Title: A Cold Stare Size: 24 x 36 Medium: Acrylic Paint Completion date: December 2022 Exhibition Text: This is a painting that was made to communicate the way I perceive the outside world, as well as how many others perceive me. It uses an artist named Théodore Chassériau as inspiration, using his portraits to communicate his feelings and trying to fit in better. This fits well with the painting seeing as how it is of a cold figure who doesn't seem to be accepted. Through the paint the meaning of misconception and fear can be easily found. |
Inspiration
The servant of Cleopatra by Théodore Chassériau
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The initial reason I chose Théodore Chassériau was because I had an idea of what I wanted to do already and found him to fit, but I wasn’t positive that I wanted to go through with him as my inspiration. I went on to research him more though, and I found the reason he did so many portraits, because they were accepted much more by the public. This is what pushed me to finally decide to go through with him as the painter I wanted as inspiration, since my painting was about how I feel the public perceives me and how I perceive it. His portraits often look quite delicate and soft, and I wanted to communicate this delicate nature in my painting to still allude to how both the public and I are more delicate, even if we may not look it. With this, the painting would also be softer, which would make it slightly easier, in my opinion, as my first painting. |
Portrait of Mademoiselle de Cabarrus by Théodore Chassériau
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The art that I had first found was the one that I really wanted to use as my main inspiration, and I keep this idea throughout the project, but after looking through more of his portraits, I really wanted to include how he made the women look intimidating, which also fit really well with my idea. I wanted to get across that I am often seen as cold and intimidating, but that's also how I perceive society and the public. That's why I found it so easy and exciting to include the intimidating facial expressing of his art in mine.
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Desdomona by Théodore Chassériau
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The painting I'm taking the most inspiration from is portraying a younger girl with her head in her hand looking away. I really liked the idea of using a similar position, but I wanted to make the girl myself. I also made her look down at another girl, that girl is also me, but her face is hidden, making her a little more anonymous. I chose to do this because I wanted to give the painting a more intimidating feeling, almost like the main girl is judging the other girl. I did it for this specific reason because I wanted to portray the way how I often perceive others, which is cold and intimidating, a lot like they're always judging me, even if they're not. This is also how a lot of other people perceive me before they actually get to know me. |
Portrait of sister Aline by Théodore Chassériau
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Experimentation and Planning
When creating this work, I really wanted to take a lot of inspiration from my own ideas and what other people were thinking about me. To establish this, and to get new and unique ideas, I went around asking people how they perceived me, what I was like when we first met, as well as their best description of me. I was often told that I was quiet, cold, problematic, sarcastic and kind. While this may seem like a wide variety of answers, they're also relatively true. |
When talking with people, a friend of mine suggested that I make that painting monochrome. I absolutely fell in love with the idea, since I am an often straight forward and cold person, as I may have mentioned before, so the idea of making a monochrome piece is very appealing to me. From this, I set forth in finding what color best represented me. I knew I wanted a cool toned color to make the painting a little more intimidating , but I couldn't decide which. I started to take into consideration what people were telling me what I was like, which lead me to the color purple.
I chose the color purple for a few different reasons, the main reason being that it's very versatile. The color purple could be seen as bright and happy when it's lighter, but it could also be seen as ominous and sinister if the color is darker. I had already stated earlier that I wanted a more intimidating color portrayal, which led me to using a lot of darker colors. |
When planning out the orientation of the page, I was originally planning on having the background of the page one flat color, that color being an extremely dark shade of purple, but once I got that flat color down on the canvas, I saw how much there was, so I wanted to come up with a simple way to break up the color while still keeping a darker feeling to it.
Finally, I decided that I wanted to have a gradient in the background, keeping the inner part surrounding the main body dark, and a light purple around the edge. This, in my opinion, gave an even more looming feeling to the painting, since it almost looks like a darker cloud is coming off of the main figure.
Finally, I decided that I wanted to have a gradient in the background, keeping the inner part surrounding the main body dark, and a light purple around the edge. This, in my opinion, gave an even more looming feeling to the painting, since it almost looks like a darker cloud is coming off of the main figure.
Initially, I wasn't planning on having anyone in the foreground of the painting, I was just going to leave it as one girl looking straight ahead. I decided against this, however, because it was leaving the painting feeling empty, and it would have basically just been a self portrait.
