SueConner ARTIST

100 Self Portraits: A Conversation with Color

As the new year began, I found myself in a place where I felt the need and desire to go beyond that place of creative comfort. Creating 100 self-portraits became the self-imposed assignment in which I pushed to work more spontaneously and intuitively. I began by generating a list of 100 words about myself that would inspire each piece. I also experimented with a range of medium and color that went beyond encaustic and my usual neutral pallet.

This approach coincided perfectly with the 2023 Spring Enso term where we were tasked to expand how we viewed the wildflower. I discovered wildflowers in the most unusual places where these resilient, diverse plants represent extraordinary beauty in the depth of their detail and color. Wildflowers also brought to mind “bursts of color”, which became the perfect way to merge my assignment with my Enso goals, where the intent was to use color to communicate the mood and emotion within my self-portraits. The images on the opposite page represent a sampling of the over 100 self-portraits completed.

(read clockwise from top left) PASSIVE GODMOTHER RESPECTFUL MOTIVATED Encaustic monotype, paper beads, and found objects on paper

(read clockwise from top left) UNDERSTANDING POSITIVE COMMITTED ENERGIZED Encaustic monotype, paper beads, and found objects on paper 5"x5" $100 each