self portrait

this is the latest painting i did in my painting class. it's the first time we did portraits in the class, and i think i'm going to continue on in that vein since the teacher is basically letting us choose what we paint from here on out because it's the end of the semester. portraits are my favorite thing to paint/photograph.

at the end of class on thursday, my teacher told me that i've developed my own style over the semester, which i was glad to hear and sort of already knew.  earlier in the semester he had recommended that i look up the painter alice neel, and i immediately went home and did. i'd never heard of her before, but upon googling her work, i was awe-struck and inspired. over the past couple months, she's been a big influence on me, sort of like a guide.  my teacher, peter, told me that i have a strong sense of line and color, a lot like alice neel and van gogh. 

before this painting class, i feel like my paintings were completely different.  i was always pretty meticulous and concerned with getting it just-so. i always felt i needed to loosen up with my art, but i couldn't figure out how. i feel like with the stuff i've painted in my class, i've loosened up quite considerably. i almost feel like i reverted back to childhood because they've become so much simpler than i was making the whole concept of painting out to be.  and honestly, i could probably apply that to my whole life too. a lot of the times i feel like i make things out to be way more difficult than they are. so even though my paintings now are simpler, i feel like they have more of a soul and more depth to them. i'm really grateful for my awesome painting class, and for my friggin amazing teacher.  going to school for painting is better than i ever could have imagined it to be.