artist statement

George Eisenman

12/12/2020

Life Shirt

To start, I drew my face in the middle. I tried to make it as realistic as possible using shading for the nose and lips. I just used a #2 pencil and my finger to smear the pencil, to create the shading. I used basic proportions and where everything is located on the face. After I got a face down that I was happy with, I brainstormed what shows me. I chose to have a mixed green background and I think it turned out really nicely. I love the color green and I think parts of me are very green, personality and vibe wise. I used a wet paper towel and put food coloring on it, and then dabbed it onto the paper. I did a few rounds of this, each time waiting for it to dry, then putting different shades of green food coloring and dabbing on more. After finishing this, I felt like what I had didn’t express me enough. I had a huge blank, white shirt. Perfect space for expression. I found pictures online and printed them as well as from magazines. What I chose are things more my personal life, things I enjoy or like, part of my culture, etc. I then filled in any blank spaces with different parents and colors, which I drew with colored pencils and markers.

I think this portrait is alright, I really like the background and I am happy with my face, I just don't really like the shirt. I think next time I want to make the shirt a plain color and focus on expressing myself with the background. Having a colorful background and a colorful shirt is a lot. I think I would better be able to show me if I don’t have to worry so much about covering blank space and more about taking it up.