Maestas Deconstructed Self-Portrait

Think about the statement--WHAT is being said?  HOW it is stated (even things as basic as grammar and writing can be taken into account). What are the materials used? HOW did you deconstruct the piece? Does this statement connect with the work? Does the statement itself strengthen/ weaken the work presented? Is there enough being said to actually give you information and clarity?

With my Deconstructed Self-Portrait i trying to say that i have may layers to me. i tend to be pretty shy and closed off, it takes people a long time to get to know me. but if someone takes the time to look past my smile they will uncover the layer that i hide. I tried to portray this by placing 4 small canvas boards on rolled up papers which would be the layers that i hide. with the canvases being placed on the papers it gave a 3-D look to my face. i made my hair, eyes and mouth the most noticeable features, because i feel that they are my best features also they then to be the first things that people see when they first met me. 

 The materials that i used were rolled up pieces of magazine papers, oil paint, acrylic paint and charcoal. i used only blue and orange colors, because they are complimentary colors. Also i wanted it to have a warm happy feeling when someone looked at it. The deconstruction part was using the 4 pieces of canvas and making it seem like you had to stand in a certain spot to be able to see my face as a whole. i think that when you know what the statement behind the self portrait is, it strengthens it as a whole. it makes you look at it differently, with a more open sense of mind. I think that it says what i am trying to portray, but i made it so of course i'm going to know the meaning behind it. i just hope that someone looking at it gets it just even a little bit.

Maestas Plein air

1) What is the emotional tone of the image, and how is this accomplished? What are the objects and what is the space?
The object that i choose to paint is the old church located in Old Town, San Felipe de Neri Parish. i was trying to accomplish an old kind of mystical emotional tone. My Grandparents got married in this church 63 years ago. i did a hatching technique to make the church seem like it was alive. with most of the direction of the hatching done in the surrounding areas around the church is makes the eye focus more on the church instead of what is around it.
2) Is this a balanced composition? How could this further be improved?
I feel like it is a well balanced composition, the main focal point which is the church is placed in the middle. the rest of the buildings take up a majority or space so that your eye freely moves along the painting. it could maybe be further improved by making the church a bit bigger and the patio in front smaller so that the church building is the main object that is seen.
3) Is there volume, space, depth, and texture in both your objects and your space?
i have shadows on the side of the church to give it a 3-D look. the trees could have a bit more depth to them, but i wasn't quite sure how to go about that. there could be more detail added to the surfaces to give more of a textures look. i think the sky has the most texture, because you can see where the sky is starting to lighten with the sun moving.
4) Have you captured a specific time of day? What time is it?
The time of day is around 10 am, i feel like you can tell that the picture was painted during the day but the time may not be as clear. the blue sky could have been a bit more light, but also in Albuquerque the sky at that time is a mid tone blue. so it is a good attempt at capturing that time of day.
5) How could you improve this composition? Give at least three examples.
I could improve this composition by making the trees look more like trees and less like blobs. also i could make the shutters on the church look sharper. the black shadows in the left bottom corner i could have added more detail, so that is was more apparent what was in the shadows and in that area.

Pope - Deconstructed Self Portrait

Nails puncture the canvas board challenging the idea of a traditional painting surface and contributing added surface and dimensionality to the piece. A caricature­-like portrayal of myself in conjunction with an absent mouth draws attention to the seemingly out of place nails which act as a protective barrier between myself and others. A self­-diagnosed introvert, I often find it difficult to connect socially. The physical exertion of piercing nails through the board mimicked the difficulty encountered when bringing myself to utter a few words in an uncomfortable social situation. By filling a balloon full of red house paint and smashing it on the mouth of nails, I was able to physically illustrate the mental and physical strain that can accompany a simple social obligation. 

Schoen - Deconstructed

My self-portrait was designed to show how I perceive limitations in life. The broken border around my painted self is supposed to represent the restrictions I feel when it comes to school or similar things. I can never really open up to new or extraordinary ideas when there are so many requirements for an assignment. But the rare moments that come where there are no rules I can reach out and grasp some of my better ideas. I feel free to go far out there and come traversing back with a new idea in hand. I also added personal touches to the painting. My top favorite colors are green and blue, so those are the colors I decided to paint for the clothes. I am rarely without a cross necklace, so I felt it only natural to add one around my neck. In addition to the mental limitations I feel that come with too many requirements, I included the scars that came with my knee surgery. That operation was a part of a seven-year struggle that took up a good deal of my life. I am still healing so that is why my left hand is still sewing it up.

