Evaluation - Symbolic Self Portrait

I will now do an evaluation of my painting, discussing what was good, how it is linked to Frida Kahlo's technique or style, and what I can improve for next time.


What was good?
What I think was good, was how I used different symbols in my painting to represent my interests, my religion and my culture. The blue to purple shading, represents my favourite colour - purple. I think I managed to do this quite well, after demonstrations from the teacher. The "Om" signs on the other half of the background represents my religion - Hinduism. A beautiful, soft colour, with many signs on top. And the "bindi" (red dot on the forehead), and my traditional dress represents my culture - India. I have also added other symbols to the painting, such as the heart necklace (it is easy to understand what that is for) and my use of make-up, as I like to wear make-up and dress beautifully. I believe with these symbols, I am able to fully represent me, even though the image of me doesn't look the same.
Even so, there are some aspects of the painting that I like, such as my eyebrows that really defines my own eyebrows, and typical Indian ones. I also like the colours which I chose for my traditional dress (sari).


How was it linked to Frida Kahlo's paintings?

Similarly to Frida Kahlo's painting, I have placed myself in the middle of the canvas, as most other self-portraits. Frida Kahlo applies a lot of her culture and religion in her paintings, which is also something I did for my own. This is not present in this painting, although the painting below, shows a traditional dress, probably Mexican that defines her culture. Even so, what I have I have chosen to apply in my own painting from this one to the right, are the many symbols that is surrounding her body. Mine is simpler, but still includes many symbols of various aspects of myself. In addition, Frida Kahlo has chosen to make a necklace out of sticks in this picture, maybe to show that she is connected to nature (as seen with the leaves and animals in the background as well). For my painting, I used a simple heart to show something that represents me.
She as well, used many shades of green in the background, which can be connected to the shades of purple in my own painting.


What can I improve for next time?
I myself am not very pleased with the outcome of my painting, and when I asked others what they thought of it, I mostly received answers on how to improve it - not what was good. It does not look like me, especially concerning the outline of my face , nose and mouth, in addition to the hair. My face was a little too oval shape, and realistically my face is more round. My nose became too big, and so did my mouth. My hair was too thin at the top, compared to the bottom. I think my main reason for why it was not successful, was that I did not use my real photograph when applying the shading, and also when I was to trace the photo first in the grids on a A3 sheet of paper, I changed my mind to have it up-right instead of slanted, and changed my hair as well. This lead to me thinking about how it looked instead of seeing it right in front of me on the piece of paper. I think I should have taken another one, and followed it through. Even so, the hardest part was to transfer the outlines on the paper onto the canvas, and because I had to lift my paper each time I made a line to check if it was good, I might have moved the paper so that the new line was not according the the other one. This is an aspect to improve.
Also, my skin-colour was different for each lesson, as I had difficulties to mix either the same colour, or a better skin-colour. I did not always remember what colours I had used, and therefore ended up using at least half hour to mix this colour each lesson. Mixing colours is another aspect I will have to improve for next time.
I should also work on my shading, and use my photograph to do it.

- Anisha

Last lesson

Thursday was the last lesson we were allowed to work on it, or in other words: it was the due date. I think I managed to complete my painting, although I am not very happy with it. I did the eye-lashes (looks like I have mascara on), my nose, my mouth (I just changed the colour of it), the rest of my dress and added finishing touches. I was not really stressing, although because I am me, and I stress - a lot - that was very unusual. Still, I completed it. That should be plus plus plus for me :-)

I will now do my evaulation, even though Mr Roman has not yet added the picture of my painting on his blog, so I don't remember exactly how it is. I will try.

- Anisha

An extension! :D

At our lesson today, we were to finish our self-portrait, although because nobody would manage to finish it today (or some would, but they would have rushed) we got one week's extension again!! That is very good, as I can now focus entirely on each aspect of my painting instead of rushing, which I was doing at the beginning of the lesson.

I have finished the background, and also found a very nice skin-color - with help from Mr. Roman and Marta. I have also painted the mouth, the eyes, and the hair. The "sari"  - Indian traditional dress - is almost finished.

