Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo has always been one of my favorite artists. She was a very intelligent women who had more than her fair share of tragedies. Her artwork may not have always had the best technique and skill, but she was still able to convey so much emotion and feeling.

In a graphic design class I took in college we had to pick our favorite artist. We then had to find a picture of them that we would reduce to a black and white image. We did this part manually by placing a piece of tracing paper over the original image and picking out highs and lows in the picture.

We then did eight different treatments utilizing our new black and white image. One of the treatments was to use different textured or patterned papers to illustrate a message about your favorite artist.

I used a peacock paper for the black highlights, and a treasure map paper with an "x" marking over her brain.

I choose peacock paper because peacocks are generally considered to be beautiful. She never considered herself to be physically attractive, although others did. The treasure map was to illustrate her memories and experiences, since they were always a great influence on her work.