the challenge of making a composite self portrait

The first assignment for my Color & Design class was to create a composite self portrait using at least 2 images from pieces of art by well known artists. We had studio time yesterday to work on it, but I'd come into class with a pretty clear idea of what I wanted to do - my biggest challenge was deciding on a background.

The well known art images I used were:

Kazimir Malevich's Women in the Farm

Salvador Dali's The Persistence of Memory

Damien Hirst'sValium

I was really looking for a coastal image to use as the background for my self portrait, but couldn't find anything that didn't have print in all the wrong places (we were using magazines for these images).

Talking with the instructor helped with the balance - she suggested trimming the final product to create a longer, thinner final image (I was hung up on the assignment saying produce an 8x10 image). So, instead of trying to place things to cover the print on the page, I cut it right off the page, moving "me" onto a better position on the path.

I had one little piece of print on the page that I covered by paperpiecing a plant from another page - still need to do the same for the barrel cactus in the bottom left corner.

I know I'll be playing around with this a bit before next Friday - I love the Damien Hirst Valium and used it to represent my head being filled with color and ideas. Because the image in real life is massive, there is a massive burst of color when you see it - when shrunk down to "head size" the color is really lost and doesn't work the way I want it too.

Is it a bit ironic that I was drawn to the Malevich and Hirst because of the strong, bold use of color and shape, but have taken pieces and used them in a way that removes most of the color!?

I do love the Dali pocket watches drapped over the rocks & hanging from the trees - at least that element is working better just as I wanted.

Busy day today - 1st birthday party for boy/girl twins and a class at Paper Tales!