Self Portrait
Title: Self Portrait in the Blue
Size: 91.44cm by 91.44cm Medium: Acrylic Paint on a Canvas Completion: April 2024 Exhibition TextMy self-portrait Self Portrait in the Blue was inspired by the artist Vincent van Gogh self portrait paintings, Self-Portrait, and Self-Portrait with Straw Hat, and color theory. The intentions behind my Self Portrait in the Blue was to explore the relationships between colors, also known as color theory. Considering I wanted to explore color theory it led me to van Gogh’s work as he often worked with bolder colors, along with using the impressionist style of smaller visible brush strokes.
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Inspiration
Vincent van Gogh was a post-impressionist artist. Post-impressionism was an art movement that lasted from 1886 to 1905. The post-impressionism movement came after the Impressionism movement. The purpose of post-impressionism was to reject the strict objective of impressionism, which was the objective of capturing nature by portraying certain lighting and colors. Artists such as van Gogh didn't like its objective. So, the post-impressionism movement took on more expressive subjects and objectives while still keeping the pureness of color. Van Gogh was known for his expressiveness, using and applying bright, bold colors in his pieces. Looking into his self-portraits, he made 35 self-portraits. Van Gogh wanted to enhance his technique of painting people. However, van Gogh often resorted to painting himself rather than models because he couldn't find any, and buying new materials to create a whole new painting was expensive for him. He would resort to reusing the back of previous paintings.
Seen in his self-portraits, he uses line, color, and value. The line is created with a single brushstroke, which is often the technique used in both impressionism and post-impressionism. As stated previously, van Gogh used to express himself and his inner feelings, and combining color with value gave his self-portraits a level of depth, creating a three dimensional form to look more realistic to the shape of a person.
Another inspiration to my self portrait is Color Theory. Color theory is how colors interact with each other, and evoke emotions out of the viewer. Certain colors are tied to a certain meaning, red often relates to intense emotions, yellow relates to positive, and blue correlates to calm. Red, yellow, and blue are primary colors and when mixed together great secondary colors (orange, green, and purple), then when secondary and primary colors are mixed they create tertiary colors. All these colors create different emotions because of the hue, value, and saturation. Because my theme is relationships, I wanted to explore the association between emotions evoked from color, and how layering of colors create a form. Also exploring how colors interact with each other add to the harmony of the piece. Different ways to better the harmony of a piece is to understand the color wheel, there are different methods to do so; Monochromatic (uses one color and create different shades and tints), Analogous(Is using three colors sides by side on the color wheel), Complimentary(Using colors opposite from each other, for max contrast), Split-Complimentary(Add a color from either side of the complementary color to soften the contrast), Triadic(three colors equally distant from each other), Tetradic( four colors, two sets of complimentary), Square (four colors evenly spaced apart), and Warm and cool colors.
Seen in his self-portraits, he uses line, color, and value. The line is created with a single brushstroke, which is often the technique used in both impressionism and post-impressionism. As stated previously, van Gogh used to express himself and his inner feelings, and combining color with value gave his self-portraits a level of depth, creating a three dimensional form to look more realistic to the shape of a person.
Another inspiration to my self portrait is Color Theory. Color theory is how colors interact with each other, and evoke emotions out of the viewer. Certain colors are tied to a certain meaning, red often relates to intense emotions, yellow relates to positive, and blue correlates to calm. Red, yellow, and blue are primary colors and when mixed together great secondary colors (orange, green, and purple), then when secondary and primary colors are mixed they create tertiary colors. All these colors create different emotions because of the hue, value, and saturation. Because my theme is relationships, I wanted to explore the association between emotions evoked from color, and how layering of colors create a form. Also exploring how colors interact with each other add to the harmony of the piece. Different ways to better the harmony of a piece is to understand the color wheel, there are different methods to do so; Monochromatic (uses one color and create different shades and tints), Analogous(Is using three colors sides by side on the color wheel), Complimentary(Using colors opposite from each other, for max contrast), Split-Complimentary(Add a color from either side of the complementary color to soften the contrast), Triadic(three colors equally distant from each other), Tetradic( four colors, two sets of complimentary), Square (four colors evenly spaced apart), and Warm and cool colors.
Planning
For my self-portrait, I wanted to paint a portrait of myself when I, the subject, is shown in my "average" state of emotion or how people often perceive me from how I look. I frequently tend to carry mad, annoyed, and serious facial expressions, even though they may not always be how I feel. I wanted to take some reference photos that captured the essence of those emotions. I took a series of images, but figures 1, 2, and 3 most accurately portrayed the emotions intended.
