205 Painting

The Self Image Painting

● Autobiographical
● A record of visual appearance
● Realistic or abstract
● Two or three-dimensional
● Collage materials, texture
● Water soluble oil or acrylic paint
● Expressionistic
● Direct observation (mirror) or from memory
● Reference material (photos, Xerox copies, sketches)
● Props (props that tell the viewer something about you): hat, musical instrument, etc.
● Head, torso, or full-length
● Lighting (natural, artificial, theatrical, fluorescent, incandescent)
● Copy the style of a master
● Cropping
● Figure in an interior, figure in a landscape
● Narrative (tell a story about you)
● Analytical, decorative
● Include other figures (partner, children, relatives, friends, ancestors)
● Scale, monumental, miniature
● Fantasy, dreams, emotions, fears, memories, ideas, nightmares, experiences, opinions
● Historical (something about your heritage)
● Time (past, present, future, 50 years from now, prophecies for 3000, images from
childhood)
● Develop your own personal palette (limit pigments to 5, analogous, impressionistic, etc.)
● Symbolism/metaphor (Are you a tree? Boat? Waterfall? Bird?)
● Rites of passage (baptism, graduation, learning to drive, turning 21, marriage, birth,
death, etc.)
● What is an important event in your life?
● Social issue (What is a social issue that is important to you?)
● Metamorphosis (King, queen, pharaoh, angel, mermaid, hero/heroine, villain, animal,
plant, machine, etc.)
● Personal myth (superhero, troll, fairy, folklore, etc.)
● Headless Self-Portrait (Which body parts could serve as a metaphor for yourself?)
● Shelf Portrait (Objects symbolize the things, places, people, and events of your life.)
● Alter Ego Painting (If you could be anyone else, who would it be?)

Select one of the following choices to paint:

1. Broken color
2. Pointillism/optical mixing
3. Discordant color
4. Split complementary
5. Color triad
 205 Painting

6. Full palette
7. Limited palette
8. Analogous colors
9. Impressionistic (warm/cool, no black)
10. Arbitrary color