Self Portrait
"I'm Au Naturel "
Medium: Acrylic on Stretched Canvas
Size: 3 ft x 3 ft
December 8, 2016
Exhibition Text
Karen Armenta
I'm Au Naturel, 2016
Self-Portrait
This acrylic on canvas self-portrait is dedicated to express the theme of obsession and self-identity. The intention of displaying myself as a half naked subject was to spread a message about nudity and the representation of women's beauty. Much of the Impressionist style from Edgar Degas, Bernini’s Self Portrait as a Young Man, and Alphonse Mucha influenced I'm Au Naturel 's technique of blending, brushworks and overall style. Art Nouveau plays a role in the decor and themes of the work.
I'm Au Naturel, 2016
Self-Portrait
This acrylic on canvas self-portrait is dedicated to express the theme of obsession and self-identity. The intention of displaying myself as a half naked subject was to spread a message about nudity and the representation of women's beauty. Much of the Impressionist style from Edgar Degas, Bernini’s Self Portrait as a Young Man, and Alphonse Mucha influenced I'm Au Naturel 's technique of blending, brushworks and overall style. Art Nouveau plays a role in the decor and themes of the work.
Artistic Inspiration
"Blue Dancers Tapestry." - Degas Wall Tapestries. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.
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By Submitting the above You Agree to The Art Story Privacy Policy. "Alphonse Mucha Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works." The Art Story. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.
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"File:Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Self-portrait, C1623.jpg ..." N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.
My artistic inspiration for this self-portrait was mostly Bernini's Bernini- Self Portrait of a Young Man. Originally, I had been inspired to create the same splotchiness effect that Edgar Degas had in his Blue Dancers, only I had also wanted to keep it in the same style as Bernini's self portrait. Both of these artists have similar techniques when it came to blending and style so it was obvious that I had to choose both as influences towards my artistic inspiration. On top of that, I had also wanted to include much of the Art Nouveu floral patterns and colors, like in Seasons by Mucha. For this particular piece, I combined all three styles and assigned them to significant parts of my piece so that it mde it more meaningful and impactful.
Impressionist artists mastered the techniques of smooth blending and gradients to create the illsuion of depth and definition. They used lighting to their advantage to create a more life-like reality into their works. They also found a way to add color and vibrancy to their works and gave impressions of objects to give them meaning. Much like Impressionist painters, I wanted to recreate that sense of reality and manipulate the light perceived in the picture that I took when recreating the picture of me. I wanted everything to go together regarding the blending, the light composition, and the life-like feel to it. Degas understood the crucial impact that these characteristics had in artworks and put it to full use. In other works of his, Degas uses light perception and the colors of day to show a set moment in time. Much of his paintings look like colored photographs.
For the Art Nouveu movement, I wanted to imitate the serenity of the flowers and feminine quality of their works, much in like Seasons by Mucha. I thought this style would go very well with my theme of the representation of women's beauty. Since Art Noveau featured mostly females, I thought it would be a nice touch to include this style to my feminine piece.
Planning
I had come up with three sketches, all focusing on myself and the different perspectives of my face and hair to represent a different emotion. I had three: the feeling of feeling beautiful, the feeling of being shy but aware, and the feeling of not having a care in the world. I also knew I wanted to be naked to go along with the kind of message I was trying to get across. I ended up going with the feeling of not having a care in the world and looking like myself because that to me gives it a much more personal connection, considering the things hapenning in my life.
Sketches
Sample Poses
I took different pictures of me in different poses to go along with my sketches. I knew I wanted my hair to be a main focus of my self-portrait because I felt that my hair was one of my traits that stood out the most, besides my eyes and big smile.
Process
After creating the frame of my canvas, I quickly went to work with applying gesso and painting on the solid color for my background.I then transferred the image of me onto my canvas andd outlined the areas of differen shades and highlights on my face and hair. I then took my canvas home over the Thanksgiving break and began forming the basic shades of my face before blending skin tones and adding highlights and shading.
Over time, I fixed my errors regarding proportion and color switch ups and I added more and more, and little by little. I used the picture I went with to guide me through the process of replicating myself from the picture. I had asked for critques along the way from different people and that made me have an idea on what things to change. There were times where for me, everything looked fine, but from another person's perspective, something could be tweaked. Eventually I added the flower decor around the edges of my canvas one finishing my face and body.
Over time, I fixed my errors regarding proportion and color switch ups and I added more and more, and little by little. I used the picture I went with to guide me through the process of replicating myself from the picture. I had asked for critques along the way from different people and that made me have an idea on what things to change. There were times where for me, everything looked fine, but from another person's perspective, something could be tweaked. Eventually I added the flower decor around the edges of my canvas one finishing my face and body.
