My self-portrait painting went through a long process of applying many layers of colours and paint. I wanted to make a very thick texture that people would want to touch and that really popped off of the canvas. My intended message and mood I was trying to evoke was a serious but not so serious portrait, much like my self-portrait drawing. When we were taking pictures for the portraits, I wanted a serious photo but the photo of me laughing brought forth more of an intense feeling because it was so spontaneous and I wanted that to be represented in my painting by just applying whatever to it because I was so cautious creating my drawing.

I started the portrait by creating a simple blue back round with the darker outside fading into a lighter blue. This was to create a dark side to my painting. I used deep greens to lighten up the back round a bit and to add more focus to the back round. By using the cool colours, a somber mood was created but was made less intense when I added the light orange at the bottom and red streaks at the top. I used lots of paint around the outside of the canvas but left the middle open with the wood bare. After that, I created a skeleton for the body with a light yellow that I lightly applied. I used a rich orange to outline the guitars neck and headstock as well as the beginnings of the facial features. I created a brown helmet of hair to get a simple idea of the shape it would have to be. Later, I shaped out the face and neck and started painting in the shirt with a white and a little light blue. I used the dry brush technique on some parts of the shirt and a very wet brush on other parts to start adding attention to the creases in my shirt. I used a peachy skin colour to shape and colour in the head, neck and arms and a light brown to shape the guitar neck. Later I added more gray to the shirt, which made it a little darker. I also added a colour and light green outline of a tie.

I thought a positive aspect that lead me to my final painting were the colours I applied to the face. I added shapes with dark blues and very light yellows to the face to start creating shadows around the nose, mouth, chin, and by my ear. I then painted over that the next class with a light skin colour so it would sort of pop out. This taught me later how to apply shadows to the face and how to paint over them but still keep the visible. After that I added some pink undertones to brighten the skin underneath a little. Another positive aspect that took me to my final painting was when I realized I could paint over anything and that it was relatively easy to change some things. This helped me in the end because I wasn’t afraid to take risks and I ended up happy with the risks I took. The area in which I would like to improve on is creating more lifelike features in the hands and face. I want my painting to be more realistic and more similar to the actual thing being painted. I also would have liked to improve on my eyes, tie and guitar because I feel like I rushed them because we were close to the deadline. Overall, I really enjoyed painting and didn’t think it would lead to something so rewarding.

Self Portrat

The intended mood I tried to create with my self-portrait was a very dark one but with a lighter side. I tried to make the self-portrait very mysterious and solemn. By using the white paper as my medium, I felt I got a very darker look from the drawing and the white added to the light and shade of the drawing. The paper also had a rough texture, which helped when I drew and coloured the hair because it added more depth to it.

Two positive aspects of my portrait to me are the hand and the hair. The hand because the shading came out nicely and it fits well with the message in the picture. The curves and lines on the hand also worked out well too. The hair, because it adds to the darkness of the picture, it also adds to my eyes and the contours on my face. It also gives a lot of value to the white parts on my face that I didn’t shade in.

I need to improve on drawing noses, especially around the dorsum. I also need to work on figuring out proportions because that is what starts your pictures and without that, it won’t look nearly as similar to what your attempting to draw or paint. Also, i need to practice shading.

Some things that were helpful to me in the process of drawing this self-portrait were the egg head drawings because it taught me how to shape jaw lines with heads. Having everyones opinions really helped too because they saw things that i didn't see. Same with pinning my picture up and standing far back so i can see it as a whole.

Over all, i think i did an okay job on my first portrait but there is still lots to improve on.

Jimmy Page Video (Vimeo)

http://vimeo.com/4770183

Jimmy Page (Final Summative)

My hero is guitarist Jimmy Page, known for his work with Led Zeppelin from 1968 to 1980. He is considered one of the most influential, important, and versatile guitarists and songwriters in rock history. Jimmy Page was ranked 9^th on Rolling Stone’s magazine ranking of the 100 Greatest Guitarists Ever. He changed music forever with Led Zeppelin in 1968 when the group first formed. And a new “heavy” sound that no one had ever heard before was created and through the twelve years that Led Zeppelin was around and the seven that they ruled the world of music, Page was the wizard behind it all. Page was not only a key musician but also a sorcerer in the studio. Before Led Zeppelin, Page had worked as a studio musician and learnt all the tricks of the trade so when Led Zeppelin went to record, Page took a really innovative approach to recording that would change the way people record music.

Jimmy Page was born on January 9^th, 1944 in a West London suburb to an industrial personnel manager and a doctor’s secretary. He crossed paths with the guitar when he moved with his family to a small town called Epsom in 1952. A guitar was left in the house that his family had bought and at thirteen, he took it to school and got someone to tune it for him. He took lessons but was largely self-taught. He was mesmerized by Rock n Roll after hearing the Elvis Presley song “Baby Let’s Play House”. He was in little bands for his teenage years but in 1963 he got his break recording a song called “Diamonds” that quickly went to Number 1 on the singles charts in 1963 so Jimmy went to work as a session musician from 1963 until he joined The Yardbirds in 1966. The Yardbirds disbanded in 1968 and Jimmy decided to create a new line-up, which would soon become Led Zeppelin.

Page has inspired guitarists and musicians around the world. His innovative tapping-like technique inspired Eddie Van Halen to create his tapping technique.  Page was a pioneer of distortion and was one of the first guitar players to have a fuzz pedal. Page was very influenced by rock and the blues but he was also influenced by Indian, folk, and country music and these influences were also thrown into Led Zeppelin’s hard sound which is why there music touches so many people. Jimmy was the original “rock star”. He dabbled in occultist Aleister Crowley’s work, had hundreds of rare guitars, had hundreds of expensive cars that he drove without a license, lived in Aleister Crowley’s castle in Loch Ness with a moat surrounding it, and he had lots of women and money.

Jimmy is now 65 and resides in Berkshire, England. He is involved in many charity concerts and founded the Action for Brazil’s Children Trust with his wife in 1998. His rock star lifestyle has died down though he still collects guitars but he is no longer the dark haired mysterious guitarist that danced on stages around the world with his Les Paul guitar sung low on his waist, rather an old man. Grey hair and wise. He recently joined Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham’s son Jason Bonham for A tribute concert for the man who made Led Zeppelin possible, Ahmet Ertegun.

 

Led Zeppelin and Jimmy Page have gone through thick and thin and Jimmy is my hero because he is still here to tell the tale. Unlike other musicians who drifted into the shadow of death, Jimmy is did all the same things as the others but got through it all.  He is the rock that doesn’t roll. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JttKvJTh0s

YOUTUBE LINK