Process
I started this painting before I even did any research. I began by stretching my canvas and covering it in gesso to prepare it. To stretch the canvas I started by putting together my frame by finding 2 three foot pieces and 2 two foot pieces and pushing them into place. Once they were pushed into place, I rolled out some canvas and set the frame on top to measure the rough amount I would need to cut out and then cut it. After cutting the canvas, I stapled it onto the frame leaving it so that it was tight but was still loose enough to not break the frame when it tightens with the gesso. Finally, I put on my first layer of gesso and left it out to dry. |
Next, I put on a second layer of gesso, left it out to dry and was ready to actually come up with a design to put on the canvas. It actually took quite a while to come up with the design on the canvas, even though it's simple, I feel that it actually reflects perception pretty well. Since the process of making the idea was already explained, it'll just be glossed over here for now. |
When I had my idea, I was ready to transfer it all onto my canvas. I took pictures of me posing, saved them to my google drive and got a projector. To project, I actually was lucky enough to get help from an upperclassman, since this was my first time projecting and didn't want to break the projector. After I got the projector set up, I connected it to my computer and my image was being projected. I then lined it up with my canvas and traced all of the details down, making sure to outline where there were strong color shifts. |
Now, I was finally able to put some paint on the canvas! This was the only painting that I did inside the school, so it wasn't actually much. I painted the background of the painting, first, I put down the two layers of dark purple paint, then I added a much lighter purple on the edges to make a gradient, breaking up the background and adding some nice ambiance. |
After that, it was thanksgiving break and I spent most of my time working on a few different art projects, the one of most not being this one. I started by working on my face, then moved on to any visible skin. Once the skin was all painted, I moved onto the shirt, paying close attention to the stripes. Next, I moved onto the sweater and the table. By the time I finished with those, the break was over and I was running out of time to finish the painting, but I was happy that I was still able to get most of the work done.
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The final step of this process was to get the girl looking up, done. I got my dad to help me set up a projector and traced my sketch onto the canvas and began to paint. I mixed my paint and began to bring the sketch to life. I had finally finished the painting and brought it to school.
Reflection
For this painting, I'm relatively happy with it. I think it turned out great for it being my first real painting, but I know it can be better, every time that I look at it, it isn't hard to spot mistakes and things that could have been done better. I know that it takes time to learn, but I was impatient and sped through the painting, making it look a little rushed. If I were to do this again, I would take more time on it and pay a little more attention to detail. I really do like how all of the fabric turned out, I really enjoyed painting it, so I think that shows when looking at it. Overall, the best way that this painting could've been fixed it through time and a little more effort. |
Critique
Original Painting
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This painting, in comparison to Théodore Chassériau, is a little rough. Théodore Chassériau has much smoother lines and the blending is sleek, that's a lot of the appeal in his art. It is for this reason that I don't believe that I was fully able to capture his style in the painting that I have made. That's okay though, because art isn't meant to be a replica, because my art isn't exactly like his, I was able to make it into my own. This may sound cheesy, but it's true. What's also true, however, is that my inpiration also uses slightly more detailed backgrounds, women with rounder faces and loser clothing. This is all in contrast to my work, which has wiggly lines a girl with a longer face and an empty background. 2 of the 3 problems all being by choice. Therefore, my painting is not very similar to Théodore Chassériau's art, but can still be compared.
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Portrait of sister Aline by Théodore Chassériau
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ACT Questions
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
For my artwork, I found myself becoming a lot quieter or more blue as time was going on. Since I was spending so much time with the painted, the more sad and melancholic tone of the painting really started to rub off on me and I found myself talking to people less and less.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
My artist cared a lot about how the public perceived him, that was why he did so many portraits, as stated earlier. It is my beliefe that the artist would also make something similar to what I have to portray the way he finds the public intimidating.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
While I didn't discover a whole lot about the past through research for this painting, I was able to conclude that my artist was a bit more of a shut in and was very concerned with how people see him. Showing future generations that even incredible artists could struggle to go outside.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The main idea behind this work was how both the public and I are often perceived as cold and intimidating individuals. I am seen as cold and detached, making a lot of people scared to approach me, this is also a problem that I have where I find people intimidating and standoffish, making me not want to approach.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I often had to infer how different textures and details were made. This is especially of note when I was blending colors on the face, I had to learn a way to do it without damaging my brushes. I also had a difficult time making inferences when finding a small brush that would work best for me. This inference turned out to be wrong, though, because the small brush was too weak and could get the job done.
For my artwork, I found myself becoming a lot quieter or more blue as time was going on. Since I was spending so much time with the painted, the more sad and melancholic tone of the painting really started to rub off on me and I found myself talking to people less and less.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
My artist cared a lot about how the public perceived him, that was why he did so many portraits, as stated earlier. It is my beliefe that the artist would also make something similar to what I have to portray the way he finds the public intimidating.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
While I didn't discover a whole lot about the past through research for this painting, I was able to conclude that my artist was a bit more of a shut in and was very concerned with how people see him. Showing future generations that even incredible artists could struggle to go outside.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The main idea behind this work was how both the public and I are often perceived as cold and intimidating individuals. I am seen as cold and detached, making a lot of people scared to approach me, this is also a problem that I have where I find people intimidating and standoffish, making me not want to approach.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I often had to infer how different textures and details were made. This is especially of note when I was blending colors on the face, I had to learn a way to do it without damaging my brushes. I also had a difficult time making inferences when finding a small brush that would work best for me. This inference turned out to be wrong, though, because the small brush was too weak and could get the job done.
Citations
Fikes, Robert. “Théodore Chassériau (1819-1856) •.” •, May 30, 2019. https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/people-global-african-history/theodore-chasseriau-1819-1856/.