Self portrait influenced by Picasso's blue period

I was asked to do a self portrait in the style of Picasso's blue period for a homework assignment.  I was not aware of Picasso's blue period so I had to research this. As I began to discover the meaning and inspiration behind the work,  I found it to be an interesting and inspiring.  I was also drawn in by the connection Picasso had with his subjects,  which provided insight into his own emotional state.
I discovered that Picasso's blue period began in 1901, lasting 3 years.  Throughout this period,  he used a simple colour palette of mainly blues,  with only occasionally adding another colour. I found out that during this time, Picasso was experiencing difficulties in finding success through his art, as well as not having a fixed studio space. By 1904, Picasso had moved to Paris but its important to say that his work was originally inspired by Spain.  His work also reflected his personal problems at that time, including the death of his friend Carlos Casagemas, who took his own life, by shooting himself in the head on February 17th 1901. This had a great impact on Picasso,  but he used his experience to create his Art. Most of the people in his paintings are what we would call "lowlifes". It was unfortunate,  but most of the people he painted were beggars,  drunks or prostitutes.  I feel that by only using a variety of blues to create his work, he has captured the emotional state of these people,  giving an overall sense of failure to each painting. Picasso managed to capture his subjects feeling low, helpless and defeated, this inspired me for my self portrait. I decided to sit with my head slumped in my hand, this is how I would express my feelings of defeat and sadness.  My eyes are open wide because even at my lowest point, I never close my eyes and shut the world out - I am too strong a person to hide away.  I used only watercolour to create this portrait using various brushes for detail, and a stipling technique for the background so that it didn't take away from the main image.  I enjoyed making this self portrait much more than I thought I would,  probably because I found it interesting that the colour was creating the mood and sense of feeling. I would definitely like to try this again.