The Original S.E.L.F.I.E…

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art, artists, creating, drawings, Forgiveness, frida kahlo, Instagram, joy, paintings, self portrait, self portraits, selfie, selfies, suffering

Self Portrait

Mixed Media Art Painting Collage

Sharon Cummings

2014

Long before the Internet, cell phones and the modern day “selfie”, artists were hard at work creating self portraits.  It was a right of passage of sorts for some and for others it was just practical.  It wasn’t always easy to get models, nor could the average artist afford to pay.  So naturally, they turned to themselves.

Frida Kahlo is one famous example of an artist who mostly painted her own image. She is noted as saying:

“I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best.”
― Frida Kahlo

I believe this is true for many artists.  We spend a lot of time in solitude working tirelessly to perfect our craft.  We curse to an empty studio when we are agonizing over a piece and we dance in delight to ourselves as audience when all goes well.  And yet, the “self portrait” has fallen from grace as an art form.  It has been replaced with quick snaps loaded to Instagram.

I have drawn myself in Egyptian headdress in the past.  One teacher challenged me to draw myself as an old woman.  And I have sculpted my body and face in clay.  Each is an exercise in self reflection that cannot be garnered from a quick snap of the cell phone.

Self portraiture is a challenge.  I’d love to see more artists take the plunge by using Photoshop, paint, clay, markers and anything else that requires time and thought.

It is like a forgiveness of sorts.  A raw honest look at life and your place in it.  An exercise of thankfullness to the Universe for the gifts that you have been given to create with. You do it for yourself…

Collaborations

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alice in wonderland, art, art collaboration, Artist, beach, bears, butterflies, butterfly, collaboration, collage, collage art, collage work, creating, creativity, mixed media, mixed media art, muse, ocean, Paint, painting, photography, photos, pretty art, sea, sharon cummings, tampa, tampa artist, Teddy bear, teddy bears, the mad hatter, women, women's issues

 

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/on-the-rocks-teddy-bear-art-by-william-patrick-and-sharon-cummings-sharon-cummings.html

Do any of you other artists ever collaborate?  Work on photography together?  Paintings?  Music?  I tend to be a loner when it comes to my work, but I have had some really great opportunities to work with some amazing artists from around the World on pieces of art that really challenged me but ultimately brought me great satisfaction.  

The piece above is a joint effort between me and my husband William Patrick.  We headed to the beach with his box of toys and I handled all of the choreography and staging while he snapped the shots.  I also handled the post processing.

 http://fineartamerica.com/featured/down-the-rabbit-hole-sharon-cummings.html

Down the Rabbit Hole was a very interesting project that I shared with a Canadian artist named Geraldine Gracia.  What we did was each sent each other a package filled with all sorts of bits and pieces of things we collected.  The rule was we had to use EVERYTHING in the package in a mixed media piece.  We could add to it, but we could not subtract.  It really got my imagination going and the end result was a surprise to me.  I to this day continue to sell this piece regularly…so glad it speaks to so many.

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/balancing-act-sharon-cummings.html

Balancing Act was another collaboration piece.  I have done these many times with other artist and it is always fun to see what we create!