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Thread: Ideas for art project?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
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    Ideas for art project?

    for my art project, i need to do a painting that represents me. I was thinking about doing a picture of a gallery with paintings about me on the walls. Any opinions or better ideas?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
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    Australia
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    Sorry, as I don't know you I can't suggest what would represent you in a painting.

    Mainly replying so you know your post has been read.
    June.

    Oh God of homeless things, look down
    And try to ease the way
    Of all the little weary paws
    That walk the world
    today.
    -
    Unknown.

    http://enug66.deviantart.com/gallery/

    [My setup: hp 15in laptop,11th Gen Intel Core i7-1165G7 @ 2.80GHz 2.70 GHz, 8.00 GB RAM, 24in Acer 2nd monitor, Huion Kamvas 20 Pro display tablet, Windows 11, ArtRage Vitae.
    My painting real-estate is extended across three monitors.]

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
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    25,097
    Yeah, I think the point that you had to ask speaks to what they're trying to bring to your awareness. Looking for ideas and coming up empty actually could represent you. . . at this point in time, though that should spur you to want to get a handle on a modicum of self-awareness. In other words, the instructor is trying to get you to think in visual terms, something which you may not be used to. But if you're in an art class, it begs the question, "Why haven't I thought in these terms before, and how do I go about that." That's the point of the exercise I would imagine. And asking other people is reasonable. But if you just take someone else's suggestion, you've wasted the opportunity to become an artist. You want to ask, but then put it through your own inner filter and then put it back out into the world as a comment in your personal voice. The clearer you are, the more you make it your own, the better it will be for your own growth.

    I mean that's what we do when we look at other people's work for inspiration, isn't it -- we look at other people's work and it sparks ideas. That's different from having someone hand you a concept and you wristing it out. When you look at the world, it's as if we plant a question in our mind and we go out looking around, which is in essence where we're asking everybody, "Hey what about my view of the world? Do you agree, disagree, have any germane thoughts?. . ." even though they clearly weren't aware of your question and were doing their own thing. But you can use them all as backboards to bounce your own ideas against and see what you think of where your own flight of fancy took you after having that stimulation.

    So then the next step would be to look at all the stuff out there and:

    1) how does what I'm looking at relate to me as I peruse the paintings of the world
    2) what was/were the questions the artist was answering for themselves (and how successful were they at it in your opinion).

    And both of those questions, especially if you're an artist, are how you should be going through life. Everything you look at and experience is potentially a conversation, isn't it.

    The idea of the gallery is a decent idea though. But then what would be in those pics you choose to put in? Are they simply paintings and drawings that you've done because it was an assignment? Or can you produce pictures that describe you in some way.

    Why aren't you thinking in these terms already? (. . .he asked knowing full well it's because nobody ever made you think about it. And that's the genius of the assignment. Use it as an opportunity to learn how to be an artist, and to explore some of the depths of who you are.)

    One way to approach this is to come up with a spin. You don't want to necessarily do an encyclopedic treatise on who you are past, present and future, how you're aspected to the world, your family, your schooling, etc. That may be too much to try to cram in. You may want to chunk it down to something that represents the larger you. Your audience will add lots of dimension and connotation based on what they bring to the experience of looking. All you need to do is make a choice of how you want to answer it. I mean, I don't want to give you an idea, but some people can sum themselves up in a picture of a pencil or a brush, or a jacket or tattoo or car or theater tickets or an oboe or your baby. What would or could any one of those examples say about the person it represents?

    Other people have done time-lapse mugshot photos of themselves over 50 years every year and play them over in a sequence like a morphing image showing the passage of time. Etc Etc. . . . Come at it from a different angle rather than trying to hit it head on with the obvious. Sometimes that works and sometimes that just is a crack in the door for you to pry it open and go in and explore.

    You would perhaps want to take one little point and expand it, otherwise you run the risk of trying to say everything and nobody's mouth is that big to fit all those words through at once. However, you may find that a particularly clever symbol can say all those things because symbols change as the person viewing them changes, and everybody could have a whole different conversation with the same symbol. That doesn't necessarily mean a graphic symbol like a stop sign. A whole picture can boil down to a symbol. The point is that what you will do will carry on a conversation with the viewer. It will take on a life of its own. And if you're any good at it, people will look at it and get into it. If it's haphazard and frustrated and inarticulate and sloppy, that just tells people to buzz off and don't bug you. Probably not the best use to assign your artistic skills to, when you can just flip people off and then deal with the consequences. There are usually consequences, and therein also challenges your level of power in the world through your art. What is it saying. You sure you wanted to say that, to put that energy out into the world? etc. . .

    Being an artist is very much about creating visual externalizations of who you are. Dig in and start exploring this. It's not an end point. It's a journey. Just who the hell do you think you are anyway? Joking, but that really is the million dollar question. So show us and yourself. I mean, if you're being real, this should actually be fun because it's pointing you to discovering the key fundamental quality of self knowledge. . . then you can decide what you wish to reveal to the world. It's not just about venting all your negative stuff that's been repressed or hidden. It's about finding where you hold your joy -- and holding that as your focus of expression should bring out some really cool things.

    That's what being an artist is, in large part. It's a dance in which your partner is the part of you who needs to be given voice or wings or a paint brush. It's a great way to support your strength, your positive qualities. Let them shine. It helps you crystallize who you are, not just what you think or not just the person fulfilling assignments. Honor the question and don't use all that as a way of hiding behind a bunch of rhetoric that you don't feel like doing the assignment. This assignment is for you, and you'll get out of it what you put into it.

    If you only ever get others to think for you, you lose because you may end up spending your life doing merely that, trying to second guess what other people expect of you. It's harder and harder as you age to think and express for yourself, especially if you don't learn how to venture outside your comfort zone, and learn what works and what doesn't, to make mistakes and learn from them, as well as making those brilliant successes. Start building those creative muscles now, because it's harder the later you start trying because of all the other overlays that Life has weighing on us as we age, like expectations and pride, and saving face etc etc, each of which will say to NOT express honestly but rather in the narrow bandwidth of what is free from undermining us in the sight of others.

    It's potentially a great ride that may just turn you into a creative artist. . . up to you though. Build some muscles.
    Last edited by D Akey; 11-27-2014 at 10:08 PM.
    "Not a bit is wasted and the best is yet to come. . ." -- remembered from a dream

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Posts
    2
    I suggest you painting something that has you at work, like you painting something. Ask someone to click a picture of you while painting. Then you could create a photo portrait of yourself. This way you can make a custom portrait that represents you.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Posts
    3
    Hi All,

    I am a professional fine artist ( Digital, Pencil, Oil and Acrylic )....If you have the inclination, just go with how you feel and paint pixels or pigment ( or both ). There is no right or wrong way, if you are true to yourself your representation will be OK.

    Chris

  6. #6

    In my opinion,

    I think wall paintings are the better option for you. So, go ahead as you were planning.
    Get Unique Art at most inspiring Art Galleries in Dubai

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