Gesture Drawing, Still Life, and Self Portrait

Self Portrait: In this piece, I showed movement in the form of multiple shots with a similar action. I took pictures of myself on my rope swing at my house. I painted vines around it, as it went with the whole "swinging" theme.

 Still Life: In our still life piece that focused on pencil shadings, we got a box and put at least 5 things related to each other. I chose gaming for this theme.

 Gesture Drawing: We focused on gesture drawings. I drew these people while they were working on their pieces, and added the background after. I drew each of the people in around 3 minutes. I am fairly pleased with how this turned out.

My favorite self portraits

One of Van Gogh's self portraits.
I love this personally because Van Gogh's design has always captured me. I find it original, and I like that.
(http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/gogh/self/gogh.self-orsay.jpg)

Pablo Picasso portrait.
I love Picasso's style. Normally, I do not like abstract pieces. Picasso's style is different though.
(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDcwsbAVdWSHDPPEcf7DkNKz3PTCZDABLURC1pqGAKq77wUNVrG-2ipoTKJIATd_bgjBR5IvqmqDqjWfslj2JQ5i4KKELO7RSC1rw6n9hotfZbDtCQQgn_Ndl_T_Ewz_wHtvzCn0GAfrgZ/s400/Picasso_SelfPortrait1907.jpg)

Dalí portrait.
What's not to like?
(http://www.forevergeek.com/wp-content/media/2011/03/dali-selfportrait.jpg)

Who inspires me?

There have been several artists' that have changed my view on "art" in general.

I wouldn't have even began art if it wasn't for Van Gogh. When I was young I saw his painting "Starry Night" it really inspired me to become just like him. I went to the High Museum's show on Van Gogh, and took a sketch pad. I was seen sitting down sketching Van Gogh's pieces into the book.
(http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=2206 here are just some of his masterpieces)

Leonardo Da Vinci also inspired me to do still lifes. His painting "Mona Lisa" inspired me with its raw beauty. I was also inspired by his other works, getting me interested in his machines, which expanded into computer technology, etc.
(http://www.leonardoda-vinci.org/)

I recently found Salvador Dalí. I went to the High's showing of his pieces, and was astounded by his style of art. His abstract pieces stuck out more to me than Picasso's did. "The Persistence of Memory" is one of my favorite Dalí paintings.
(http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=79018)

I am a guy. Keeping this in mind, I tell you I love guns (does it not make sense?). So when I see another male creating functioning guns out of everyday paper, I go crazy. This guy (name is not given) has pushed me to creating simple sculptures out of paper (guns being one of these sculptures). He takes paper and glues paper onto it, and after doing this for many layers, the paper becomes as hard as stone. He uses a sharp razor to cut the paper into the correct shapes and then attaches it to the proper location on the gun.
(http://www.youtube.com/tacome1942)

 Another man by the name of Grainger McCoy also inspires me with his amazing sculptures. His wooden birds replicate the fluidness and grace of a live bird. I went to his High Museum showing, and was shown the complexity of wooden sculptures. The slow process to make these works of art inspires me.
(http://www.high.org/Art/Exhibitions/Grainger-McKoy.aspx)

Art challenge 1

I was given the challenge of representing paper in some way on the page, in 5 minutes. This is the result of that, a mannequin painting a mannequin painting a mannequin.