Advanced Studio
The theme of this portfolio is self-image in today's society
Marisa Lopez "Self Reflection"
8x10, acrylic on canvas, 2021
The idea of my work is how women perceive themselves versus how they actually appear. It is a beautiful girl looking at her reflection. She is blue and sad because she sees herself to be a figure that she is not. I got this idea because in society everyone experiences low self-esteem and body dysmorphia. I know people and including myself have looked in the mirror and disliked the person looking back at them. I have seen a similar work I was inspired by when I was researching art inspired by self-perception. When in the process of creating this painting I spent a lot of time figuring out the color pallet. I wanted the colors to be used symbolically like blue representing sadness and cool colors interacting with warm to create the feeling of unity and comfort. I chose a purple background with many different shades. I blended these by using a small tough brush and patting the wet paint into the other colors to mix together. I also used my fingers to blend the shadow of the blue figure and mirror. This artwork is very simple but very meaningful like most of my works have. This work means that everyone experiences body dysmorphia and doesn’t recognize how they really appear as. I want the audience to think about how certain words can impact people with these types of thoughts because they can either make them feel better or worse about their bodies. Society today has seemed to create the idea that everyone has to be perfect and look a certain way. This leaves people thinking they aren’t enough and have a poor self-image. There is symbolism in the mirror that perceives the feeling of not fitting society’s standards. Something difficult for me was the black outline of the bodies. I kept repainting over and over to make sure they weren’t too thick but I am happy with the end result. I do not like the negative space but I think that creates emphasis on the focal point representing a problem in society. If I could start over I would change the background color to match the theme. This painting is an abstract painting. It is unique to my style because I tend to stay away from realism but create ideas that are realistic to the problems in the world. I love the message and the two figures in the painting and I think the work is beautiful. Body positivity is important today.
Marisa Lopez "Eye for perfection"
9x12, marker on paper, white paint pen, sharpie, 2021
My idea was to make a collage of all the things society expects from people especially women. There are eyes that represent society. Society is always pressuring women to be perfect and is always in a way watching and calling out anything that doesn’t fit the standards. Women are excepted nowadays to be beautiful, sexual, and perfect. I was inspired to make this based on real-life experiences since I always feel as if everyone is judging me if I am not acting or do not present a certain way. My process was to pick out all the collage images first and put them in place of where I desired. Then I glued them down. When blending the colors for the markers I used a blender marker.
I tried to blend with lighter shades in between colors so it looked like it had a smooth transition into another color. I dotted a white paint pen on the eyes to add highlights. This artwork represents how society thinks women should be. I want my audience to recognize the message about all these standards we have in society and how everyone is always watching and judging. The eyes symbolize society because society is always watching you. Something difficult for me was using markers. I have never used markers on any artwork I have created so using this new media was a fun experience. At first, had a hard time trying to grasp a concept of how to blend these bright random colors together. To overcome this I blended with a blending marker and colored over the transition spots with a light shade so it would blend smoothly. If I could start over I would use less color in the background to really emphasize the eyes since they are brightly colored. I really love this piece because of the eyes, I think they are beautiful and I think the message is very meaningful. This work is more surreal because of the eyes. It is unique to my style of art because I usually do surreal art with an important background. It is unique because there are multiple signs of symbolism.
Marisa Lopez "Your body"
18x12, graphite, sharpie pen, chalk on paper, 2021
My idea is a human body, more feminine. I’ve seen multiple works similar to this but I wanted to make things that make it my own like the casual butterfly and specific way of shading. I wanted to make something that once again shows all bodies are beautiful even if people’s own insecurities get in the way of their beauty. I decided to use graphite to create the work and chalk to highlight different parts of the body. I used a sharpie pen on the leaves and heavily blended them so you can see the outline and it looks very subtle. The artwork means to just let your body flourish and grow out of your insecurities to see your worth. The butterfly and flowers in this piece represent beauty and change. How to change your self-perception to something good. Something difficult for me was drawing in a realistic way. I struggle with realism but I thought I did a good job but also incorporated surrealism by making the figure seem like a plant. If I started over I would redo the roses and make the flowers look cleaner. The style is a combination of realism and surrealism. Like I stated previously, the different components and meaning makes it unique to my style. I liked stepping out of my comfort zone and working on my shading for realistic works.
