Final Post

Hey, this will be my last post. Overall I find this project productive. I say this because my end product is roughly 50 self portraits, and a newfound social media outlet where I can trade art. Who knows, if it wasn't for this project, maybe I would've painted Dan's (@da.ns on Instagram) portrait differently, and he would never have posted it. Therefore, my mini business wouldn't exist. Without this project I wouldn't have been able to explore this area of art and refine it. So  I consider this project extremely successful. I had my TED talk yesterday. that was... pretty big for me because I absolutely HATE public speaking. So to stand up there and talk about myself was extremely hard. Although I recall my actual speech being very short, I'm not going to tear myself apart because I'm very satisfied with the amount of questions I received. I'm looking forward to the future because this showed me that art is something that is basically second nature to me and now I learned that I can use this to my advantage. I'm also proud of the fact that I have pieces to add to my portfolio if I decide to go to an Art School in the next couple years. Therefore, this project was a VERY great thing for me. Thank you, 

-Matt

Post 5 (another painting master post)

                  

this portrait was done between two of my major paintings from last post. This was sort of a "chill' painting you could say because I was painted out at this point. Anyway this was done in India ink and water and it took about 10 minutes tops.

                                 
This drawing was done during a block day about a week ago. Everyone kept TALKING OVER ME and no one would listen to me so hence the scribbled out mouth. I used colored pencils and spent about 30-40 minutes on it. I was pretty upset this day I think.



                           
I was SUPER frustrated this day, therefore I splashed the ink over the whole thing because I didn't have the patience to deal with detail. I realize now that I no longer have the patience  for realistic portraits and that could be due to the fact that track started??? IDK just a thought.


Anyway that's all for today. I have another week's worth of portraits to post but as of right now I have to budget time better. ALSO!! This weekend I'l be doing about 5 instagram portraits so possibly I will have a realistic SELF portriat coming up

Vlog pt. 2

here is a link to the Instagram post: https://instagram.com/p/z5gL6jJDHh/
also, in the comments help me come up with a trade system for the portraits... as of right now I'm doing a painting for a shoutout. maybe in the future I could sell physical paintings for actual ca$$$h. anyway let me know it the comments or feel free to ask me a question.

Video Blog

Blog Post 4

This portrait took me about 2 days to complete. I started with a sketch in graphite pencil and I used watercolor paint to add detail. I found it bland and boring. So, on the second day I used the return stickers from a package I received in the mail to add dimension. I cut up the stickers into triangles and squares, and pasted them almost like a collage to frame the face. After this, I used colored hair spray from an old Halloween costume to create the dark background. I used the backs of the stickers after I peeled them to create a stencil over the artwork and then I used the spray. I wanted to use the name of the business, Hello Merch, to send some type of message. I also wanted to use the barcode as a symbol of uniformity and conformity. I stuck this over top of the back eye as a type of band-aid.  I want the numerous hello's to be some type of cry out from a world with no color or individuality.

This next portrait was done during my saturday sketchbook class. This day we went to the house of Edgar Allan Poe and we were to sketch the old decrepit walls and whatever came to mind. The portraits themselves were really quick sketches and were of my reflection. The house was really eerie to be in, especially the cellar. Most of these sketches were done on the top floor, where his wife Virginia suffered from tuberculosis for many years. It was extremely hot so it's easy to imagine what it was like to not be able to breathe up there, it's something I would never want to experience. I think this kind of feeling still stays in a place like this. Here are some shots of the building:

         

Lastly, the third portrait that I'd like to focus on is:

This was done on sunday, and It conveys my mood. The writing in the bottom right are the lyrics to a new song that was released this day. This is the most colorful piece so far, and I think that's because I was so overwhelmed with joy and happiness. I used the brightest colors in my palette as well as food coloring straight of the bottle, I listened to really happy music for a change and that combined with the fact that I became VERY organized, (I deep cleaned my room) It made me very motivated to do more. I spend maybe 4 hours total on this. First, I splattered plain old water on the page and then added the watercolor and food coloring. this made the color spread quickly. Next I got out my airbrush and this spread the color even further, creating the starburst like effects. I then used the airbrush to add some more color. Lastly, I used white paint to make a sort of negative sketch overtop, and this is what became the portrait itself.