Self Portrait

This is my final drawing for my Life Drawing class. For this semester we had to pick a theme, mine was time. For our last project we had to do a layered drawing, so I did a surrealistic scattered time line self portrait . Gosh that's a mouth full. Anyways, I took some of the injuries that I have sustained over the years and exaggerated them... A lot. 

The oven mitt is from when I sustained a second degree burn to my hand. The hole in the side of my head is from when I was 2 and was hit in the side of the head by a baseball; the doctor's said I had a "y" fracture around my right eye. The trumpet looking tubes coming out of my left ear are from my six ear surgeries on that ear; I had tubes put in to drain the fluid behind my ear drum so I could hear. As for the hear in the glass, it represents two things; my heart surgery when I was 1 and from when I had an inflammation of the heart lining known as Pericarditis. 

This is the final result, I added a collage of coloured paper behind the skeleton to help it stand out more. I also added a layer of Mylar over top of the collage and drew a line drawing of myself in marker. 

Paper is 24x30 inches large

Mixed media: Pencil crayon, Mylar, Patterned scrapbook paper, charcoal, black lining markers, graphite pencil and a lot of spray glue.   

Five paintings

These are my final paintings for class done in acrylic on wood panels. We had to paint a series of five paintings that could be as a group or stand on their own. I ended up painting (non literal) portraits of my family in the form of books. 

In ancient times, instead of Gods some families would pray to their Ancestors instead of Gods (or in place of the Gods). This is still practiced today in some countries. Usually there would be busts or portraits made of the diseased family member that the living family would keep with them and pray to for good fortune. 

Instead of portraits I painted mini scenes inside each book that reminded me of the person. On the front of the book I stenciled the first initial of my family members' names. I painted portraits of my cousin, my aunt, my brother, my mom and my father.     

This is my father's portrait. He sometimes reminds me of a swarm of bees; he's a hard worker but when angered... well... let's just say bees are still an appropriate comparison. 

This is my mother, she's been through some hard times in her life and she's finally starting to get over them. I painted a dandelion for her because it's a superstition to be able to make a wish on the seeds and I'm always wishing for her to keep getting better. 

My cousin, even though she's only eight is very strong. She has been through so much, and still manages to help out her mom and brighten people's days. So for her I painted a sunflower. 

My aunt is a very important person in my life and she has always managed to weather the hellish storm she has been through. 

This last painting is for my brother. He's distant and cold to nearly everyone and really doesn't care about anyone other than his self.