Alter Ego

       This assignment took a longer amount of time than usual for me to figure what exactly I wanted to do. Nothing immediately came to mind when thinking about an alter ego. As I began to look for inspiration, I came across a daily horoscope for my astrological sign," Your energy is probably low today, Gemini. You won't feel like socializing, nor will you feel like staying in and reading or watching TV." As I was reading the rest of the horoscope, I realized how accurate it was (for today, at least). 

My thought process started shifting over to my astrological sign and if that could be used for this assignment.  The Gemini sign is depicted by a pair of twins, representing duality and exchange (exchange of ideas). This sign is also thought to be very adaptable and flexible, on the brink of being two different personalities. 

Ever since I learned about my astrology sign and the significance of the twins, I've heavily identified with it. I often feel like I have two opposing sides within me, typically one that's more logical and one that's more based on emotion or creativity, or yin and yang. My Major and minor combo is a reflection of this, Political Science Major and Studio Art Minor. 

My alter ego is my other half that I'm not occupying. Sort of like Jekyll and Hyde but with less murder, violence, and evil. Sometimes its hard to know who I am at the moment. It also makes choosing what career path I want to go down through difficult as well. Also, another way of viewing these twins is through the strengths and weaknesses a Gemini would typically have. One twin represents being gentle, curious, adaptable, and the ability to learn quickly while the other twin represents being nervous, inconsistent, and indecisive. 

Now that I was set on what was my alter ego/s was/were, it was time to decide on a medium and how I was to compose this assignment. Initially, I was thinking about doing watercolor again because I was still inspired by Bao Pham's work. His use of color and how he incorporated a sort of gaseous and ephemeral, look when painting the cosmos was something I strove for. Since this topic deals with ASTRO-logy (relating to the stars or outer space) I wanted to incorporate the stars and space. I'll be depicting myself as twins amongst the stars. Overhead will be the constellation for Gemini

I ended up using soft pastels over India ink, then white guache to outline and create stars. It had been a couple of assignments since I utilized soft pastels and I had been itching to use them again. I believe the pastel helped in achieving the look of a celestial body.

Another artist/youtuber I came across was of a video tutorial I used for creating certain parts of my piece. He goes through a process of adding many soft pastel colors on black paper then rubbing them in to create distinct shapes to form a cloud of gas

 http://astro.cafeastrology.com/natal.php
http://www.astrology-zodiac-signs.com/zodiac-signs/gemini/

https://www.horoscope.com/us/horoscopes/general/horoscope-general-daily-yesterday.aspx?sign=3

Bao Pham 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnXnQJjWBnU