Notable Self Portraits

Since I'm working on self portraits, I decided that maybe it would be a good idea for me to actually look at some self portraits done by actual artists. My natural starting point was Frida Kahlo--any time someone mentions self portraits, I usually think of her. Admittedly, Kahlo's portraits have a lot more personality (and color) than my own, and she's far more unique in her portrayal of herself than I've bothered with. That said, I'm honestly just trying to get stuff done--I don't really care as much as I should about whether or not it's in some way interesting to look at. Anyway, I like the intensity of Kahlo's stare, and also her use of color and emotion.
Also while browsing through Wikipedia's article on self portrait artists, I found Gustave Courbet's "Self Portrait (The Desperate Man)", which features the artist with such an intense look that I couldn't help but do a double take. Something about that particular portrait marvelously outdid most of the others on the page. It probably had something to do with the panic in his face, and also the fact that he looks kind of like Will Turner from Pirates of the Caribbean, which really threw me off. (I thought it was fanart or something at first, and wanted to know what the heck it was doing in that article.)
Francis Bacon's self portrait was also very unique. I have no idea what he was trying to portray or say with it, but it was interesting to look at. More orignal than most that I came across, that is.
So, um, I've decided that maybe I should have an expression or something on my face next time I draw/paint myself.

New Project

So I had a lousy week in art so far, and I haven't gotten much done. I spent all of Tuesday struggling to draw. Nothing turned out, and I was so swamped with other homework that I didn't really get a chance to try again later. So today I gave up on drawing myself from a photo and broke out the mirror. I wasn't really anticipating that, but it worked out okay. I'm thinking I might take the sketch I did today and turn it into a painting, but it would probably be kind of bold and graphic and not exactly in sync with everything else. We shall see. It's quite possible that I might not be able to get much done over the next few days (which is scary), but I'm going to do my best!
Next week I promise I'll either get a photo or comment on an artist.

Lazy Week

Okay, so this week I was out sick. I honestly didn't do much but sit around doing nothing because I had a lot of headaches. So I have one lonely sketch of me for concentration 5. It was, thankfully, an okay sketch. I'd planned to do a painting of it, but it didn't really work out for me this week (I really would've at home, but movement made me nauseous).
And this blog is late because I was sick all week and then I forgot about it Friday. So sorry.
Anyway, I'm searching through my photos for next weeks' concentration, so hopefully all will be well and I'll be fairly caught up by this Friday.

Art of Diane Tremblay

http://www.dianeart.com/surrealism_paintings.html

I'm beginning to think that perhaps I should have elected to do surrealism for my concentration, but alas, that takes too much planning for me to work quickly. There's that, and I'm always short on ideas. Meaning that self portraits were probably a good idea.
Anyway, so above I have the link to the surrealist artist Diane Tremblay up above. Half the website is in French, so I'm assuming she lives in France, or caters to the French. I'm not sure.
Anyway, her paintings are typically done in acrylics, and she paints a lot of women. While her paintings are very colorful, the hues are muted and gentle, giving her paintings a slightly eerie feel. Typical themes I've noted are life, death, birth, various aspects of feminism, nature, and religion. There are probably others but I've yet to figure them out/notice them.
The paintings I found most notable were: Peace at the Intensive Care, Balancing on the Edge, Superman, Evolution, Jungle Urbaine, The Sea (love the bird people), and Pleine Lune.
I found the use of birds as angels (I think) particularly interesting in Peace at the Intensive Care, and also quite liked their appearance in The Sea as well. What the represent I'm unsure of, but they have an intriguing prescence in her art. Loved the nature theme and how she used it to portray the woman's body in Pleine Lune, the colors in Balancing on the Edge, and the robot in Superman.
Anyway, it was interesting for me to look at. I'd recommend browsing through the site.