Visual Art – Weeks 3 and 4 Multi-media self portrait

For the last two weeks students have focused on one work inspired by Andrew Brook’s portrait of Marcia Langton from the WHO ARE YOU: Australian Portraiture at the NGV Exhibition. Students worked with portrait photos of themselves, embellished the background with images that speak to the viewer about who they are as a person, and then bought the elements together with paint. These multi-media works gave students the opportunity to develop depth in their images and gave their portraits the added dimension of story-telling. Students also had the opportunity to develop expertise in balancing a range of techniques and materials in this multi-media work.

Andrew Brook’s portrait of Marcia Langton

Students reflected on the process of developing a multi-facetted approach to the portraiture genre. After collaging their self-portrait photograph, they then drew around the photograph to create a more expansive portrait of who they are. They then brought the separate elements together using paint. This exploration allowed students to consider composition and structure in their work and to examine the possibilities of how portraits can tell a story about who they are.

Here are a few year 3/4 reflections and observations:

Details in an art work can tell a story…. and explain the person in the portrait.

 The portrait can tell us a story of a life.

 Mixing media is a new experience and one that makes us keep working on our work to develop it further.

This self-portrait has helped me think about the composition of an art work.

 Colour is important in a work, you don’t necessary have to colour everything in.

Painting with water colour needs practice and each media has its own techniques.