriously change the overall meaning and look to it in just a few seconds. It's actually crazy how drastically the tone of my self portrait changed when I put on that final touchup.
4.) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
I'm halfway there to showing my all to the world. I haven't quite reached my full confidence in painting, but I'll reach that point soon enough with practice. I'm sure of it.
5.) What kind of inferences ( conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning ) did you make while reading your research?
Painting is a rough process, sure, but there's an ease in freely painting that other mediums don't quite have and I think that's something we all should capture time to time.
Helene Delmaire's uniqueness to reshape the normality of modern day painting aesthetics with booming paint stroke patterns and layout was exhilarating. I wanted to replicate a familiarity of those substances in my final piece (both in my self portrait's background hue and texture, and then in the final paint strokes that would cover out main figures).
2.) What is the overall approach ( point of view ) the author ( from your research ) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
She wants to eliminate the personal factors and features that makes one human, covering it up, so they seem more object like.
3.) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
A single paint stroke over a figure in your piece can seriously change the overall meaning and look to it in just a few seconds. It's actually crazy how drastically the tone of my self portrait changed when I put on that final touchup.
4.) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
I'm halfway there to showing my all to the world. I haven't quite reached my full confidence in painting, but I'll reach that point soon enough with practice. I'm sure of it.
5.) What kind of inferences ( conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning ) did you make while reading your research?
Painting is a rough process, sure, but there's an ease in freely painting that other mediums don't quite have and I think that's something we all should capture time to time.
CITATIONS ( DONE IN MLA FORMAT )
Helene Delmaire. “Selected.” Helene Delmaire, www.helenedelmaire.com/.
Helene Delmaire. “Eyeless.” Helene Delmaire, www.helenedelmaire.com/albums/blind/.
Helene Delmaire. “A Propos/About.” Helene Delmaire, www.helenedelmaire.com/pages/a-proposabout/.
Helene Delmaire. “Eyeless.” Helene Delmaire, www.helenedelmaire.com/albums/blind/.
Helene Delmaire. “A Propos/About.” Helene Delmaire, www.helenedelmaire.com/pages/a-proposabout/.