Baroque Self Portrait - Sketching out the idea

The creative process begins

One of the nice things about digital paint programs is that you can take an actual photo and sketch in ideas. I am not sure if this is the final idea, but it is one of them. I was looking for a way to go ahead and use that arm coming forward to click the button on my camera. If I go with this idea, I will probably get out my sewing form and do a proper drapery study. Since I am flipping the photo, I may need a better photo to work with. My original plan was to use myself in the mirror, but I think I like it flipped better.

I like paintings that tell a story, so this will most likely be my self portrait as a muse. There are all kinds of deep thoughts that can be invented, but secretly, I had to find a purpose for the egg. This sounds plausible, so I will go with it. I have no idea what I am going to do with all that room on the left side. Since this is supposed to be Baroque, I am thinking there should be something fairly dramatic. I have a few ideas floating around in my brain, but at this point I am open to suggestions.


An explaination for the egg:

I recently had a conversation with my cousin who challenged me to do a series of paintings in any style or method and include an egg anywhere in the painting. It can be bluntly represented as I am using here, or I can choose to hide the egg in the painting. She explained that an egg is a symbol of restarting or new life. Since I am starting over in my persuit of being an artist it seemed like a fun challenge.

There is something about making just a few obscure rules like "in the Baroque style" and "an egg must be involved" that gets my creative child jumping for joy. When the options are open, the inner critic shoots down nearly every suggestion. My inner critic is much more open to ideas once a project has guidelines. I have learned that if I feed this need my creative blocks tend to be far between and shorter in length.

I am heading to the store to get a few more supplies for my Creative Journal. I have lots of notes and a 3-ring zip up binder. I am going to get some paper and a few markers. While this blog is an online version of that, its nice to have something to flip through when the kids are hogging my computer.