Expressionistic Self Portrait

Artist Statement:

The subject of this artwork is a self portrait painted in schalk van de merwe's artistic style. The material I used for this work of art was oil pastels. I started out by sketching out the outline of the face and then adding the facial feature. Then I added more color and shadows using the black oil pastel. I chose this artwork because I really like the emotions portrayed in this work. The elements of art that I used were color, shape, and form. I tried to blend the oil pastels together to create shadowing along the face and around the neck area. The principal of art that I used in this artwork was contrast between the stark blacks and whites.

The composition rule and technique that I used were formal balance because I centered the portrait in the middle of the paper. My project evolved as I continued through the project because I didn't really start out with a beginning idea and then I just drew what I felt would look best.

The meaning behind the artwork is being able to put on a controlled face even though everything else in your life may be overwhelming. If I was going to start over I wouldn't have made the background as similar of a color as the rest of the drawing.