Self-Portrait

This is a self-portrait based on one of the photographs from ''The Flower Dress'' photoshoot with Stefania Papayianni-->http://hebarena.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/flower-dress.html I like the fact that the painting isn't centered and space is given for the painting to breathe. Initially, I was going to put detail on the background, but then I decided to make it plain, so more emphasis is put on the face. It took me around 6-7 hours to complete.

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Portrait of Melissa 3

This is the third painting based on Melissa's 'Bring a Cartoon Character to Life' series, which are inspired by Roy Lichtenstein and Japanese anime/manga. This is when she was completely painted and is wearing a wig in contrast to the others where she were still in the preparatory stage. I particularly like the way the eyes and hair turned out. I usually don't put so much detail on hair when using oil paints, but I think that they turned out better in this painting. The eyes also look more 'real'. I also like the contrast between the flat dots and ''3-dimensional'' skin. It took me around 7-8 hours to complete.

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Collaborative Photoshoot with Melissa

Yesterday, I went out with my good friend Melissa and had a photoshoot at Hatfield Old Town. We also took some photographs in our studio space beforehand. I had the idea of wanting to photograph myself with white hair for a long time. I mainly just wanted simple portraits but then after I told Melissa about it, she suggested we try to do something collaboratively and that the theme of black and white would be interesting. She dressed up in black clothing and I in white. We were influenced by Japanese anime and manga, ball-jointed dolls and fashion. I noticed that working collaboratively with other people can give rise to many interesting ideas and results. It was a very fun, playful and exciting photoshoot.

Portrait of my Father

While in Cyprus, I asked my father to take some photographs of me. I was trying to explain and show him what kind of photographs I wanted to him to take so I used him as an example to show him how zoomed in I wanted the photographs to be. I ended up really liking the photograph and decided to turn it into a painting. It took me around 8 hours to complete.

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Gallery Visits Cyprus 2012 (Part 2)

I also visited the ''Evagoras and Kathleen Lanitis Centre'' at the Carobmill in the Old Castle area in Limassol. The exhibition was called ''Nautilus Cyprus 2012''. There are usually group exhibitions there from time to time. I like to keep myself updated on whenever there is a new one and do my best to go when I can. There was range of different artists and a variety of works. Starting from drawing and painting, all the way to installation and film. I took some photos of the works I found interesting.

Gallery Visits Cyprus 2012 (Part 1)

There weren't many exhibitions going on this summer in Cyprus, but I took advantage of what was available. The first exhibition I went to was a group exhibition of my two friends from my foundation course. It was held at the ''House of Education and Art''(Στέγη Γπαμμάτων και Τεχνών). It was nice to see the girls' development a year after university. They both have very different styles and there was a variety of themes, ranging from nature, portraiture, figurative, to still life. Here are some of Penelope Neophytou and Irene Fani's work. The first two belong to Penelope and the other two belong to Irene. Another friend of mine, Felicia Sonnet, also exhibited this year at Antithesis Art and Coffee shop. I didn't manage to take any photos, but more information on her work can be found here: http://www.antithesiscoffeeshop.blogspot.com/. Her work was quite abstract and not usually the style of art I look into but the paintings were well made and very professional-looking.

These girls inspired me to want to make an exhibition next year even more and have made me believe that with hard work and determination anything can be achieved.

Another exhibition I visited was the one of the Greek artist, Sotiris Sorogas at ''Morfi Gallery''. The exhibition was entitled ''Rust and Stones''. His main subjects are stones, misshapen pieces of wood and rusted metal sheets. The materials he usually uses to paint are acrylics, charcoal and ink. He has been in the art world for over 40 years and has also published theoretical texts in books. I find his work to be very poetic and sensitive. I particularly liked his work on stones. His backgrounds are plain and simple, giving emphasis to the stones.

He focuses mainly on light and shadow, giving less attention to colour, adding only a small red cloth, breaking the monotony of grey tones. The paintings were framed in plexi-glass boxes, which I found to be very effective. It almost looked like they were in a museum, giving the impression that they are sacred and are not to be touched. I would like to try out using this technique in my own work sometime. It is simple yet has a lot of texture.

Portait of Melissa 2

Inspired by Melissa's 'Bring a Cartoon Character to Life' series, I created a second painting based on one of the other photographs. It is meant to be the sister piece of 'Portrait of Melissa'. I think this one turned out a bit more 'realistic' than the previous, due to the more 'fleshy' skin tones. In the previous, make-up was only applied to the lower lip. In this one her lip make-up is complete and she also painted the eyebrow and nose. Therefore, it is the second stage. The next painting I'm planning to do is when she is completely painted, the final stage. This painting also took me around 8-9 hours.

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