Sometime this month, I will be making a trek downtown to see Frida & Diego: Passion, Politics, and Painting at the High Museum here in Atlanta. I am a huge Friday Kahlo fan, so I am really excited to go. I am waiting for the crowd to go down a little before I visit, but I don't think I can hold out much longer. I received this beautiful postcard from the High a few weeks ago.
She has been staring at me here in my studio.
Today I wanted to do some graphic design practice and add a new page to my art journal. So... I decided to "Kahlo" myself using Corel Painter and my Bamboo tablet.
I started by taking a serious self portrait. As you can see from this... I was nothin' but glamma this morning.
I downloaded this gorgeous photo of myself into Corel Painter and started playing around.
Here I am, Kahlo style.
I love that Kahlo painted her self-portraits to look as she did, hair and all. There is something empowering about that. She was obviously very beautiful, but in today's air-brushed world, well... some plucking and waxing would be taking place. I also love the fact that she is so honest about her love for Diego - she even paints him on her self-portrait's forehead. (I wasn't good enough with Corel to paint a small image of Chris on my forehead.)
I decided this image would be a fun starting page for my new art journal. In keeping with my Frida theme, I painted vibrant green vines in the front pages.
I had so much fun with this little project. The experience opened up questions in my mind. I wondered... could I do an authentic self-portrait? The experience also made me feel empowered somehow. Kind of like... this is me world, wrinkles and gray hair and all. Maybe Frida's boldness rubbed off on me.
How about you? Have you ever created a self-portrait? What did you learn from your experience?
Fantastic blog page and artwork. I'm a big Frida fan myself and saw the exhibition in London in 2005. My car is even called Frida
ReplyDeleteThank you Lynn. Frida is a lovely name for a car!
DeleteI love your Frida-like self portrait. And you will love the exhibit. It was here in Toronto until mid January and I simply adored it. Both Frida and Diego are suchinteresting artists.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking you had seen it in Toronto. Atlanta is the only US city to get the exhibit, so I feel quite lucky!
DeleteI love your Frida self portrait. I always have thought that whenever we draw a face we draw ourselves in some identifying way anyhow, some aspect of our personality or being, so it makes sense to place with faces even if they don't conform to what people expect. xox
ReplyDeleteYou are so right Corrine... I think it is fun to put yourself in a new light, to experiment with a new personality within a piece of art. It pushes you to think in a new direction, always a good thing.
DeleteAmazing Frieda portrait! I think it's brave of you to alter your face.
ReplyDeleteI've been meaning to tell you how excited I was to open the latest ClothPaperScissors magazine and see the full page ad for your dvd. Very cool!
Thank you so much Mia. I was a little shocked by that ad too! Pretty cool though.
DeleteAltering my face was kind of weird, but very freeing too. You should try it!
I just LOVE your Frida portrait Jenny!!! You are Going to LOVE!!!! this exhibition. I went with a friend to a special Frida/Diego exhibit in Phila. PA back in 2008 and I can still recall how taken I was with the art on display-I didn't want to leave.I also adore the movie about Frida that was portrayed by Selma Hayek.
ReplyDeleteThanks Linda. I loved that movie too. Even though it has been years since I have seen it, so many images from the film are vivid in my memory - the sign of a good movie for me.
DeleteWHAAAAAT? How did I miss this post??? AMAZING!!!! A.MA.ZING!!!!! How did the visit to the Museum go? I'd love to see photos if any where taken. Crossing my fingers the exhibit will travel and I can catch it here on the east coast.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you like this. You need to Kahlo yourself into one of your amazing pages. I can totally see that. I haven't been yet. Just waiting for the perfect moment.
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