Who Am I?


_Who am I?_ was a semester long project for portraiture class which required us to look into our thoughts, fears, and dreams. While I have spend much time exploring my own psyche, this project allowed for a different approach and consequently different answers. Below you will find a series of self-portraits that explore portraiture as well as my mind.

### Mini Self Portrait #2

[![Mini Self Portrait #2](/content/images/posts/mini-self-portrait-2.jpg)](/content/images/posts/mini-self-portrait-2.jpg)

Digital Painting. This is the second of a series of five mini self-portraits — they were done in small cards. This marked the beginning of the Who am I? project and required a basic exploration of how we see ourselves.

### Myself and Me

[![Myself and Me](/content/images/posts/IMG_0003.jpg)](/content/images/posts/IMG_0003.jpg)

Charcoal. This piece is a representation of myself and a version of myself I wished to be. At the time there was nothing I wanted more than to be outside watching the Orionids meteor shower.

### Myself and the Duckling

[![Myself and the Duckling](/content/images/posts/IMG_0088.jpg)](/content/images/posts/IMG_0088.jpg)

Charcoal. If you had to chose a bird to accompany you in a portrait, what would it be? Although my first choices were a raven or a penguin, I decided to take a different route.

### On My Way Up

[![On My Way Up](/content/images/posts/on-my-way-up-medium.jpg)](/content/images/posts/on-my-way-up-medium.jpg)

Digital Painting. This assignment required us to look into our fears. After some thinking, I could think of one fear that had always haunted me, failure. In this piece I am not only representing my fear but I chose to picture myself overcoming it through endurance and persistence; biting my lips in excitement as I make my way to the top.

### When One Door Closes

[![When One Door Closes](/content/images/posts/when-one-door-closes.jpg)](/content/images/posts/when-one-door-closes.jpg)

Digital painting. This is a continuation to my analysis of fear. While failure is terrifying, it is also inevitable. Sooner or later we are all bound to fall. The problem then is getting back up on our feet. Sometimes this can be difficult, it is understandable to want to hang on to a door that just closed behind us, becoming oblivious to other doors, to other opportunities. When one door closes...

### Myself, Unfinished

[![Myself, Unfinished](/content/images/posts/myself-unfinished.jpg)](/content/images/posts/myself-unfinished.jpg)

The last portrait is meant to be one final representation of our fears. While I did not plan for this painting to turn this way, it could not be more appropriate.

Carlos Ballena

Self-Portraits Posts

Who Am I?