The artistic intent is to use the combined medium method of acrylic on canvas and textile layering and collage approach to create a portrait of Simone Brerup which both captures her essence and existence and will subtly reflect the idea that behind her identity is an inability to recognize herself.

The approach that I took for this environmental portrait varied into two separate mediums and processes.  My first path appeared in a digital mockup of my planned painting process.  I continued to digitally manipulate a photo of Simone atop close-ups of her textiles for one of the two techniques.  For the second medium, I used acrylic on canvas with fabric collage to create a portrait as unique as Simone, yet representative of a similar theme: the layers which make up Simone.  The part of this process I most enjoyed was the initial documentation and collaboration with another student.  Simone was willing to take the time and the effort to contribute to the positive outcome of my project.  The most challenging part was to honor someone’s image accurately.  The pace of the project was adequate, and collaboration was vital to its success.  My current preference is to have a project with defined outcomes, but one which begins with open-ended response, indicating an initial high level of artistic freedom and creative space resolving into timeliness and accuracy.  I did not have a sense of achievement with this project because I feel that while I captured one aspect of Simone, I was not capable of capturing all of her.  The ability to observe surroundings into artistic interpretation is vital in the creative process for future projects.