Another goal for my photos was to use natural light, which most complemented my features, then use more harsh indoor artificial light. At first, I took pictures outside covered in sunlight. However, the light was too overpowering on some of my features. I decided to move into my bedroom because I have one big window for natural light. After taking a couple of photos inside, I felt the natural lighting in my room was complementary to my features. In terms of the scenery of the background, I wasn't concerned about how it looked in the photos because I was not planning on painting the background, only the subject. To keep it looking true to my inspiration from van Gogh, I want to use a contrasting color background to emphasize the subject.
When it came to posing for the photos, I took dozens of photos; figures 1, 1.2, and 1.3 thought best showcased a certain facial expression while still giving me a variety of angles to choose from. To dive deeper into the pros and cons of each photo: In Figure 1, some pros were the way the hair was laying on me, how the lighting was hitting my face, and I appreciated the silhouette of the side profile. However, I liked the side profile, but it needed to show more of my face. Figure 1.2 My pros were the color of my hair, which showed I liked the contrast because it would add more depth to my painting. I liked the perspective in which the viewer would see the face because it wasn't straight on, nor was it a complete side profile; I also liked there was more shadow on the face because it would add more form to the painting. My one con was the lighting in this picture; I wanted it to be brighter, similar to Figure 1. However, I could intensify the paint saturation if needed later. Lastly, in Figure 1.3, my pros were the lighting; I liked how it gave my face a natural glow in some parts but still left some shadow to emphasize the form of the face. The con for Figure 1.3 was that I didn't like the perspective of my face, I didn't particularly appreciate how it was a full-on headshot, and I wanted to depict a slight angle of my face. Considering all the pros and cons, I ultimately went with Figure 1.2, mostly because I liked the angle I was positioned and the value of light shown on the face.
Another goal for my photos was to use natural light, which most complemented my features, then use more harsh indoor artificial light. At first, I took pictures outside covered in sunlight. However, the light was too overpowering on some of my features. I decided to move into my bedroom because I have one big window for natural light. After taking a couple of photos inside, I felt the natural lighting in my room was complementary to my features. In terms of the scenery of the background, I wasn't concerned about how it looked in the photos because I was not planning on painting the background, only the subject. To keep it looking true to my inspiration from van Gogh, I want to use a contrasting color background to emphasize the subject.
When it came to posing for the photos, I took dozens of photos; figures 1, 1.2, and 1.3 thought best showcased a certain facial expression while still giving me a variety of angles to choose from. To dive deeper into the pros and cons of each photo: In Figure 1, some pros were the way the hair was laying on me, how the lighting was hitting my face, and I appreciated the silhouette of the side profile. However, I liked the side profile, but it needed to show more of my face. Figure 1.2 My pros were the color of my hair, which showed I liked the contrast because it would add more depth to my painting. I liked the perspective in which the viewer would see the face because it wasn't straight on, nor was it a complete side profile; I also liked there was more shadow on the face because it would add more form to the painting. My one con was the lighting in this picture; I wanted it to be brighter, similar to Figure 1. However, I could intensify the paint saturation if needed later. Lastly, in Figure 1.3, my pros were the lighting; I liked how it gave my face a natural glow in some parts but still left some shadow to emphasize the form of the face. The con for Figure 1.3 was that I didn't like the perspective of my face, I didn't particularly appreciate how it was a full-on headshot, and I wanted to depict a slight angle of my face. Considering all the pros and cons, I ultimately went with Figure 1.2, mostly because I liked the angle I was positioned and the value of light shown on the face.
Process
2My first step in the self-portrait was making the canvas it would be painted on. First, I put together four wooden parts that make up a frame of 3ft x 3ft (or 91.44cm x 91.44cm). I cut a square canvas sheet several inches bigger than the frame when the frame was put together. I then laid the frame roughly in the middle of the canvas sheet, folded it over one side of the canvas, and, using a staple gun, stapled the canvas to the frame and repeated for all four sides (Figures 4 and 2.1). When all the sides were stapled, I moved to the corner. However, so the canvas would lay nice on the frame, I had to fold the corners a certain way; I folded two sides in and then over the top of the inner fold (Figure 2.2), and repeated for all four corners, then the construction of the canvas was done (Figure 2.3). Next, I had to prep the canvas to be pained on; to do this, I had to gesso the canvas. As seen in Figure 2.4, the gesso will give the canvas a white base. I gave the canvas a couple of layers of gesso, then sanded it down when it was all dry to smooth out any clumps of dried gesso. (figure 2.5).
