Self-Portraits. Journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Self-Portraits. Journal - Essay Example Using a journal format prevents these ideas from sounding like second hand information, and makes his ideas known as well as interesting. As an artist that depicts people most of the time, I am highly interested in expressing the different emotions that humans are highly capable of showing. The various people I have painted also includes myself, simply due to being a quick subject to study on, as well as me being the most easy-to-find model around. I have shown this through the numerous self-portraits I have painted throughout my lifetime, which is roughly 10% of the bulk of my artworks (van de Wetering, 2005). However, it is not only I but also other artists of my time like Gerard Dou and Frans van Mieris made a considerable number of self-portraits as well, which does not make my output sound unique during that period. Throughout my entire career, it can be observed that my self-portraits also change along with my age and preferred methods of painting, which in a way would also tell the viewers my life as if it were a running timeline (van de Wetering, 1997). I am able to do so by using a mirror while looking at it as I paint (Berger, 2000). Not only are people able to see how I have aged, but also they could also see the different techniques that I have acquired, which resulted in my unique style of layering multiple brush strokes until the surface almost looks like it was sculpted and molded, not painted on (van de Wetering, 1997). My artistic choices in composition can be viewed as rather dark or muted, but as I have progressed in my profession, a certain drama can be seen in the sharp contrast of light and shadow. This is regarded as one of my most distinguishing styles, the chiaroscuro, which is one of my ways to show my non-conformist ideals with regards to how and what I paint (van de Wetering, 1997). The prominence of my choice of dark