Self Portrait
Loose Marbles
Acrylic on canvas 91cm x 91cm November 2017 Exhibition Text"Loose Marbles" was heavily inspired and based on the work of Mark Greenwalt. The piece deals with the concept of communication and how non-verbal cues and expressions can be used to make judgement and contextual analysis of environments or people. "Loose Marbles" keeps in my umbrella theme of abstraction seeing as it deals with abstract self-image and communication. The background represents a clouded judgement and mindset.
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Inspirational Research
Mark Greenwalt creates across many different mediums the most popular one being paint. He views his images as "found imagery" each one representing something slightly deeper and more complex than it's objectification. Mark Greenwalt views drawing as a way to extract the abstract mind. His images mutate through multiple forms of growth and decay, images formed, deformed and reformed repeatedly. Mark's autobiography was extremely helpful when identifying the concepts and design aspects I wanted to incorporate into my own self-portrait. One of his most prominent stylistic inputs was the curvature of features and unrealistic form. His work very much so appears like their are multiple skulls and features melded together. Additionally my planning sketch began to take the abstract shape of this piece with lines covering surfaces and features stretching unrealistically across the paper. A drawing is a means of extrapolation and I tried to exemplify this. Another key feature in all of his works is the in depth background, each shade and cloudy murk has a purpose and a unique contrast to the work overall. I noticed the base color he used of purple and began planning to produce this in my own work. It is also to be noted that the lines in his piece all move vertically downwards across the canvas with the face have some sideways and curving lines that show the difference between the head and the background. His second piece "Bud In Awe" also inspired my work with more image realistic qualities. Perhaps the most I gained from this second work of art was was purposeful gaze and orientation of the eyes and head. I knew I wanted to implement this additional meaning into my own work and did this in my planning sketches. Finally I looked at the rough texture of the skin and how shading was created by dying skin.
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(Click Images to Expand Them)
"Floating Head", 2014, Mark Greenwalt "Bud In Awe", 2009, Mark Greenwalt |
Drafting and Planning
The first part of my planning phase was creating an inspiration page. The bottom right image depicts research on the artist paired with a few of his works and a demo of what my background will look like. I was brainstorming the wash color and shades of brown to be implemented in the work. Next I did my first planning sketch, which quiet literally a sketch of an image of me. The upper left image was meant to give an idea of what non-realistic form might look like. The upper right image was actually my first "for sure" sketch. I planned on using it in my self-portrait, using somewhat distinct features like the glasses and open mouth to convey abstracted form. Looking back on this idea I see the flaws in it's initial realistic shading and fully proportional facial features. The sketch in the bottom left was my final sketch, it was done in charcoal pencil as to provide more free and rigid form in the piece. I really liked the double nose, wavy and hazy eyes, expressive mouth and finally the nearly lopsided head. As an attempt to stay close to the style of Mark Greenwalt I started the sketch by overlaying and carbon-copying a photo of my face and then reforming my face over it multiple times... At least five.
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(Click Images to Open Enlarged View)
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Process
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Experimentation
Now unlike most other artworks I've done I typically don't do an entire as an experimental practice piece... But the self-portrait project ended up being a bit different. Initially I planned on using a sketch in which I was wearing "clout goggles" this has a bit too do with other forms of communication and expression as I mentioned in my exhibition text, but mostly dealt with style and abstract imagery. I started the painting with a light purple/blue hue and covered the canvas in it. I then began adding smooth and rough browns, tans, oranges and reds to the background. I do not like how it turned out as rough, not layered, and overly blended across the canvas. I was attempting to replicate the cloudy and murky look of his work but failed to do so properly, leaving long strands of blended color but no real action. Another mistake made was dabbing the brush with paint on it to create rough clouds. This did not work, I needed to first wet the brush and then create a wash and spread that across as a layer. The smoothing may have looked somewhat aesthetic but it was not what Mark Greenwalt would've done. After re-analyzing Mark Greenwalt's "Floating Head" I decided to do another sketch of a potential face. I decided I need to change the motion, background, and facial features and figures of the painting. Unfortunately I needed to restart my painting in order to achieve this.