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First, I placed the canvas on my easel, making it as straight up as possible. Then, I plugged the projector into an outlet and hooked it up to a laptop with my image on it. When the project was up, I adjusted the focus and distance the project from the canvas. Then, I started tracing color, shadow, light, and shape areas. When all was done, I was left with a detailed image outline, ready to paint. (figure 3) |
The first step I wanted to compete for my self portrait was the skin tone, as I felt it would be the most difficult on account of the variety of tones for my skin. Looking at a blank canvas, I felt intimidated to start, so to combat this feeling I mixed my base skin tone with water to do a light wash over the face (Figure 4). I started layering the paints on the bottom left side (Figure 4.1). However I was not happy with the look, so I decided to start painting the forehead, and work my way down (Figure 4.2). To paint the forehead, I used paint with more of a yellow undertone.
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When I was done painting the forehead, I moved onto painting the nose and upper eye area. For painting the nose area I used paint with pink understands, and occasionally adding brown to darken certain areas (Figure 4.3). For the upper eye areas I did a mixture of layering both yellow and pink undertone paints, depending on how I saw the light interacting with my skin. (Figure 4.4)
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Next I worked on the chin area, for my chin I used very pink undertone paint (Figure 4.4), then I used what was left on that paint for my cheek area (Figure 4.5). I then worked on the shadow of my left jaw line, layering darker paint colors with undertones of blue. and started bringing that same shadow out on my neck (Figure 4.6). The final area to paint to finish the skin, was the neck. For the neck I used very similar colors as I did with the forehead, because the undertones for my neck were more yellow. I just kept layering the paint until I felt it formed my neck with the accurate lighting. (Figure 4.7)
While working on the skin tone, I took breaks to work on other parts of the face such as the eyes and lips. In Figure 5 I started laying the colors of the iris of the eye, the colors were a mixture of pure blue, with colors varying to turquoise. Next I worked on painting the eyeball, (Figure 5.1). For the eyeball the paint colors ranged from white, grey, to more red pinks, this applied for the left eye. For the right eye, Figure 5.2, I used the same colors as the left eye, however no pink as the pink parts were not showing at this angle. For the lips, I used more warm tone pinks (Figure 5.3), with the tone being a little bit more cooler and darker towards the outer lips, (Figure 5.4).
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For the jacket I knew mixing colors would be easier than what I have already done, however I knew that replicating the lightning would be difficult. I stuck with the same colors for the whole jacket, black, white, and paynes grey, I also mixed them together to add more value and form to the jacket. I decided the best approach to painting this jacket would be in sections. I started with the flap of the collar, which was a significantly darker shade then the rest of the jacket (Figure 6). Then I moved down the jacket to the buttons and where the light was most hitting the jacket. Here is where I used most of my lighter paint colors I mixed, I more specifically used paynes grey over black, and the paynes grey had a more blue tone to it (Figure 6.1). Then I moved onto painting the shoulder part, which similar to the collar, was very dark, I used the color black to make the slight vary in tones (Figure 6.2). Lastly for the jacket I had to paint the right side of the jacket, the inner part I used black, and for the outer lighter part I used varying tones of paynes grey (Figure 6.3).
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Next I moved onto the shirt, and the jewelry. I found these to be the easiest things I have painted. The shirt was easy because I didn't need to add many contrasting shades of grey, because in the reference photo the shirt was mostly solid white, (Figure 7). The jewelry was easy because there was less space to paint. However I did think making the right undertone for each necklace was sort of difficult. Because Figure 7.1 undertone was more green, while the second necklace in figure 7.2 was more yellow. Figure 7.3 also had more yellow undertones, just with more variety of shades.
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While painting my hair I found this very difficult, mostly because there were different shades and tones throughout my whole hair. I found it easiest to start just layering the colors. I started by layering the darkest sections of the hair and moving to the lightest sections. My hair has a more cool tone to it, so while mixing the varying tones, I would mix in a little blue. |
The final step of the painting was painting the background. From the beginning I knew I wanted to do some variety of blue, for two reasons. One because blue compliments my eyes, and two because I wanted to use a color that represents and evokes certain emotions. I chose blue because it is also associated with the emotions of clam, and sadness, emotions of which that have greatly impacted my life. The variations of blue are more so for visual aesthetics, I varied the tones based on the lighting in the background of my reference photo. For this all I did was just layer big strokes of different blue shades until my canvas was filled and I was left with figure 9.2.
