Portrait
Title: Portrait of Morgan
Size: 2ft by 4ft Medium: Acrylic and oil on stretched canvas Completion: October 2023 |
Exhibition Text
Portrait of Morgan inspired by the soft textures of John Singer Sargent's paintings shows how people who are confident in themselves express that through body language and expression after coming to peace with their identity. Portrait of Morgan is the last painting in my comparative study collection that represents the final phase of finding peace in your identity: peace. This is shown through the artistic style similar to John Singer Sargent’s Madame X, body language, and how people present themselves.
Check list
- Photo of Artwork
- Title, Size in cm, Medium, Date of Completion
- 500 Character Exhibition text
- Created a brief outline of the original intentions of the work
- Referenced sources which have influenced the individual piece
- Indicated if objects are self-made, found or purchased within the “medium” section
- Communicated where students are deliberately appropriating another artist’s image as a valid part of their art-making intentions, the exhibition text must acknowledge the source of the original image.
Inspiration
Artist in Focus: John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent is the artist in my comparative study that represents peace. Although Madame X had a history of being a scandalous piece because of the way that the original painting had one of the straps on the madame's shoulder, the way that the woman is portrayed shows her in a state of peace. That's what I wanted to do with this project. The body language and clothes that the woman is wearing shows that she is confident, and I wanted to reflect that in this project in my own way that wasn't just going to appropriate the original painting.
Confidence is what the last phase in my theme of the progression of finding peace in identity collection is about so I decided to look at other poses that could show that someone is confident but also take inspiration from Madame X through the way that implied texture is created and the way that the figure is the center of attention of the piece. In addition to my initial observations, I also noticed that although the woman has a blank or neutral expression, this doesn't take away from the way that she shows off her confidence through her clothes. While this is something that was interesting to me, I decided to take a different approach and have a front facing view of the woman to more obviously imply that this woman is confident in who she is and how she presents herself. I knew that I'd like her sitting as well, to contrast with the inspiration, to again make sure I didn't just appropriate the original artists' work. Another thing that I wanted to base the painting off of because of Madame X, is the contrast of the values in the figure and the background. The woman herself is very pale skinned and the background is much darker than her, while the dress is even darker. I thought that I could take some of these elements of the painting and apply them to my own to make it similar to the variance in tones and values. In terms of the style, I thought that making the piece in Sargent's style would also make for a great implication of peace because of the way that his figures and settings look soft in a majority of his paintings. |
Cindy ShermanThe body language that is displayed in this photograph made me feel inspired to make my painting look very similar to it. When I was having a difficult time trying to come up with poses that were “open” and showed that the person is confident, I went and did some research. I wanted to see what confidence could look like in a photograph or painting, and that’s when I stumbled upon this portrait that Cindy Sherman took. It caught my eye because the photograph almost omitted a sense of power coming from it, which is what I wanted to make my painting feel like as well. The sense of tranquility that the woman has while still looking stern intrigued me. I knew I wanted my painting to look similar to this photograph after finding out about it.
The composition was appropriated to create the scene I had in my own painting. |
Planning
To begin my planning, I started off by making some simple compositions that could be used in the final painting and started drawing them in a quick manner so that I could move onto the next idea quickly. After creating my first couple of poses, I realized that I wanted to have a front facing figure with a confident pose and I experimented with figure to do that. After coming up with the first two poses myself, I had a difficult time realizing what I wanted so I went to see what poses I could use with websites like Google Arts and Culture. After a bit of browsing, I found that I wanted to make my painting look similar to one of Cindy Sherman’s photos. I had my model pose for them while I took her picture after reviewing the poses and discussing what would look best. I would make sure that she was comfortable with everything that we were doing so that she'd be relaxed and so that the painting could look as natural as possible. I would look through possible compositions with her and I'd ask peers what compositions looked the best for what I was trying to do with the piece. After looking at many compositions, we got it down to two very similar pictures, but we ruled one out because of how I mentioned that I wanted the figure to be looking at the viewer.
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Process
To start this painting, I had to prepare my canvas where I stretched the canvas material, and cut it to my wanted length and width, 4ft by 2ft. Then, I had to put together the stretchers which were also 4ft and 2ft to create the base of the canvas. After that, I'd staple down the canvas onto the stretchers and gesso the canvas 2-3 times for the sturdiest canvas I could get.
