Project One
Title: Head of Sariah
Size: 27.94 cm by 35.56 cm
Medium: Acrylic paint on canvas
Date: September 2021
I was inspired by Caravaggio and Medusa's origin story to portray myself as
Medusa. The idea was to show that like Medusa, I am judged for something
out of my control. Like Medusa, the way people treat me is because someone
else created a bad image that doesn't actually portray who I am, but
everyone else believes it. I made my face look kind to show they are hurting
a kind person.
Artistic Inspiration
Inspiration Behind The Piece:
I was inspired by this piece because of the origin story of Medusa and how she is portrayed. I feel that I can relate to her as we are both judged for something completely out of our control and our status is affected by an image that someone
else created. In my piece, I am replacing her head with mine to show that we are
one and the same, although without that horrific look on my face or blood coming
from my neck. I want people to look at my piece and understand how I feel. I decided to paint my face with a slight smile to represent a kind expression and make people realize that when they are hurting and bullying me, they are hurting and bullying a kind person
who doesn't deserve that treatment.
About Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio:
Caravaggio was an influential Italian artist who was born near Milan in 1571. At 11 years of age, he was orphaned. He apprenticed a painter named Simone Peterzano when he was 13 years old, shortly after his mother died. Peterzano was a follower of theLombard school of art which valued simplicity and naturalism and these values had a lasting influence over Caravaggio's style. He became popular for the Tenebrism (dramatic illumination) technique he used when he moved to Rome. This technique used shadow to emphasize lighter areas.
Caravaggio was an influential Italian artist who was born near Milan in 1571. At 11 years of age, he was orphaned. He apprenticed a painter named Simone Peterzano when he was 13 years old, shortly after his mother died. Peterzano was a follower of theLombard school of art which valued simplicity and naturalism and these values had a lasting influence over Caravaggio's style. He became popular for the Tenebrism (dramatic illumination) technique he used when he moved to Rome. This technique used shadow to emphasize lighter areas.
Medusa's Origin Story:
Medusa was born a gorgon with two other gorgon sisters, but she was the only sister born
mortal so like me, you could say she was definitely an outsider. Stheno and Euryale-her two sisters-were both immortal. But Medusa wasn't born with snakes in her hair; she was
Athena's priestess. She wasn't a goddess or Olympian, but some stories depict her as one.
Athena cursed Medusa to have snakes for hair when she had an affair with Poseidon. Her
skin turned a greenish hue and anyone who looked in her eyes turned to stone. Perseus
was sent to kill her and cut her head off by using the reflection of his polished shield to
avoid her gaze. Perseus used her head as a weapon against enemies, while Athena used
Medusa's image on her own armor and shield. In short, she was cursed by someone else
and then after being murdered, she was exploited by the two people who harassed her.
Planning
Planning Sketches
For the first planning sketch, I laid out my idea as well as the goal I wanted for my final piece. The second planning sketch was for deciding what kind of expression I wanted to have on my face and how I wanted to portray myself. I ended up going with a slight smile to my features to show that when someone is hurting me, they are hurting a kind person who doesn't deserve that kind of treatment. My third planning sketch was going over what colors I planned on using and how I was going to incorporate those different values in my face and the snakes. I also briefly showed what I planned to do for my blending process.
Process & Experimentation
For my piece, I wanted to portray myself as Medusa to show that like her, my image is created by other people and is a poor representation of who I actually am as a person. I wanted to create a hint of a smile in my features to show that when people are hurting me, they are hurting a kind person who doesn't deserve that treatment. I was inspired by Caravaggio's painting and wanted to include some of that value as well as Medusa's snake hair into my piece. I started by taking a reference picture of myself with the slight smile and printing it out. I scribbled with pencil on the back side of the reference photo and traced the outline onto my canvas. I then started working on the face and used white, coral, and brown to blend on my canvas. I didn't do any previous blending on the palette; everything was blended on the canvas. After painting the facial features, I started painting the snake hair starting on the left side of the canvas and working my way right. For the snakes, I used two different shades of green as well as black and white to intensify that valye that Caravaggio often did in his pieces. For the background, I decided on the color purple for two reasons: 1.I have always liked the way purple and green look together, and 2.I often see pictures of Medusa wearing purple or green so doing purple felt like a nice contrast for the background. I used two different shades of purple as well as white to blend the purples and to make it lighter towards my face, giving off a glow. Overall, the most frustrating and difficult part was painting the snakes because it was very time consuming and working with only four colors for several hours straight was growing tiresome. But I am happy with how this piece turned out and the colors and idea turned out how I envisioned the piece to look.
