Small changes

I have made some small changes to the nose, eyes and mouth, so now it looks a bit better :) Below is how it turned out:

Making the outlines

Today I continued drawing on my pencil outline, which I had worked a bit on Tuesday evening. Although it's far from perfect, I think it's coming along nicely, at least it looks a bit like me. I'm having a bit issues with the mouth, nose and eyes, but they don't look too bad, and I feel that if I keep working on it, I will only make it worse.

Frida Khalo - The Two Fridas

For my artwork that I wish to analyse, I decided upon Frida Khalo's "the Two Fridas". I wanted to examine one of Frida Kahlo's works since I find them very interesting and I wanted to learn more about her life and art, and how they are connected. Out of her many self-portraits, I chose "the Two Fridas" because I was fascinated by all the symbolism, the surrealism, and how she has created the painting.

In her artwork, Frida Khalo has a very bold style, reflecting a very distinct personality, and it appears as though she just lets all her emotions flow directly into the canvas. This is something which is relevant to my own project as my self-portrait should distinctly reflect the two polars of my personality and feelings.

In the painting there are two women who look like Frida Khalo (hence the title - "the Two Fridas) with her trademark "moustache", monobrow and up-done hair. The two different personalities do most likely originate from her feelings after her, at the time, recent separation from Diego Riviera, who was also and artist.

The woman on the right is the part of Frida that Diego still loves, and she carries a small, oval portrait of Diego as a child, linked to both of the hearts of the two Fridas with a vein, suggesting a deep relationship between the two.

On the left is the abandoned and unloved Frida.While the loved Frida is wearing a traditional dress, the unloved is wearing a white formal European dress, probably referring to her dual heritage. Both hearts of the two Fridas are exposed, but where the loved Frida's heart is unscathed, the ripped bodice of the rejected Frida reveals a broken, damaged heart. The rejected Frida also holds a pair of medical pliers in her right hand, pinching a vein with blood flowing onto her pristine, white dress, creating quite an uncanny contrast. Frida might be attempting to stop the ties between her and Diego, as Frida once said: 

"My blood is the miracle that travels in the veins of the air from my heart to yours". 

She might also be try to stop the bleeding which Diego has caused, or cutting off the vein from the portrait of Diego.

The two Fridas also differ in colour usage. The stormy background is turbulent on both sides, reflecting Frida's distress, but the right is distinguishably darker than the left. With also the different dress and skin colour, the right side is generally darker than the left, something which I intend to do in my painting, although I will have a more clear "line" separating the sides.
The two Fridas are holding each others' hands, something which can be interperated to Frida having only herself and her imagination for consolidation.

Working on the sketch

During the lesson today I made a quick pencil sketch of how I wanted my painting to look like. I might edit it a bit, but it gave a certain impression of how it will be. I will need to be careful to make the difference between the sides very distinct, especially in the note part as most people might not read notes and will need to be shown visually that there is a difference between the sides.
Then I went on to creating the grid on both my picture and the A3 sheet which the drawing will be on before it is transferred to the canvas. I decided on having a ratio of 1:4, and 4 cm squares (2 cm for the face so it is easier to get that part exact). This both fits nicely with both the picture and the A3 sheet, and was a size which will be good to work with.
I have decided to have Frida Khalo as my artist because she has a really distinct style, something which I want to have in my own painting as well.

Unit: Symbolic Self-Portraits

Today we started our new unit "Symbnolic Self-Portraits" in which we are to first research and a historic self-portrait. We are to examine the painting in its literal sense (the objects painted and what they signify) and its figurative sense (how it is painted, colour usage etc.) and if it can relate to our own self-portrait which we will make.

In our own self-portrait we should express ourselves or how we see ourselves, both by how and what we choose to include in it. It should be recognizable, and we are to create an outline using the "grid method" that we have previously explored in our "icons" unit. We are then going to transfer this outline to a canvas, and use this as the basis of our painting.

I am not really sure what to do, as I do not have any special appearance traits that I could be recognized, but I do have a somewhat distinct personality.

For the historic self-portait, I am thinking of doing ether the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, or Vincent van Gogh. I am especially intrigued by Frida Kahlo's many self-portraits, and I think that at least some part of one of her self-portraits can be useful for my own. I also like the way that she expresses herself through symbolism, something which is very relevant to this unit.

Frida Kahlo
The Two Fridas
1939

Frida Kahlo
Moses
1945
(Not a self-portrait, intriguing)

 

 

Vincent van Gogh
Moses
1889

Frida Kahlo
Self-portrait with Thorn Necklace