Midterm: Elements of Nat

This self portrait portrays myself as the central subject. I wanted my composition to not feel static but as if its in motion. The composition consists of elements that I strongly connect with and wanted to see surrounding myself. To the right side behind me there is foliage growing, using green string and different paints to create the stalks. Above me are clouds made out of a felt material and on the inside its filled with eyes watching back. The left side from underneath the clouds the sun rays are peaking onto myself. Underneath the sun is the water in motion coming up alongside me. I was inspired by a variety of mixed media and collage artists such as Glady Grauer. I saw her mixed media collage "Tomorrow May Be a Thousand Years" and I was inspired to create a textured collage where the eye has different layers to look at. Some of the techniques I used was creating the water using at first thick layers of acrylic paint but I wasn't getting enough texture. So I decided to use hot glue and then I painted more on top of it to keep the color. I created the greenery using glitter glue and pieces of string, and the entire string isn't glued down many parts overlap and create shadows. Using those shadows I kept seeing I painted with watercolor create some dimension. I thought the gold glitter glue was cohesive with the sun-rays coming from the opposite side. This self portrait is representative of myself because my friends often call me Mother Nature. I feel a strong connection to my humanity and Earth conservation. I inspire a lot of people around my circle to practice more proactively for the Earth. I see a great beauty in nature. Water is included because its a very comforting element of nature to me, even though it one of the strongest natural forces. The clouds with the eyes on it are more representation of self doubts and being watched. They come and go like clouds in the sky, part of the ever-changing cycle of life. The sun rays are reminder of good feelings and warmth which come from my favorite seasons.