S.I. #9

The main idea that guided this portrait is that my sister is a positive, imaginative individual who spreads her creativity and passion wherever she goes. Stephanie is my oldest sister, she's graduating from college this May and has lived in Chicago since my family moved to Maine five years ago. Because of this distance and our age gap, I am not the closest to her, but I understand what an amazing human she is and hope to convey her light and beauty through this portrait.

I created this portrait using cut-outs from the coloring book, Secret Garden by Johanna Basford, acrylic paint, a Faber Castell pen, a white gel pen, and Mod Podge. I chose a spot amongst the design where I wanted Stephanie's head to go and whited out the area using acrylic paint. I then painted the surrounding flowers using a fine-point brush and acrylics. I used a photo of my sisters and me from over the summer for a reference photo of Stephanie, then began free-handing her face using a small-tipped Faber Castell pen. Her face was then painted and I used the same pen and a white gel one to define lines and add detail. Once dry, I cut different shapes from the coloring page and assembled and sealed the final product using Mod Podge.

The process of creating this portrait began by selecting a reference photo of Stephanie. While I looked through my camera roll and her social media posts for one that captured the idea I aimed to convey, I brainstormed how I could tell a story with the background. I reverted back to the coloring book because the curling vines and stems and business of the page I chose holds a sense of energy and life that is akin to Stephanie's. I selected a picture of her beaming and decided to work her face into the background rather than sitting in front of it to create the sense that the surrounding flowers and life are all blooming from her. A secondary aim of this portrait was to create a unique shape, moving away from the square paper shape I typically create my work on. I achieved this by letting the flower patterns decide the shape of the border, following their general shape as I cut them out. I was left with the smaller, green background-ed portion of the artwork and felt that my idea wasn't represented, but overcame this by utilizing more flowers and a unique arrangement to expand the work and better-convey beauty and creativity.