After the canvas was dry, I projected the selected image onto the canvas, where I traced the outline of my figure and her chair. After that, I gave the background a base of yellow ochre, just so that it wouldn't be pure white, which could skew my perception of colors when trying to transfer them to the painting later. After the projection process, I realized that the chair wasn't parallel with the bottom of the canvas, so I fixed it eventually by adding more lines to it later onto the sketch. I also added additional lines to plan for a dress that the model couldn't wear at the time that the pictures were taken. |
Next, I decided that I'd paint the face first, which I did with acrylic paint due to the unfortunate circumstances that I didn't have my oil paints on hand at the start of the painting. Even with this obstacle, I persevered through it and still got a smooth blend on the transitional tones in the face. To help me with this process, I used the software called Photopea to help with getting accurate colors that were in the image so that I'd have an easier time with transferring them to the painting. I started with the darkest values and built up to the lightest values. After I got the base colors, I began added red to certain areas of the face that needed them. I ended painting the face by adding eyebrows, eyes, birthmark, and highlights to the cheeks, chin, and forehead.
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After this, I moved on to the hair and I started off by blocking out the general shape of it using burnt umber. At this point I was still using my acrylics and since I knew that I'd be getting my oils back soon, I left the hair as it was for the time being. Then, I moved on to the arm which I thought would peak out through the pink dress that I'd paint later on.
Next, I started to plan different areas among the painting that I'd paint that weren't in the original photo like the curtains I wanted to add, along with modifications to the chair to make the time period of the piece look similar to the one in which Madame X was painted in. At the same time, this would make the painting look similar to Sargent's style: soft and delicate. This would prove to be true throughout the painting with the dress and the curtains that I decided to add. |
Next, I added base colors to the curtains and the background of the painting and began adding color to the chair. At this point, I finally had my oils again, so I did the rest of the painting in these paints. Filling up the background was much faster and easier with oils than it was with acrylics because I was able to thin out the paint with linseed oil that allowed for a smooth application compared to the stubborn acrylics that only stayed in the same general area of where I initially applied them.
The process for the chair included making a lining by the edges of the cushion section with a burnt umber to create an illusion of a curve there and then adding red to the center. I took pure cadmium red and put it in the center and brushed it out to the edges, closer to where the burnt umber would be. For the armrests, I took pure burnt umber and put it on the sections where it needed to be. |
At this stage, I began creating more and more shapes for the curtains and creating a little bit more depth in them. I added Payne's gray to the sides and anywhere where it was needed to create shadows. To create a smooth blend, I'd take some of the cadmium red and put it next to the gray, then clean my brush and go over the point where they meet a couple of times.
For the dress, I took cadmium red and titanium white to create the pink seen here to the right. I added more red in the areas for shading and gradually added details later on. By details, I mean creating highlights and deeper shadows to create form on the dress. |
Next, I started to fill in the floor's color so I painted a base color of a mix of titanium white, cadmium red, and cadmium yellow. After I laid down the base, I began sketching some tiles so that the floor could be a bit more interesting, rather than just keeping it plain. In addition to that, I also added the darker portions of the curtains that were needed on the right side of the painting and towards the bottom left of the painting. At this point, I was trying to get as much of the canvas covered in paint as I could, which meant I also had to paint the shoes. For the shoes, my model was wearing some flat sneakers, but since I thought that it'd be nice to give her something else, I decided to give her mary janes to look more delicate, like Sargent's paintings. At this point, everything was pretty much done. All I had to do was add some final details.
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Experimentation
In the process of making this painting, I learned to experiment with my process of painting and transferring images onto my canvas. For this painting, I used the help of Photopea to make my colors look closer to the image I was trying to recreate in my painting. A key component of Madame X and why I chose it for inspiration is how life-like the model’s face looks like, which I wanted to do with this project. The ability to accurately pick out colors in an image to help me transfer it to the painting was very helpful for what I was trying to achieve. This made me resemble the painting style that I was going for, which was Sargent’s. His style consisted of realistic faces and figures. The application of this idea is expressed in the part of the painting where I painted my figure’s face. In addition to getting help from technology to make my painting, I also experimented with putting a layer of something that looked like flesh on my figure before I put down the color of the dress, seen on the right. I wanted to see if I could make the texture of the cloth somewhat transparent, which ultimately ended up working to make the dress look like it wasn’t made of high opacity materials. Although the dress is mostly overpowering the color of the flesh, the base layer (the flesh) is still seen through the dress’ color in the arm. With the experimentation of this section of the painting, what I was trying to do was successful.
