Choice Project
Exhibition Text
"Stargazing" is a 2D mixed media piece on the quiet reflections in life, in which our thoughts feel bigger than our realities.
"Stargazing" is a 2D mixed media piece on the quiet reflections in life, in which our thoughts feel bigger than our realities.
Planning
Inspiration
Adam Stoner is a local Milwaukee artist that I'm researching for my comparative study. His work caught my eye with its emphasis on expression, as well as its mix of materials. I particularly enjoy the contrast between the sweeps of solid black against bold blocks of color. His painting "Ladder in the Garden" is also a mixed media 2-dimensional work and is what inspired me to use different mediums in my own work. I was drawn to the large swathes of ink that create a gestural piece with contrast between the solid dark values of the black ink and the lighter, more transparent colors of the orange.
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Ladder in the Garden, Adam Stoner, 2016
Nave nave moe, Paul Gauguin, 1894 |
I was inspired by the bold colors of the Post-Impressionist era, specifically Paul Gauguin and his paintings with intense warm hues. "Nave nave moe", shown here, carries strong hues of orange and yellow, with bold accents of red. I was inspired by this pop of red and decided to include it in my piece as a large sun in the sky.
Planning Sketches
The first sketch was a drawing in my notebook completely in ink pen, and I find it's very fluid to draw with. I wanted to create something asymmetrical since all of my other works have been symmetrical so far, yet also wanted to represent myself somehow. I included myself as the figure sitting in the forest rising out of the trees because sometimes the world seems very small.
The second sketch was more of a thumbnail meant to nail down the technical aspects of the work. I expanded it from a simple painting or drawing to a mixed media piece with ink, gouache, spray-paint, etc. In the end I didn't use spray paint, but it was an interesting idea that I toyed with for a while. The figure in the second sketch is more hunched over and closer to the foreground, which felt too imposing for the soft reflection I was going for. |
Experimentation
I love carving and block printing, and I remember a suggestion I read in an art book in the art room to make stamps out of pink erasers. I decided to try this with trees, and while it was a fun stress reliever, I didn't have a stamp pad to use these with, so I instead painted the trees myself with india ink.
Featured here are two of my first attempts at painting the piece. The first piece was on paper that warped too much when water was applied, and the mountains were done too sloppily, but it gave me a rough idea of how I wanted the piece to look. The second piece was on watercolor paper this time, where the colors absorbed more and were much brighter. I didn't like the shape of the mountains, however, as they were too cartoonish, so I decided to start over one more time. |
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The first two pieces didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped and I realized that was because I wasn't using anything but my imagination for reference; so, I turned to the only true master of art, the one and only Bob Ross.
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Process
1. To begin I layered light washes of yellow and orange across the sky, layering the gouache until it became opaque. I then used quick brush strokes and a flat brush to add streaks of white and a more saturated orange. While the sky was drying, I made a light river coming down from the mountains off-left from the center. After the sky was dry i went back in with a deep red, making sure it was thick and opaque, and outlined it with a fine brush. I went over it a few times to make it more opaque and neat, then used the flat brush to layer red on the inside. The red on the inside is less opaque than the line to emphasize the contrast.
2. Second, I started on the mountains. I tend to focus intensely on a single area, so the first mountain to be fully painted was the foremost when in reality it should've been the background. I worked patiently to make sure the areas didn't blend too much together. While the mountains were drying I added a light tan on the outline of the river to create a shoreline. 3. All those trees needed a forest floor, so I made a light wash of olive-green gouache across most of the foreground. I also added some washes of grey in the other mountains, finished the detailing on the second mountain, and made the shore along the river more opaque. 4. A second wash was applied to both the grass and the mountains. I decided to go more red and purple with the 3rd mountain to capture a more impressionistic feel that didn't focus too much on realistic colors but on how those colors felt. I added small rocks to the river with accents of white on them to create the illusion of form. 5. To finish, the rest of the mountains were detailed in layers. All of the birds and trees were inked with a small paintbrush using undiluted india ink to preserve the solid lines. The figure was inked using copic multiliner pens, size 0.5mm; while real life does not have any outlines, I was going for a more personally stylized approach and felt the outlines were necessary to contrast again the lineless landscape. The pen ink was waterproof and as such I was able to use a flat brush to paint a pale blue shadow across the ghostly figure. The right side of the figure was left white to create a highlight, as they are facing the sun. The color was a very transparent blue with small splotches of yellow and green for cool-colored variety. Finally, the edges of the paper were trimmed with a straight-edge paper cutter. The top edge was trimmed about an inch down to compress the height and emphasize the width a little more, creating a more landscape feel. The other edges were trimmed to smooth out the torn edges, as the paper was very worn. |
Reflection
This piece turned out better than I expected in different ways than I expected. My original idea was for it to be larger and with more materials, including spray paint, stamp ink, etc. The original was also supposed to be very light and watery, like the first picture in my experimentation, and if I could go back and redo this (for the 3rd time) I'd definitely make the final product lighter as well. I'm fond of the contrast between saturation in the ghost figure and the bold colors of the sky and sun, but the lighter washes of color feel softer and more like reflection than something that's trying to be bright and in your face.
