For my final piece, I have done a half lion half portrait in cubist style using acrylic on cardboard. I have used cardboard letters to add depth to my painting. I have used quite dark colours for my hair and clothes because I like dark colours. I also wear a lot of dark colours so by using them I have represented myself. On the lion head side, I used quite bold vivid colour which is to show that even with all the dark in my life there is still a bright side. The colour symbolism shows the proud family orientated side to me which is shown through the lion itself and the colour used on this side. I used cubist style to create this piece because that is my preferred style of work and as this piece was about our identity I thought using cubism shows who I am and my style.  

For this painting I have used acrylic on cardboard. I used acrylic because I found working with acrylic quite easy and you can create all sorts of colours. When purchasing my material for me to paint on I decided I definitely wanted to use cardboard however I was finding it difficult to find a good clean piece. I then found an A1 corkboard and on the back, was cardboard which was perfect. The reason I wanted to work on cardboard was to expand the range of materials I use and I am glad I did as it gave it a more rustic feel. The cardboard wasn’t the easiest to paint on however with a few coats of paint it worked quite well. The reason I cut out the letters in cardboard to stick on was to give my piece texture and depth. I feel this helps to keep the piece interesting and draws the eye in to the words more forcing people to read them. 

The meaning behind this piece was to show my identity and something about me. Lions are significant to me because they are very strong, brave and family orientated. The characteristics of a lion are what I would like to say I try portray in myself or try to. I'm not always the bravest or strongest but I try my best to be however I would say I am proud and family orientated and take pride in my family and the things I do for them including friends and family. The face is half me and half a lion which I think portrays this point well as I may look like me but in my heart, I like to be like the lion. The words strong, brave and proud are to simply help symbolise my message in this piece.  

I feel overall my piece was quite successful as it portrays everything I wanted it to. I like the blending and colours I used in the lions face especially. The drips of acrylic going down the piece are there to symbolise how abstract I am and pieces usually are as I often do drips in my work. I like my composition of the painting as I feel it is effective, the lion head and my face match up quite well and are quite large showing the importance of them. If I was to do it again I wouldn’t have gone around the words in black acrylic after sticking them on as I feel it looks messy and out of place. Before I put black around the words I tried to put red to make them stand out however this didn’t look very good so I used black to cover it, which I feel doesn’t look bad but I wouldn’t do it again. To make the piece even more personal to me and more abstract I could maybe have put my favourite colours in the mane, such as reds, blues and purples, creating a different effect however I am happy with how it turned out and the original colours I have used.