Rothko, Night #2

Rothko Night, hurray! I scoured the closet this morning, searching for a smock. Much to my shock, no smock frock! I usually have no shortage of crummy clothes, but there was nothing I was willing to ruin with paint. I had to improvise. I wore a busy blue print cotton dress to work, reasoning that if I got paint on my clothes in the evening, it would become part of the print. No harm done.

Tonight my AARPeeps and I learned that Rothko(vich) was born in 1903 and immigrated to the US in 1913 from Russia. He attended Yale on a scholarship for one year, torn between studies in engineering and law. In 1923, he visited a friend in New York, was exposed to art, and declared himself an artist. Must be nice. We learned that Paul Cezanne and Milton Avery (mental note: Google them later) were two of the artists who influenced Rothko in his 20's and 30's - his Expressionist period. We discussed how artists are influenced by other artists. Art is a process and an artist's style develops and morphs over time.

Three Bathers by Paul Cezanne, c.1875

Nudes by Mark Rothko, 1926

Milton Avery's Self Portrait 1930

Mark Rothko's Self Portrait 1936

We were tasked with creating a self portrait using Rothko's influence from his style in the 1930's. Self portrait? Hey Teacher, I am pretty sure that's too difficult for my second night with a paint brush. There's Doubt creeping back in. But last week was Doubt - this week is all about ME. To help shape the mood, Teacher played 1930's music - Billie Holiday's rendition of Summertime and Ethel Waters crooning Stormy Weather for starters. I had mood music, canvas, and oils. I've got this. We were instructed to slather a background using the slather technique we learned last week. Start with a thin layer and darken/thicken as we go. Determine our designs; use pastels to outline shapes on the canvas if necessary, and mirrors were available for our reflections. I decided not to use either of these. I decided that my abstract art is organic, and I set out to paint from my new Rothkoesque emotional place.

It was really difficult, not because it was a self portrait, but because we needed to use light and dark to create shadow and dimension. I started with a blank oval face and then squiggled my natural hair. Squiggling and slathering are my favorite things to do with paint! Maybe I can just paint slathered squiggles for an hour. Influenced by the nude bathers, I decided to make myself mysteriously nude - the most organic state of all. Plus I was overwhelmed at the thought of painting my busy blue print dress.

Organic Self Portrait, 2015

Clearly there are problems with my skeletal raised arm and jaundiced zombie eyes, but I can probably fix them some time if I develop any skills. But it doesn't remind me of a Rothko. Fail. What it does remind me of, is a Joni Mitchell self portrait/album cover with wine and squiggles. Teacher was right - artists are influenced by other artists. Score!

Joni Mitchell's Self Portrait on Her Both Sides Now Album Cover, 2000.