I feel like my piece compares well to my inspirations. My hues are similar to that of Gauguin and Adam Stoner, whose works that I chose use strong warm colors, my balance is asymmetrical like their pieces, and I included a landscape like Gauguin did. My piece is different in that it's less gestural than Stoner's with a more controlled use of ink. I was very careful to be patient with the ink, as I'd already had to redo it twice and didn't want to redo it a 3rd time (although I might now that I have at least one finished product). My theme also matches with that of Stoner's, as he describes his work as being spiritual and my piece is reflection about oneself and their place in the world.
I feel like my piece compares well to my inspirations. My hues are similar to that of Gauguin and Adam Stoner, whose works that I chose use strong warm colors, my balance is asymmetrical like their pieces, and I included a landscape like Gauguin did. My piece is different in that it's less gestural than Stoner's with a more controlled use of ink. I was very careful to be patient with the ink, as I'd already had to redo it twice and didn't want to redo it a 3rd time (although I might now that I have at least one finished product). My theme also matches with that of Stoner's, as he describes his work as being spiritual and my piece is reflection about oneself and their place in the world.
ACT Responses
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork:
Both pieces of my inspiration had an effect on the asymmetrical balance of my piece, as well as the use of warm hues and mixed media.
What is the overall approach (pov) the author (from research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The point of view from the authors of my research were mainly neutral, although praising of each artist's work.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I've discovered that Impressionism/Post-Impressionism, as well as most historical art movements, were dominated by white subjects and seeing Post-Impressionist works of people of color by Gauguin was unfortunately rare compared to the light pastels of the other works in either movement.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea around my inspirational research was primarily aesthetic inspiration, as I'd found my personal inspiration early on in the process. I was looking for impressionistic inspiration and found contemporary and post-impressionistic inspiration instead.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I've concluded that post-impressionism and impressionism are two very closely related movements, as post-impressionism obviously stems from impressionism. Furthermore, I've concluded that there are many arguments as to which artists belong to which movement, as I've seen the works of Gauguin in both Impressionist and Post-Impressionist galleries.
Both pieces of my inspiration had an effect on the asymmetrical balance of my piece, as well as the use of warm hues and mixed media.
What is the overall approach (pov) the author (from research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The point of view from the authors of my research were mainly neutral, although praising of each artist's work.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I've discovered that Impressionism/Post-Impressionism, as well as most historical art movements, were dominated by white subjects and seeing Post-Impressionist works of people of color by Gauguin was unfortunately rare compared to the light pastels of the other works in either movement.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea around my inspirational research was primarily aesthetic inspiration, as I'd found my personal inspiration early on in the process. I was looking for impressionistic inspiration and found contemporary and post-impressionistic inspiration instead.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I've concluded that post-impressionism and impressionism are two very closely related movements, as post-impressionism obviously stems from impressionism. Furthermore, I've concluded that there are many arguments as to which artists belong to which movement, as I've seen the works of Gauguin in both Impressionist and Post-Impressionist galleries.
Bibliography
Kang, Cindy. “Paul Gauguin (1848–1903).” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/gaug/hd_gaug.htm (March 2011)
"Adam Stoner - art, theatre, design." Arts in Milwaukee. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2017. <https://www.artsinmilwaukee.org/profiles/2036/>.
Kang, Cindy. “Paul Gauguin (1848–1903).” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/gaug/hd_gaug.htm (March 2011)
"Adam Stoner - art, theatre, design." Arts in Milwaukee. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2017. <https://www.artsinmilwaukee.org/profiles/2036/>.