An Attitude of Gratitude Journal - Self

Continuing along with the month long Attitude of Gratitude Journal challenge, here is Day 8:

Today's theme is Self. What a huge topic!! I could do a whole journal on what I think of my self - well that is what most of my written journals discuss, isn't it?

The technique challenge was to draw a self portrait or use a photo of yourself on the page and to cut out words from magazines that describe you in positive terms. This part was fun, as it was serendipitous! I went through a garden design and two home decorating magazines and these are the words I found that I thought described me positively. I like the variation of the size and style of fonts.  The self portrait is a painting I created for a Painting I class at Southern CT State University in Fall 2010.

I realize that I have not written about this painting, so am taking the opportunity to do so here. I chose to model my self portrait after the style of the Nabis, a group of French post-Impressionist painters from the turn of the nineteenth century, a topic I was studying at the time in an Art History course. I also chose to incorporate symbolism in the portrait. The print on the wall behind me is my creation, "The Tree of Life". I posted on my blog about creating this print. The first of  3 posts can be found here. The print itself is symbolic, representing a starting point in time and representing nature and the natural world which are very important to me. The pattern to the right of the print is from a silk scarf that belonged to my grandmother. I was struggling with family issues concerning her, and felt strongly that I wanted to represent her, and as an extension, my maternal family, in this painting. The Brugsmansia plant is a composite of one I had growing outdoors. My printmaking professor had given me a cutting of it the winter before. I planted it and it grew to six feet tall and finally bloomed in splendor that autumn. This was included in the painting because I was fascinated with the plant, but it also represented the natural world. I placed it in a pot which I am holding in my hands. This is a representation of receiving a gift, but also of offering a gift. I want to share my love of nature with others through my art, offering them a view from my perspective.