            The materials I used were reclaimed wood for the frame, with several types of glue and steel staples to hold it together. Most of the body is cardboard, with foam core arms. Red thread and a sewing needle are a part of my knee. The representation of my ideas was cloth. I used oil paints on the once white cloth and acrylic for everything else.

            To make it deconstructed I painted my portrait on the different levels made up of foam core and cardboard. Also, I purposely cut an opening in the wooden frame that allowed the colored strips of cloth to come inside.

Stanley--Deconstructive Self-portrait

Caroline Stanley

Deconstructive Self-portrait

            In this self-portrait I deconstructed my personal narrative. The four parts are what defines me in both others and my opinion. I chose to depict my relationship with my mom gaining inspiration from a phone call I had with her. I used my dyslexia as another source of inspiration. In the other two, I depicted a piece of jewelry I wear all the time and dependability, which represents my personality. I used oil paints on Masonite using palate knives and some brush work. In terms of deconstruction, I wanted to choose aspects of myself that are more narrow and broad. As of now there are two more abstract and more realistic paintings. I think it would strengthen the set if they were all one or the other.

Schoen - plein air

1) What is the emotional tone of the image, and how is this accomplished? What are the objects and what is the space?

My Plein Air project is a low vantage point of the side of my house with a little foliage on the side. The space and emotional tone is flat. The building doesn't feel any depth. Their might be a sense of looming, because the red bricks take up most of the painting, but it is offset by the bright colors.

2) Is this a balanced composition? How could this further be improved?

Since most of the painting is an overwhelming, bright red, I tried to make the green branch and the blue sky just as stunning. With all the colors in your face, it ends up balancing the composition. I suppose I could have added more of the color stripes to the brick, but I liked it how it was, just a wall of red.

3) Is there volume, space, depth, and texture in both your objects and your space?

I tried to make the lines surrounding the branch fuzzy compared to the lines of the house. This way I could give a little sense of depth. Otherwise, the image is pretty flat.

4) Have you captured a specific time of day? What time is it?

I painted during the mid-morning, about 9 to just about 12. The Sun was directly behind me which made shadows very shallow. Also, there was not a cloud in the sky so it was a very, bright blue.

5) How could you improve this composition? Give at least three examples.

I could definitely use more depth. The part of my house that I choose was very simple, which made the majority of my painting flat. Perhaps I could have painted a different part of the house. The board I used was a flimsy thing. I thought it was good enough, but then it bowed. Luckily, I painted on cloth around it, but it looks pretty terrible with that board. Lastly, my three main colors are obvious, red, green, and blue. While I did add little splashes of other colors, perhaps I could have added more.

Stanley- Plein Air

1) What is the emotional tone of the image, and how is this accomplished? What are the objects and what is the space?

The emotional tone of my painting is bright and light. The colors of the aspen leaves dominate the painting and make really intensify the composition. i painted a small forest of aspens and the ground brush.

2) Is this a balanced composition? How could this further be improved?

I believe that my painting is balanced. i feel that what would improve my painting is if i made made the trees stand out more and spaced them out better.

3) Is there volume, space, depth, and texture in both your objects and your space?

My painting seems to not have as much depth as I had wanted. I feel like i could have fixed this by blending the dark green and the orange/reds of the aspens. That is how I was trying to indicate the depth, but it didn't really turn out how I wanted. Also, the tree trunks of the aspens didn't have the texture in them that i wanted. A lot of them looked old and had a lot of the black spots where old branches were. I was hard to show this in such a vast amount of area.

4) Have you captured a specific time of day? What time is it?

I feel like i have captured the mid day time. the space that I was painting was covered by the dense aspen leaves. I did paint under the aspen leaves with the light sky blue to show the time.

5) How could you improve this composition? Give at least three examples.

More detail, more attention to the depth, and less paint.