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Process
As aforementioned under experimentation I did do two paintings for this project, this is the second and final painting. This process started off with a planning sketch done in charcoal pencil. The sketch was free form and explicitly abstract. The next step in the process was building a frame. The self-portrait project requires you erect a frame and canvas. Following this was tightening and stretching the canvas using gesso. After applying gesso to the canvas I mixed the background color which was 2/4's white and 1/4 red and a 1/4 blue. I covered the canvas in this shade and then began sketching my face unto the canvas using a projector to overlay the direct sketch. Following this I began doing some background work using a palate knife to overlay massive globs of paint and creating bubbling and pulling effects. I used washes of browns to create hues without sacrificing other colors in the background as well. Next was ensuring my face matched that of Mark Greenwalt's "Floating Head". I worked very closely with his work and my own face during the sketching of my face onto the canvas. When painting my face I was sure to provide a light base coat and then apply the brown hair on top. The facial features were done with long dragging motions, this was done with many layers. The first facial feature I painted was the mouth starting with extremely dark browns and moving on to lighter skin tones. Once the lips and dark internal matter were in place I went over them with splotches of light skin tone. I gently spread the skin tone out and around and then added maroon red over the top and blended that together. While blending was important I also wanted to ensure that some color was left distinct and not altered as to maintain the abstract personality of the piece. The next facial feature I worked on were the eyes. The eyes required many layers as to achieve the yellowed and distorted shapes and shades. Unfortunately I ended shading the eyes in an inverse manner. I would have preferred the right eye to have been the darker eye and the left eye to have been the lighter yellow eye because of the way the shading and lighting falls on the face of the figure. Next was the addition of the nose, the nose was meant to be shaded with dead skin similarly to Mark's "Bud In Awe". I did this by tracing two nose shaped forms and distorting the second form. The final portion of my paint was outlining the features with a dark grey using a smooth and downward motion. I did this around the mouth and ears.
Reflection
Over all I am fairly satisfied with my work, in particular my background for the piece, however I do not believe I achieved my goal of fitting into the style of Mark Greenwalt. Mark has a way of fluidly improvising multiple forms into one facial feature or face, mine felt jagged and out of place. The most helpful and useful technique I applied in this piece was that of layering the background and facial imagery. Without layering the piece would've appeared bland without context or unique color fields. One of the largest drawbacks from the project was my first painting. My first painting had limited layering in the background and no layering in the face. Additionally it did not meet any of my self-made criterion to achieving the style of Mark Greenwalt. If I were to do more work on my self-portrait I would add more facial layering and define the features more with darker, stronger colors.
ACT Responses
1. Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.
My inspiration caused the idea of formation, deformation, and finally reformation. The goal is to have multiple forms similarly to Mark Greenwalt. The colors used in my portrait additionally were derived from Mark's work.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The information gained about my inspiration was taken from his website and derived from his artist statements. Due to this the overall approach the author had was in depth analysis and justification for a form and mindset of art.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I discovered the generalization of what drawing an image is. Drawing is perceived as the extraction of an object or idea from nature, but I feel my inspiration has redefined it's definition as the extrapolation of the abstract mind.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea around my thematic research was further investigation into abstraction across different mediums. I discovered this through review and heavy revision of work.
5. What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I inferred meanings from Mark Greenwalt's work, inferring purpose and figures from his implied forms and images.
My inspiration caused the idea of formation, deformation, and finally reformation. The goal is to have multiple forms similarly to Mark Greenwalt. The colors used in my portrait additionally were derived from Mark's work.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The information gained about my inspiration was taken from his website and derived from his artist statements. Due to this the overall approach the author had was in depth analysis and justification for a form and mindset of art.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I discovered the generalization of what drawing an image is. Drawing is perceived as the extraction of an object or idea from nature, but I feel my inspiration has redefined it's definition as the extrapolation of the abstract mind.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea around my thematic research was further investigation into abstraction across different mediums. I discovered this through review and heavy revision of work.
5. What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I inferred meanings from Mark Greenwalt's work, inferring purpose and figures from his implied forms and images.
Bibliography
- Mark Greenwalt - Artwork. (2014). Retrieved November 09, 2017, from http://test.hooksepsteingalleries.com/mark-greenwalt---artwork.html