Marisa Lopez "Beauty, Tragedy, Misfortune"
18x24, Acrylic ink, sharpie, newspaper on cardboard, 2021
I decided to paint and depict the life of Marilyn Monroe. She is someone that I often create in my work because of what her spirit represents. I wanted to show her life because she embodies beauty, but she also embodies how even with beauty and success you still could be unhappy. I wanted to keep making collages so I wanted to create one with her career and life in the background and have her face painted for the foreground. I didn’t want it to be “messy” in the original idea but I thought it looked good in the aftermath. I saw a piece similar to this with Jackie Kennedy so I wanted to make something with more meaning and something to connect with my portfolio. Since I couldn’t find any original black and white papers with her career on them I printed them and layed them out in the places where I wanted to glue them. I also found works and definitions and articles describing her I wanted to incorporate as well to add to the collage look. When painting on the face I outlined the details then colored in spots with black. If there was too much in one area I would take white paint and just crazily paint it on giving it the messy look it has right now. I just used scratched-up brushes to capture the ratchet strokes. I used a sharpie marker to make the clean lines, however.
The artwork is symbolizing that success and happiness and good mental health are not promised with beauty. I used the iconic beauty and sex icon, Marilyn Monroe, to perfectly capture this idea. Marilyn Monroe’s story is tragic when you listen to it and many people don’t pay attention to it because her career and looks were always looked at before she was. Marilyn Monroe’s self-perception and happiness were always overlooked. When creating this piece I wanted to symbolize how happiness isn’t always given when you are beautiful. Beauty is not everything and I wanted to make viewers feel that even the most beautiful and fair people can still not see themselves in that light. The thing most difficult for me was the detail of the hair and mouth. Since I was free-handing the hair and mouth it was difficult when not using a stencil. I overcame this struggle by making the hair messy which I said wasn’t planned but I like how it looks now. If I started over I would want to add more detail. I think this piece is more realistic or abstract because it is a portrait collage. It’s unique to my style because while it is realistic it has themes of importance and abstract hint I always add. I am becoming more comfortable with collages so I think that adds to my personal style. I also think because I am returning back to working with acrylic paint it looks more like my style as well as the theme being Marilyn Monroe. I am really proud of this painting.
Marisa Lopez "Numb"
9x12, sharpie pen on paper, 2021
My idea is to have one female and one male figuring mirroring each other. I got this idea because I had to create a print but I wanted to relate it to my portfolio. I am inspired by real-life and how men and women feel so similarly in the world but everyone is so distant from each other. I was inspired by another artwork when just making the girl up on different line patterns. I first drew the work with a pencil and then went over the fine line with a sharpie pen. To get the scribble effect that looks like texture I just really harshly drew free loops. There weren’t too many complicated aspects of creating the work. This artwork although it looks very simple has a deeper meaning. I wanted to create this to base it on how numb the world feels in today’s society. But while people mirror the same emotions they are still distant and not close. I want the audience to connect with the work about the disconnect in real life. How there is a lack of relationships and interaction because of the numb feeling everyone has. Something most difficult for me was proportioning the male figure in the upper right-hand corner. I thought his body and shoulders were drawn a little poorly. If I could start over I would change this and make him more proportional. I would say because of the abstract lines the work is Abstract. It makes it my personal style because of the creativity and meaning behind it, and how it is a different media and abstract/surreal. I really love how there is a more simplistic Picasso feeling to it since it is a portrait made out of geometric shapes.
Sketches: (not apart of portfolio)
