Hi everyone!

After a very long hiatus, Altered Hearts is ready for business, so to speak. We’re taking our zine and we’re going 21st century with it. While we will continue to bring fresh, fun, and inspiring content, we will no longer create a down-loadable product. Embracing the format of the blog, weekly posts will be offer a variety of information: Artist Highlights and Book Reviews, Font Recommendations and Product Reviews, Workshop Suggestions and Step-by-step Tutorials, and everything else that strike’s our fancy.

August finds us concentrating on the broad theme of portraits. Portraits? Isn’t that a strange “theme”? How can that be a “theme”?

¹por·trait

noun\ˈpȯr-trət, -ˌtrāt\

Definition of PORTRAIT

1: especially :a pictorial representation of a person usually showing the face

Frankly, I’m fascinated by artists that can capture the essence of a person, whether a realistic rendering, abstract in design, or child-like paintings and brilliance of color. Gazing at a  face of beauty or character draws me into a painting, as if I could sit and chat a spell, with the painting providing me a basis for the content of our discussion.

Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa, 1503-1506

Of course, any discussion of Portraits has to start with the ubiquitous Mona Lisa. Likely the most famous portrait ever, da Vinci intentionally created a mystery about her. Is she smiling? Is she happy? Is she contemplating what she will serve Francesco for dinner that evening or musing over a secret tryst with her lover?  We’re left to our own interpretations and we create our own mental discussions with her.

Portraits certainly document physical appearance during a certain point in time, but they do so much more than that. Whether viewing images of loved ones, political figures, historical persons, or famous (and infamous) icons, portraits evoke feelings and connections and allow a sense of familiarity that endures the passage of time.

Even when portraiture strays from the confines of realism, weaving a tapestry from impressionism to  abstract to pop, we are drawn like moths to the flame.

Vincent Van Gogh, Self Portrait: Saint-Rémy, 1889

Van Gogh painted many self-portraits. The one I share here is my favorite. With a crease between his brows and the intensity of his stare, the painting could have been somber and stoic. But the movement of his strokes, the almost mono-chromatic color scheme in the soothing blue tones, and the brilliant pop of the oranges prevents me from taking him too seriously. If only I could reach out my hand and lightly run my fingers over the texture of his beard and soothe his worried brow. I wonder if that was his intent?

Andy Warhol, Turquoise Marilyn, 1962

Portraits can be fun, edgy, full of energy and life, such as Andy Warhol’s rendition of Marilyn Monroe, proving that portraits can be brilliant with color. Warhol’s colorful play invites us to try our own hand at photo manipulation.

Andy Warhol, Self-Portrait, 1986

I think Andy’s self-portrait is a little on the “scary ” side for me, but I can’t help but be fascinated by him. His hair here looks intentionally staged as if to show the world he will be a “madman” and we’d better like it. His piercing eyes are what draw me in and cinch the concept that he is utterly mad. He would have made a wonderful Mad Hatter and given Johnny Depp a run for his money.

Pablo Picasso, Self-Portrait, 1972

Many famous artists appear to simmer in their own tortured souls. Pablo Picasso and Frida Kahlo were two such artists. While Pablo imbues us with minimalist strokes and his own style of cubism, we gather he is incredibly unhappy and yet he is unable to convey the source of his grief. Many of his paintings reveal his obsession with himself and his desire to me renown. His life antics were almost as famous as his paintings, but I digress.

Frida Kahlo, The Broken Column, 1944

Frida on the other-hand, righteously delivers her message with an arsenal of imagery and an abundance of strokes. I feel her torture in almost every self-portrait she painted.

In one of my favorite Frida paintings, her self-portrait doesn’t involve her face. A portrait is not defined by the presence of the head, it is a visual representation of a person (or animal or object). through the use of descriptive imagery.  The painting What I Saw in the Water or What the Water Gave Me (1938, oil on canvas, 91×70.5 cm.)  is a perfect example of using personal symbols to create a visual self-image.

Frida Kahlo, What I Saw in the Water, 1938

While researching portraits for this post, I came across this amazing video that contains very familiar portraits and morphs from one face to another. The morphing alone is worth the time to watch, but also includes many famous paintings.

Look for Barbara’s Article tomorrow, our “Official Kick-Off” post!

Share with us your favorite portrait artist. Is it someone contemporary, such as Pam Carriker? or fun and funky, like Danita? or perhaps old school, such as etsy artist Raumzucker?

sherrieJD