Experimentation
For my painting, the only experimenting I really did throughout this whole process was mixing the right colors for each section of the painting. The first experimentation of colors I did was finding the best base skin tone I could use where any skin was showing. Prior to mixing the paint, I knew I had pink undertones to my real skin tone. So when I first mixed the skin tone, I combined Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Yellow, Ultramarine Blue, Alizarin Crimson, and titanium white. The first swatch was way too red, and too dark. I added more yellow and white, progressively I got to the base skin tone outlines in brown in figure 10. Next I needed to mix colors for my forehead area, because I knew I had pink undertones I added the Alizarin Crimson and white to the base skin tone, however I realized it was to pink compared to the reference photo. I decided to try Cadmium Yellow and it better matched the photo. Next I needed to make the colors for my upper eyes and nose area. For my nose area I could clearly see in the picture that there was lots of pinks, and red browns. So I mixed those colors, I mixed Alizarin Crimson and Burnt Umber for the darker shadows of the nose, it added a good contrast. I also added Cadmium red for a more warmer toned pink around the nose area. After comparing my nose area paint, to the forehead paint, this gave me the realization that different parts of the face can have slightly different undertones. Lastly in figure 10, I swatched the colors I used for my eyes. At first I used straight Ultramarine blue and white because I assumed that was the color of my eyes, however when I compared it to the reference photo, I realized that I needed to
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make the color more green. I added both yellow Orche and cadmium yellow, and it fixed the color problem. I Used white and paynes grey to change the tones and shades. I also experimented with two of my colors, black and paynes grey because I couldn't quiet see a difference, when I added white I noticed a difference in their undertones, paynes grey had a more blue cool tone, and the black had a natural tone.
Next in my color swatches, in figure 10.1 swatches color for the chin and lips. The reason I kept these swatches together was because both used pink tones. The only difference was that the lips had more cool tone and a darker contrast in shape. For the chin I took the base skin color I made, added white, and Alizarin Crimson for a pink tone for the chin, I added more of the Alizarin Crimson to darken it. I then realized that the pink tone for the chin was to cool tone, to fix this I used the Cadmium red and mixed it with the base skin tone for a more warm tone. For the lips I used some of the same colors, but made them darker, and for certain parts of the lips more cool tones using more of the Alizarin Crimson, and to neutralize the pink I added burnt Umber. Moving onto the hair, this I found to be one of the most difficult to mix colors for, because in my reference photo my hair has many different shades and tones. At first I thought my hair was more warm toned, however when I started layer the colors I realized that it was to warm, and that it was more cool tone. To change the tone I added Ultramarine Blue. For my hair highlights I thought I could keep the same brown/blonde color and add white, however it looked to grey. I decided to try adding some Cadmium Yellow, and that brightened that highlighted area of hair strands to look more accurate to the picture. The next color swatches were for my necklaces. Prior to making the swatches I thought I could use the same few colors I mixed for all three necklaces because they're all gold. However when I looked at the picture I noticed that each necklace had a slight different tone to it. The middle herringbone necklace had a slight green gold undertone. while the mini top chain necklace was more pale yellow undertones. Then the pendent necklace was more of yellow Orche gold tones.
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Lastly, of the color swatches in figure 10.2 I swatched the background colors. I knew I wanted the background to have varying tones of blue. my first initial blue tones I used on the painted was the last line of swatches in figure 10.2. When I layered them together I felt that it was lacking some other element of color. I wasn't sure what color to do, so I referenced my research of color theory from before and looked at the color wheel and decided to do the analogous. Instead of doing three colors I stuck more to two. I decided to do a more green blue / teal color to help the background. In the first line of color swatches in figure 10.2 I used ultramarine blue, with yellow Orche, and Cadmium Yellow. For the green color on the far right, I used more yellow Orche to better define the green color.