The skin-colour which I chose last week became too dark than it really is. I also did this because I when I was putting shadows on my nose, it became too dark, thick and long so I had to redo it. I also did it round my mouth, which I wasn't supposed to do. The easiest was just to cover the nose up and apply new skin-colour around the mouth and re-start. I haven't restarted to do the nose yet, but the mouth I have started with. The reason for why I chose really red-pink lips, is because I absolutely love that colour on my lips, and I love the aspect of make-up. That is why I will make my eyelashes look like I wear mascara.

My first half of the background, I completed last week - with the several shades of purple - and I have completed the other half today. I have inserted many purple/blue "Om" signs onto the other half, on top of off-white colour and it looks really cool! The culture and religion is the features which I have used from Frida Kahlo's techniques of painting, with the "Om" sign and also the sari. The sari is the Indian traditional dress, which I have painted purple and red. I will also use some yellow next time on it.

My idea about having many objects that represent me around me, I have not done, because I would like it to be very simple. Although in my drawing of myself, I did include a necklace with an elephant, which I have managed to cover up with skin-colour on the canvas. When I am completely finished, I will paint the necklace on. I first have to put shading to know where my neck actually starts and end.

I am actually very happy with it, even though I don't think it looks like me. I have done my best. Maybe, after I have placed my nose, and added my eye-lashes, it will start to look like me :)

- Anisha

Almost finished painting background!

I have now finished one half of the background, where I painted shades of purple, as it is my favourite colour. I didn't include a lot of different colours, as I think I already have enough of my culture and religion with my Indian suit, the "bindi" on my forehead, and the "om" sign which will eventually be painted on the other half of the background on the canvas.

In addition to this, I mixed a different skin colour which suited more to my real colour, and painted this on. It became too dark, which means I will have to mix more white in it. The due date for this is next week, meaning that I have to work fast in the next lesson to be finished. I still have a lot of painting to do.

Unfortunately, I did not take any photos today, so I am not able to show you the progress.

Transfered sketch onto canvas

I have now transfered my sketch onto the canvas, using the graphite paper method. I am actually not very happy with the outcome, because it does not really look like me. I should have used another picture to draw, which would make it much easier for me. I have also started to paint the skin, and I will try to fix my painting as I go along. This makes it easier for me, because I have done it before and it has worked. Just crossing my fingres that it will work!

When I am finished with painting my face and body, I will focus on the background where I will add my culture and tradition like Frida Kahlo does in her paintings. The "om" sign will definitely go on there, and maybe a lot of colours which can represent the indian festival "holi".
- Anisha 

Frida Kahlo's Self Portrait

I decided to research the artist Frida Kahlo, as I found her self portrait very interesting and very neat. It has some characteristics that makes it look like Frida, such as the eyebrows and possibly her mouth, which looks the same as on the image below. Her expression is also the same on many of her paintings, and is what signifies her.

She uses a lot of traditional and cultural features in her paintings, which is what I definitely want for my painting, as my culture and tradition means a lot to me. She also painted mostly painted Mexican art and culture, realism, symbolism and surrealism.

On this painting, she has carefully painted all the details of what represents her, such as the leaves, stick jewelry around her neck and the animals - all symbols of nature. I have noticed that she has a strong connection with leaves especially, as I have seen three other self portraits of her with leaves in the background.

She has used different green colours on the leaves, and she has included shading which makes the whole painting slightly realistic, but still we can see that it is a painting. Overall, it is very neat and is a fantastic self portrait, in my opinion.

What I like about it, is the way she has placed herself in the middle, with things that represents her, around and on her. That is something I would want for my own portrait, but not so much. I like it simple. Also how she has made the whole painting complete.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frida_Kahlo
- Anisha

Almost finished with the sketch :)

I have now done most of what I wanted to do with my sketch, and I feel that I am ready to print it onto the other A3 canvas. The only thing left, is to adjust the mouth because it is a little close to the nose, and also it is very small. I have decided to have my face and body straight, instead of to the side, because I feel that it can be a lot better and neater if it is straight. What I can do, is to rotate the sketch so that it looks like the face and body is straight, and then transfer it onto that thing.
Here is the picture of my latest sketch: