In reality when looking for a master artist I was looking at the movement that they were a part of, mostly looking for/at those who were involved with the impressionistic or post-impressionistic movments. Instead of the pose that the artist was in. Within the instructions/talk about the project there was conversation about making the portrait reflect you in likeness and in ‘personality’, so I decided to add a level of both fun and ‘whimsy’ to my portrait. I decided on Vincent Van Gogh as my master artist, and after looking into his portraits I was mildly disappointed as there was a lack of dynamic poses to choose from. However I saw that there was a variation to one of the portraits Self-Portrait with Pipe, Self-Portrait with Straw Hat and Pipe, Self-portrait with Pipe and Straw Hat, and Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear and Pipe. In the end I chose the one with a more interesting background- the painting being Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear and Pipe.


I don’t truly know if there was a transformation in my art or even a growth. I have always enjoyed taking ‘risks’ in my art as I feel like there can be no real consequence to it, like, oh no boo hoo it doesn't look good, then make a better one, then change how you did it-, don’t use that medium. BAM, fixed it. I did take the risk of adding a more abstract background to the piece by adding in the swirls of blue, some of them I will admit are a little too big/thick, but I was having a fun time playing around with how all the mediums worked together. The planning in my sketchbook is subpar to the actual work I was able to put into the final piece.