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Critique
Comparing the medium of my self portrait to van Gogh's self portrait, I used acrylic paint on canvas, while van Gogh used oil paint on canvas. The difference of the oil and acrylic is that oil is easier to blend, and takes longer to dry. However, even though acrylic can be slightly more difficult to get a smooth blend, I didn't mind on account I was layering strokes of paint. I also liked using acrylic paint because the paint strokes dried faster, so I could layer more taking less time. Keeping on the topic of brushstrokes, a comparison between my self portrait and van Gogh's self portraits is the way in which we laid the brushstrokes. The reason the brushstrokes was important to the composition of the paintings, is because it showed some movement, and formed certain features. For instance, in all three self portraits the brushstrokes start closer to the nose under the eye and fan out in a slightly curved stroke to show the shape of the under eye and the eyeball. More specifically the strokes I used for the jacket, and most of the skin appears to have a more blended look, similar to van Goghs Self- Portrait with Straw Hat. However there are other parts of my self portrait that do not appear to have a blended look such as the hair and the background, where the viewer can clearly see the layering of the different colors. These aspects are also similar to van Gogh's Self-Portrait, as the background while has smaller strokes than my self portrait, the viewer can still point out the different colors, again same idea applies to the hair in his piece where the color variations are visually noticeable. Moving onto a contrasting aspect between my self portrait and van Gogh's is the colors used. Van Gogh used a variety of colors, specifically more brightly saturated colors, such as oranges and red for his beard with contrasting green for shadows, yellow and blue under the eyes to showcase the lighting and tones of his skin. Conversely in my self portrait I don't consistently use bright colors to contrast the lighting and differing tones. I stick with the basic skin tone, or other base tone for that section, and change the undertone to the point of it being noticeable. For instance, for my under eyes I used my base skin tone added white and a hint of yellow, then for the inner Corner of my under eye I added hints of blue, but no where near as bright and bold as van Gogh used colors. However in terms of color use, van Gogh also use colors that expressed his emotions, in a similar way I did the same but for the background. I wanted to pick a color to represent a state of calmness but also sadness, so I mixed variants of blue, as blue is often associated with those emotions. Overall when comparing my self portrait to van Goghs, I wish I was more bold with the colors.
Reflection
In this self portrait I refined skills I have previously learned, such as how brushstrokes matter to great movement and form. Also the mixing of creating accurate skin tones and other colors. While at first mixing the right skin tone was difficult, as I kept painting I started to develop a better understanding of how colors interact with each other and would appear when looking at them. I developed as an artist because I had to make myself trust the process, because while painting the skin specifically I wasn't happy with how it was looking. However I had to remind myself I was layering small brush strokes to build up the form and lighting, doing this really tested my patience with the process. My inspiration for my self portrait was Vincent van Gogh and the style of his self portraits, and I would say they connect because of the overall composition of the piece of brushstrokes, and certain colors that represents the artists emotions. My biggest challenge throughout this process, was mixing skin tone, and trusting the process of layering the paints. My favorite part of this process was I enjoyed painting the jewelry, and the background. While my least favorite part was mixing all these different variants of colors to add contrast and show form, I found this to be very difficult. I hope others view my work and experiment with different art movements and techniques they never thought they were capable of doing, and looking into color theory.
ACT
- My inspiration of Vincent van Gogh affected my work by the use of brushstrokes and how certain colors were used
- Using bold colors to contrast certain aspects of features, along with the layering of colors to visually appear different colors.
- I discovered that there are different methods used to determine what colors would look best with certain colors based on what a person desired by looking at the color wheel, and how colors bring out different emotions in people when put next to other certain colors
- My central idea around my research and inspiration was exploring colors and how they interact
- I inferred while researching that the overall appearance of a paintings color will look slightly different from a far then up close
Bibliography
Institute, Art. “Self-Portrait | the Art Institute of Chicago.” The Art Institute of Chicago, 2016, www.artic.edu/artworks/80607/self-portrait.
Interaction Design Foundation. “What Is Color Theory?” The Interaction Design Foundation, 2008, www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/color-theory.
The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. “Post-Impressionism.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 1 June 2018, www.britannica.com/art/Post-Impressionism.
Van Gogh Museum. “Van Gogh’s Self-Portraits.” Van Gogh Museum, www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/art-and-stories/stories/all-stories/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-van-goghs-self-portraits.
“Vincent van Gogh - Self-Portrait with Straw Hat.” Www.pubhist.com, www.pubhist.com/w16819. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.
Interaction Design Foundation. “What Is Color Theory?” The Interaction Design Foundation, 2008, www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/color-theory.
The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. “Post-Impressionism.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 1 June 2018, www.britannica.com/art/Post-Impressionism.
Van Gogh Museum. “Van Gogh’s Self-Portraits.” Van Gogh Museum, www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/art-and-stories/stories/all-stories/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-van-goghs-self-portraits.
“Vincent van Gogh - Self-Portrait with Straw Hat.” Www.pubhist.com, www.pubhist.com/w16819. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.