Self-Portrait Final Critique

I finally finished up my collage self-portrait.  Well, let me re-phrase that.  I finished it for the critique, and now after the critique, there are a few things I need to go back and tweak.  Most of my time was spent on the face.  The work was tedious, to say the least; I chose to rip up all those little pieces instead of cut them.  I have never done a self-portrait so it was definitely a learning experience.  I explored my face in the mirror and tried to feel my way over all the angles and curves.  It turns out that the self-portrait doesn't really look anything like me, but that is quite alright; I think it turned out being more about the process anyway.  I thoroughly enjoyed the process.  I was looser than I have ever been before working on a project.  I was messy and not at all precise.  I am really pleased with the way the face turned out.  I was concerned in the beginning because it wasn't shaping up like I expected it to.  That is until I started adding darker values.  Once I finally began that, the whole piece started coming together.  I had to go back and forth between the hair and the face, and then the shoulders and the hair to get a believable and nice balance of values and visual weight.  During the in-progress critique, it was suggested that I might add a really subtle gray-blue in the eyes to break up the monotony of the neutrals.  I did and completely agreed with the suggestion.  It's just blue enough to be different, but not so blue that the eyes become the focal point.  I am still unsure of the neck and shoulders.  I tried to taper the tiny strips over some thicker, darker strips to unify the face and neck.  Most of my peers like it so I may leave it.

Overall I got positive feedback:  it looks like I put a lot of time into it; the value adds dimension to the face; the scale shift in the strips on the face, hair, and neck are a nice contrast.  The suggestions:  perhaps intermingle the various strip sizes so it looks less quadrant-like; really push the hair by adding more curls; re-evaluate the eyes, situate them more so they look less stylized, and perhaps use the same tiny strips of paper from the face to shape the eyes.  I also got the comment from a peer that the portrait made her skin crawl.  I thought that was hilarious, considering that the face is made up of thin strips, resembling some sort of slinky bug.

Once I get the piece back, I will address the suggestions that I was given and see if I can finish it up once and for all.

Andy Goldsworthy - Rivers and Tides

Today in Variable Topics in Drawing we started watching Rivers and Tides (2001), a video following Andy Goldsworthy, a site-specific sculptor and land artist.  I've already seen the video twice, but it hasn't gotten old yet. 
In the video, Andy's musings are so personal!  He seems so in touch with himself and with nature.  One of the things he said that really touched me was that "taut control can be the death of a work."  For the majority of the time, I am precise, organized, and extremely controlled in my artwork.  I almost constantly have on hand scissors, tape, a ruler, and a Sharpee pen, my choice tools for an exacting work method.  I have found, especially this last year in college, that this particular work method of mine has killed stone dead many of my art ventures.  Sometimes it works to have a plan and to carry it out.  However, I'm beginning to learn that my creativity is at its best when I don't impose upon myself such strict rules and ideas that I unconsciously stifle my creativity and imagination.  Art is often about the process and the evolution of the piece and not always about the final product.  In constructing one of his cairns of stone that took quite a few tries to complete, Andy talked about how each time he had to start reconstructing the cairn, his understanding of the stone grew a little bit more, and that each new attempt he got further than he had before, until finally he completed the cairn.  In the same way, if I allow myself to explore the process of creating a piece of art, getting to know my materials and deepening my own understanding of the concept, my success in creating the piece will be more than I could have imagined in the first place.

A perfect spring day

Here are some photos I took this morning.  With clear blue skies, the sun rising, and dew still on the ground, it was a perfect opportunity that I just couldn't pass up.

Self-Portrait in words

The task:  In a series of 25 images - written out with as much or little description as you like - create a self-portrait of yourself.

1.  Christ as my core - He determines everything that I am and everything that I do.
2.  Silence
3.  Gentle and quiet spirit
4.  Curly hair, courtesy of Dad; blue eyes, courtesy of Mom
5.  Somewhat resilient
6.  A perfect spring day
7.  Lots and lots of sunshine
8.  Outside, outside, outside
9.  Encouraging others/others encouraging me
10.  Hugs, HUGS, hugs
11.  Diet Sundrop = "life juice"
12.  Fitness - energy, health, releasing of negative emotions
13.  I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you...just say it
14.  Home-making - cleaning, cooking, decorating, organizing
15.  Stiff tear ducts - cold-hearted?  I hope not.  Resilient?  Not in check with my emotions?
16.  Peter Pan
17.  Look, look, look - at pictures, books, magazines, nature, architecture - INSPIRATION
18.  "There was an old owl who sat in an oak.  The more he heard, the less he spoke.  The less he spoke, the more he heard..."
19.  COLOR
20.  Reserved, uptight?, modest, restraint
21.  Love, love, love, love stories - Anne of Green Gables, Pride & Prejudice, Emma
22.  Language - word origination, new words, beautiful words, beautiful descriptions
23.  Gardening - dirt, water, plants, smells
24.  Running
25.  FAMILY

Gridded

This is a little experiment I did in my sketchbook the other day.  I drew a grid, then took two colorful magazine pictures and cut them up using the same grid pattern.  Then I glued the pieces down, alternating the pieces from the two pictures.  This is how it turned out.  The colors are vibrant, the pattern is interesting.  I must admit that when i try to separate the two pictures with my eyes, I get confused.  I think I'd like to try some more, perhaps some different patterns and different color schemes.  I also might print some of my own pictures and cut those up.  It would definitely make it more personal.

3/22/2010 - Third day of spring

The trees in the UNCG parking lot are blooming and are absolutely gorgeous!  It seems that they sprung to life just over the weekend.  The bigger ones are white and from a distance, look like they are covered with fluffy cotton balls.  The smaller trees are blooming pink, with deep red interspersed here and there where some leaves have sprouted.
They're all so full of life and hope and promise!  It's invigorating, inspiring!  It makes me want to plant something or start something new.

In-Progress Self-Portrait

The class:  Variable Topics in Drawing/Collage
The professor:  Barbara Campbell-Thomas
The project:  make a self-portrait exhaustively investigating the potential of line, mark, and value.  Employ collage heavily as you "construct" your portrait - constructing being a means of conveying an idiosyncratic version of yourself, not merely an adept visual equivalent.  Ponder how collage's propensity toward fragmentation and juxtaposition might be useful to you in creating a self-portrait.
The photo of my in-progress self-portrait:

The analysis:  I enjoy the tactility of the portrait, the feeling of glued paper - stiff, wrinkly, crinkly.  The ripped edges of the paper lend to its messiness, as does the visible brustrokes produced by the glue mixed with charcoal.  I also love the size (it's obviously not to scale in the photo; it's size is roughly 4' x 5').  My tendency is to work very small and tediously.  I feel with the size of this piece and the nature of its creation I have been able to loosen up a bit.  It's nice to do something out of my comfort zone.  With that, as always, comes trouble too.
I have a little trouble with scale at this size.  Plus, I've never done a self-portrait so placement of my facial features is not coming easily to me.  However, thanks to the nature of the project, I can literally cover my mistakes and rework what I don't like.  I don't like my nose or mouth.  I really need to rework that area.  I use the terms nose and mouth generally because I don't actually have a defined nose and mouth.
Last class I began adding "curly hair."  At the moment, I'm a little unsure about it.  I may add a little more and gradually cover it up until some is poking through here and there so that it's not such an obvious feature.
Definitely still a work in progress.