I've always been intrigued by artists who express their inner selves through their artwork but it wasn't until I saw the series of self portraits in Seth Apter's book 'The Pulse of Mixed Media' that I felt a growing urge to dig deep and explore this idea through my own art.
The piece below is something I've been working on for a while. It's a torso made of plaster adhered to a wood panel. When I first came to paint it I tried a lighter color palette (brown, beige and cream) but it didn't feel right.
After walking away and revisiting it I decided I had to repaint it black so that I could start over again (I always work from a black background as a white background creates a mental brick wall . . . I have to wonder if that will ever change).
While I loved the texture that the plaster created it felt a little bare so I decided to add some additional markings. I inscribed the word 'self' to mark my journey while 'believe' was my chosen word for the year.
Fear was an important choice for all to often I find that fear is what holds me back and stops me from making choices and being able to move forward.
Linking up with Kat for this month's Photo Heart Connection
Other markings include a scar across the heart which depicts grieve and a ladder on the main section of the torso which indicates growth and possibilities.
After the neutral color experiment I went back to my dark autumnal palette but somehow that doesn't seem to be working for me either.
It looks like this weekend I'll be repainting it once again so that I can experiment with grey, silver and black tones. I've learnt that if something doesn't feel right to keep repainting and working with it until it does because until you get 'that feeling' it's just not finished.