Experimentation
I tried practicing my blending technique and mixing different colors to test out what I had to work with. Since the last time I painted was when I was a sophomore, I thought it would be beneficial to remember the certain techniques I was taught previously. Furthermore, I had experimented with shading and blending with certain parts of my face, specifically my nose, lips, and cheeks. I also played with how I was going to show the flow and movement of my hair, since my hair was one of the main focuses in my self-portrait.
I also tested out how I could improve certain parts of my face because they looked unproportional and unrealistic. My goal was to make my self portrait look very similar to myself and make it seem proportional and realiztic by creating the illusion of depth and form.
I also tested out how I could improve certain parts of my face because they looked unproportional and unrealistic. My goal was to make my self portrait look very similar to myself and make it seem proportional and realiztic by creating the illusion of depth and form.
Reflection
After finishing my piece, I got a lot of feedback and critiques based on the message I was trying to send to my audience. Peers questioned why I had used myself as a representative for my theme and my response was because I fell victim towards the many aspects of my theme. I wanted my piece to be a self-portrait that included my own personal connection and that others couldn;t relate to thoroughly, I wanted them to question it all because I wanted to see how they really felt about my theme. Because of these results, I think that my theme was thoroughly communicated through my self-portrait. My theme, once again, was based on obsession with one's self, the representation of women's beauty, and the self-identity of people.
My technique mirrors much of Bernini's Self Portrait as a Young Man, from which I had drawn much of my inspiration for technique and appearance. The heavy shading and transitioning of blending colors and tones were very similar to Bernini's and I tried to add a twist with Degas' use of technique as well. Degas' brushstokes had a splotchy effect in Blue Dancers, and I had intended to make my piece more 'messy' like his works, but I ended up focusing more on blending. In fact, I hadn;t really noticed that I was blending because it was more instinctal than intentional. I believe Degas' influence of my works is seen in the shading of my piece, where the darker areas of tones are seen.
I was really satisfied with the outcome of my painting. In a way, my piece stands on its own, but also shows the influences my artistic inspiration had on it. This painting was better than what I had anticipated, but if I were to do this again, I would take much more time on the flowers I had painted on the corners of my canvas. I would have also made a floral pattern/design for the background to contradict the darkness of my background with a bright floral print.
My technique mirrors much of Bernini's Self Portrait as a Young Man, from which I had drawn much of my inspiration for technique and appearance. The heavy shading and transitioning of blending colors and tones were very similar to Bernini's and I tried to add a twist with Degas' use of technique as well. Degas' brushstokes had a splotchy effect in Blue Dancers, and I had intended to make my piece more 'messy' like his works, but I ended up focusing more on blending. In fact, I hadn;t really noticed that I was blending because it was more instinctal than intentional. I believe Degas' influence of my works is seen in the shading of my piece, where the darker areas of tones are seen.
I was really satisfied with the outcome of my painting. In a way, my piece stands on its own, but also shows the influences my artistic inspiration had on it. This painting was better than what I had anticipated, but if I were to do this again, I would take much more time on the flowers I had painted on the corners of my canvas. I would have also made a floral pattern/design for the background to contradict the darkness of my background with a bright floral print.
Connecting to ACT
Identify cause and effect relationships between your inspiration and your artwork.
The different techniques from my inspiration influenced me to recreate the same techniques onto my own self-portrait, and went well with the themes I wanted to imburst into my art.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
I feel like their approach is to use symbolism in everything they paint and that is something I wanted to achieve in my painting, even to the littlest of things.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I concluded that many people still judge over the topic of nudity, seeing that many of my peers debated over my own piece, trying to decipher if it was appropriate or not.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea/theme among my inspirational reseach was about the representation of women's beauty, self-identity, and obsession.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I inferred that creating the same feelings you want in a piece could end up creating a different emotion than what was intended because of how people experience different things from certain points in times of their lives.
The different techniques from my inspiration influenced me to recreate the same techniques onto my own self-portrait, and went well with the themes I wanted to imburst into my art.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
I feel like their approach is to use symbolism in everything they paint and that is something I wanted to achieve in my painting, even to the littlest of things.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I concluded that many people still judge over the topic of nudity, seeing that many of my peers debated over my own piece, trying to decipher if it was appropriate or not.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea/theme among my inspirational reseach was about the representation of women's beauty, self-identity, and obsession.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I inferred that creating the same feelings you want in a piece could end up creating a different emotion than what was intended because of how people experience different things from certain points in times of their lives.
Bibliography
"Impressionism." Impressionism. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2016.
White, Veronica. Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680) | essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of art history | the metropolitan museum of art. The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, 2000. Web. 14 Dec. 2016.
White, Veronica. Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680) | essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of art history | the metropolitan museum of art. The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, 2000. Web. 14 Dec. 2016.