Reflection
Overall, I am happy with how this piece turned out. The color palette is probably one of my favorite parts as the purple background is a nice contrast to the focus. I feel that my idea came across and am proud to relate to Medusa no matter what image she may have. This has to be one of my favorite pieces I have done for school because of how well thought out it was. However, the snake hair did prove challenging and definitely tested my patience. Blending such a limited palette of colors for the snakes sometimes made it blend wrong and it was also very time consuming. But I am happy with how the piece turned out and the fact that I stuck through such a challenging process is something to be proud of. I hope that when people look at my painting, they will be able to understand how I feel and be able to think about why I portrayed myself as Medusa.
Compare & Contrast
Similarities:
- Both pieces only show the face as that is the focus of the pieces and they center around the facial expression -Both have snake hair which display the idea that our image is out of our control and society creates a false representation to their liking -We both use different values to intensify the areas with light |
Differences:
-In my piece, I include my neck to show that I am human and still have feeling, while in his piece, her head has been severed -Our facial expressions are different because she is in pain and is portrayed as evil while mine shows how kind I am -His piece is in the form of a shield because her head is used as a weapon of defense, while my piece displays a story |
ACT Responses
1. Clearly explain and describe how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.
I was inspired to incorporate Medusa's snake hair into my piece to show that things out of our control are often used to create a false representation of us. However, I made my facial expression kind instead of horrified to show that when people hurt me, they hurt a kind person.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration.
The biography web pages are about Caravaggio's life as a person and artist, while the last source is about Medusa's origin story and how she is represented in modern culture.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc., while you researched your inspiration?
Our image is often created by other people or is based off of something completely out of our own control and this can often create a false representation of a person.
4. What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The idea was to portray myself as Medusa to show that like her, my image is created by society and something out of my control (mental health) and is a false representation of me. However, I changed my facial expression to be kind instead of horrified to show that these bullies are hurting a kind person and they are wrong about me.
5. What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
Medusa wasn't really that bad of a person to be murdered and treated the way she was. While having an affair is wrong, she was murdered and exploited which is a good example of how people taking "justice" into their own hands can result negatively.
I was inspired to incorporate Medusa's snake hair into my piece to show that things out of our control are often used to create a false representation of us. However, I made my facial expression kind instead of horrified to show that when people hurt me, they hurt a kind person.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration.
The biography web pages are about Caravaggio's life as a person and artist, while the last source is about Medusa's origin story and how she is represented in modern culture.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc., while you researched your inspiration?
Our image is often created by other people or is based off of something completely out of our own control and this can often create a false representation of a person.
4. What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The idea was to portray myself as Medusa to show that like her, my image is created by society and something out of my control (mental health) and is a false representation of me. However, I changed my facial expression to be kind instead of horrified to show that these bullies are hurting a kind person and they are wrong about me.
5. What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
Medusa wasn't really that bad of a person to be murdered and treated the way she was. While having an affair is wrong, she was murdered and exploited which is a good example of how people taking "justice" into their own hands can result negatively.
Bibliography
" Caravaggio." Biography, 2019, https://www.biography.com/artist/caravaggio
"Medusa, 1597 by Caravaggio." Caravaggio.org, https://www.caravaggio.org/medusa.jsp
Regula, DeTraci. "The Curse of Medusa From Greek Mythology." Thought Co., 2019, https://www.thoughtco.com/greek-mythology-medusa-1524415
"Medusa, 1597 by Caravaggio." Caravaggio.org, https://www.caravaggio.org/medusa.jsp
Regula, DeTraci. "The Curse of Medusa From Greek Mythology." Thought Co., 2019, https://www.thoughtco.com/greek-mythology-medusa-1524415