This document summarizes the artist's process in creating several self-portrait paintings. It describes the artist's initial source material that inspired them, including a portrait of a girl in a red jumper. It then discusses the artist's experimentation with different compositions, materials, and self-portrait angles. The artist created sketches, prototypes in different styles and backgrounds, settling on three compositions to further develop. They struggled with perspective but overcame this by ensuring consistent lighting. The artist learned about manipulating acrylic paints to create realistic skin tones and textures. Overall, the document reflects on the learning experience and importance of development, time management, and analytical skills for future improvement.

1. Initial Sources
I chose the portrait of the “Girl with the kitten” because she had an interesting contrast of old and young. If one just concentrates on her
face she seems to be very innocent and young. However by contrast she is wear a formal dress which seems to suit an older women. Also
her hair is very elaborate which may suit and older girl. The hair is also grey which is looks odd on such a young girl. This portrait tells you
a lot about the girl but not a lot at the same time. You can tell from the grand clothes and elaborate hairstyle she come from a very
wealthy background. Her facial expressions come across as content. You feel that she probably didn’t act like a child, in the sense that
she was calm and collected which children are not like at all.
The composition is very traditional which is very typical of the time. This helps you understand the time period and the girls
background, as it allows you to see the girls dress. The media used was oil paints. This medium was applied very thinly making the
painting very smooth with not much texture.
The reason I chose the portrait Jean
2015 by Tibbles was that it was very
realistic but then fades away into the
background. He is the centre of the
canvas making him the key part of the
work. The background is plain which
allows him to stand out. This was done
on oil on canvas.
I then chose the young girl by Daniele Vezzani because I
found her very captivating to look at. I found that it tells you
a lot from the simple portrait. Her facial expressions gave you
many ideas of how she was feeling or who she is. The
contrast of the red, white and black makes the portrait stand
out. These colours makes one think of Snow White which
suggests how young, innocent and pure she is. This was done
oil on canvas

2. xperiments and Decisions
The reason I chose the red jumper for the last two pieces is that
my main influence is the portrait of the girl with a red jumper
and I really like how it makes her stand out.
All of these were done in the similar style done by Daniele
Vezzani. I did this by making it sure it looks realistic and also
shows a range of tones and did not look flat or toneless.
I did a range of sketches just to show my thought processes and ideas of my composition and of my final
piece. This really helped me think clearly if the ideas would actually work or if they looked effective. I then
chose three of my composition sketches and developed them into my prototypes. I did the same
composition however I developed them by decide the colour and tones and backgrounds for my final
piece. The reason I chose the one with half of my face was that it would allow me to be creative with the
background and also it was different to so many portraits where the person is in the centre.
I then developed this to an acrylic piece with a background that fades from whites to
blue and greens. I also changed the angle to me having my chin up higher, I did this to
create more shadows and a more interesting perspective. I chose the second one as I
wanted a very traditional option which was similar to all my sources. I only developed
this by adding colour. Finally I chose the last one as I thought it would create an
interesting tone and shadows. I also thought it would be a good challenge to do my face
in a odd angle. I developed this by adding a blue background as I wanted to create a
calm atmosphere with me standing out from the background.

3. Portrait painting: final outcome
During this process I learnt about the importance of
perspective in a portrait . I leant about the interplay between
the portrait and the background. I producing the final outcome
I struggled with the perspective . It was difficult to get the
proportions of the facial features correct when viewing my face
from an unfamiliar angle. The use of the mirror as the source of
the self portrait meant that image and the shades constantly
changed. I solved this problem by making sure that the main
source of light remained constant and
What did you learn about portraiture and visual language?
What does the final outcome communicate and how?
This project really helped me learn how to manipulate acrylic.
It has taught me how to mix colours to create the skin tones I
wanted. I learnt how to create different textures to make the
skin realistic by using the paint brushes a certain way. I found
that acrylic was much easier to use as it allowed me to apply
paint on top of paint. I also tried water colour however I found
that this was harder to create the realistic skin tones. It was
difficult as you can’t do too many layers.

4. The tree assignment was very important to me as it gave me a chance to
use a range of equipment from the workshop such as the drills and
metal cutter. This also gave me the opportunity to lean how to do print
making.
The British Museum assignment really taught me the importance of
development. It showed me how marks are given for development and
how to develop your work.
media. I used ink, pastel and used
them in many different ways. This was
so useful as I now know how I can
apply these ideas of how to
manipulate media to create different
effects.
In order improve next year I think I
need to work on is time management
This project also helped me analyse and
think through my work. It helped me think
how I can communicate and link art into my
final piece through many ways such as the
This project also gave a chance to really
experiment with different medium I used.
Reflecting on year 1

5. Plans for the future
My aim is to stay on top of my work through out the assignment. I will do this by using the
diary and making sure I have completed the work that needs to be done every week. I will
need to be focused and organised in order to succeed. In order to ensure that I work hard on
the weekdays and my frees.
I also need to develop my analytic skills. I will succeed by using the question bank and making
sure I am answering the most important ones. This will help me cover all the parts of
analysing my own and others work.
I also need to be sure that I focus on the development stages of my work. This will evolve and
improve my final piece. I will do this by constantly altering my ideas and prototypes.