Self portrait Project

Due to my limited time I chose to use the Google Art Projects Site for this project. First, I chose Self-portrait with hat and veil by Paula Modersohn-Becker from Gemeentemuseum  because it appears to be a mom wearing a hat.  This reminded me of the many hats I wear in my day to day life.  I somehow wanted to get that idea across in my self-portrait because I feel it is so much of who I am. The self- portrait by Geun Taek Yoo from the Korean Art Museum Association is very abstract.  I chose that one because I knew that my self-portrait would in no way really resemble what I actually look like.  I’m not artistic in that way.  I planned to make my self-portrait represent me, not look like me.  Finally, I chose Self-portrait with Knickers by Sarah Lucas from the British Council.  I’m not really sure what inspired me on this one but I kept coming back to it so I decided it must mean something. After looking it over I think I chose this one because it is placed outdoors.  I love nature and being outside.  This inspired me to make the background of my self-portrait a nature scene.

Self-portrait with hat and veil by Paula Modersohn-Becker

self- portrait by Geun Taek Yoo

Self-portrait with Knickers by Sarah Lucas 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I must admit when I saw that we had to create a self-portrait I got a little nervous.  I can’t paint or draw anything! Then I saw the option for a collage and I knew right away that would be a good choice for me.  I also do not like pictures of myself so I wanted my self-portrait to be abstract.  That fact that I don’t find myself artistic posed a challenge for me.  However, I am good with technology and I used this to my advantage.  I found images on Google that could express features of me and, more importantly,  about me.  Some of these I grouped together on the computer, others and simply cut and glued for my total piece to come together.  This self-portrait now represents who I am and what I feel I need to be.  I’ve included my physical traits, blue eyes, brown curly hair,  but also the hats I wear.  I don’t mean it to sound like I’m bragging though with the “trophy wife”, “best mom” and “employee of the month”.  On the contrary, I feel like those are the roles I need to play and I try to live up to them all.  On the top right I added an illustration of a favorite children’s boo,  Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina.  This represents my goal of becoming a teacher in addition to representing my wearing of the hats.  The forest path on the left expresses my love for nature but also my question as to whether returning to school in my late thirties for a teaching career is the right path for me.  I found that I did enjoy working on this even though I was nervous about it at first.  I took some time to really look at myself as well.  My final artwork impresses me.  As I’ve stated I don’t find myself to be artistic.  However, art is in the eye of the beholder and I feel like this piece came out really well.  It is a non-traditional piece but as we have learned in this class art can be any number of things.

My Self Portrait-My Hats and I

While working on this project, I needed to consider elements of art and  principles of design.  I wanted to be sure that I kept the parts of “my face” in proportion and balance, even though I was going abstract.  I wanted to keep the whole piece balanced but not symmetrical.  I thought about the color of the shades skin tone and decided I didn’t need that to be exact matches. I liked the variation it added.  When arranging the hats I tried to keep them in balance as well and keep in mind how much space on the paper my portrait and the hats used up.  The fact that it is a collage, adds  bit of texture.  I considered adding mass by using yarn for my hair but then decided that would not give the look I desired. The hats stack to create a rhythmic pattern of sorts. 

That's Me