Another instance of experimentation in the making of this project was actually taking the reference photo for the painting. The compositions that I drew to think about how the model would look like were all taken at some point in the making of the final reference image. I wanted to make sure that the compositions that I drew would actually look like how I drew them. This made me reflect on how the final painting would look like and helped me make my decision of what I really wanted to do since I had my model in the position I intended for her to be in. Once I had a physical model make the poses, I realized that my opinions about my sketches were solidified.
With the pictures I took, I experimented with compositions (vertical and horizontal), angles, and how close the figure was to the camera. I realized that the two left most photos were what I wanted to do, as I wanted to make my painting look like Cindy Sherman’s photograph.
With the pictures I took, I experimented with compositions (vertical and horizontal), angles, and how close the figure was to the camera. I realized that the two left most photos were what I wanted to do, as I wanted to make my painting look like Cindy Sherman’s photograph.
Critique
Compare
To compare, the figure in my painting is posed very similarly to the way that the model for Cindy Sherman’s photograph is. The composition is similar, with the figure being the main component to the composition along with a chair that they’re sitting on with a mostly plain background. Sargent’s style was applied in my own painting through the realistic renderings of the face. In addition, the painting conveys the feeling of being at peace like in both the photograph and the Madame X.
Contrast
To contrast, my painting included more things in the background than the chosen artists chose to have in their artwork. It’s also important to mention how colorful my painting is compared to the chosen artists’ work. My background is also varying in values which contrasts with the simple toned, desaturated background in Sargent’s painting. In addition, Sherman’s photograph doesn’t have any color at all, which again, contrasts with my painting.
Reflection
All in all, I think this project came with some difficulties like not having my preferred set of paints to work with in the beginning and having to work through that. Although there were obstacles like that in my process, I didn't feel too worried as I advanced in the painting process. During the making of this piece, I realized that I got better at blending acrylic paints to make the figure look as realistic as my limited skills could take me. With the making of this painting, I also used technology as an aid with mixing paint colors to be accurate to my reference using Photopea, which I hadn't done before, but I think that doing this for a while can help me with realistic paintings in the future and I intend to keep using this as help. The biggest challenge of this piece was making the dress look natural on Morgan, as she wasn't wearing it while I was taking the pictures for it as well as the rendering of the dress itself. Although this may have been a tricky thing to do, I think that this also helped me in a way to help me understand form and colors that reflect depth. I think that this painting helped me become a better artist and I'll keep using strategies that I used with this painting in future paintings.
Connection to the ACT
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
- The style that Sargent uses for his work is very flowy and realistic that I try to capture in this painting while Sherman’s photography influenced the body language in my painting.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
- Sargent and Sherman both create pieces about confident women and how they express themselves to show that.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
- I concluded that people that make themselves look confident can express it through their body language in similar ways.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
- The central theme around my research was body language and how it’s used to create the expression of self confidence.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
- I thought that finding references for poses were going to be found in other paintings, but I realized that photography would be better suited for my project and more accessible.
- The style that Sargent uses for his work is very flowy and realistic that I try to capture in this painting while Sherman’s photography influenced the body language in my painting.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
- Sargent and Sherman both create pieces about confident women and how they express themselves to show that.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
- I concluded that people that make themselves look confident can express it through their body language in similar ways.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
- The central theme around my research was body language and how it’s used to create the expression of self confidence.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
- I thought that finding references for poses were going to be found in other paintings, but I realized that photography would be better suited for my project and more accessible.
MLA Citations
- “Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau) - John Singer Sargent - Google Arts and Culture.” Google Arts & Culture, artsandculture.google.com/asset/madame-x-madame-pierre-gautreau-john-singer-sargent/XQFBdVEh0NHo0A.
- “Untitled Film Still #16 - Cindy Sherman - Google Arts and Culture.” Google Arts & Culture, artsandculture.google.com/asset/untitled-film-still-16-cindy-sherman/xAEw-dR44IhTNg.