Your Profile Photo Could be Painted by Visual Artist Mark Stephenson and Become a Part of the Social Portraits Series

Ottawa, Canada, March 09, 2016 --(PR.com)-- Mark Stephenson, a visual artist in Ottawa Canada, has launched a crowdfunding campaign to support his Social Portraits project. Social Portriats is a series of oil paintings inspired by online social media profile photos then shared online using the hashtag #socialportraits for everyone to see, like, share, and comment on. Mark is out to capture that epic selfie, perfect angle, big moment, the morning after or whatever it is that you have used to represent your carefully crafted online persona.

Social Portraits brings art, social media and people together in an engaging project that starts online and ends in a physical gallery. Mark’s goal is to paint a series of 100 Social Portraits and then have an exhibition. He hopes that a successful campaign will provide the opportunity to fund an even larger series.

“With my background in user experience design I can’t help but bring my passion for interaction, communities and online experience into my art works. Social Portraits combines this along with my love of portraiture,” said Mark Stephenson.

Social Portraits is open to anyone who wants to be a part of the series. What Mark asks for in return is that you select one of the reward categories to help fund the series. He has a variety of options that include a digital photo of the painting, a print and even an original painting. For the latter he needs to paint two, one for the show and one for you. Just think of it, an original piece of art as your profile pic.

Some of those already a part of the series have had the following to say:

“If Social Portraits was a filter, I’d take more selfies.” SP 010 Aime
“I never looked so good.” SP 004 Mahdi
“I’m smiling ear to ear here as I sip my morning coffee . Scrolling through my feed just moments ago, I came across the finished piece and thought to myself, 'there is something very familiar about that woman…'.” SP 011 Lillian
“...the colours, wow!!I’m really quite lost for words - it’s a very odd and wonderful feeling to see yourself painted in such an exquisite style, and if I’m being honest I just can’t stop looking at it.” SP 011 Lillian
“I was thrilled to see myself in a different light. Mark is a breeze to work with and the results are spectacular.” SP 005 Darcy

This is the first time Mark has used crowdfunding to help fund one of his art projects and he has been sharing his knowledge as he progresses in the hope of helping other artists benefit from this new funding opportunity.

For more information including a 2 minute video visit the Kickstarter page at
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mste/social-portraits-a-social-art-project

Media kit with bio, logos, images and captions available at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/z9xgjtgnj5t6fux/AABAOCo8yEshqTxEMzZBklKRa?dl=0.