Project 2- Acrylic
What Happens Next?Size: 2ft x 2ft
Medium: Acrylic on canvas Completion: October 2020 Exhibition Text: What Happens Next? presents a time during quarantine where I and many others experienced uncertainty during the pandemic. I was inspired by Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night with the movement in the sky and Henri Matisse's Woman in a Purple Coat with the use of color to express emotions. This piece depicts what seems to be a sunset in the background but also represents the several emotions that were felt during this time. |
Inspiration
My inspiration for this piece is Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night and Henri Matisse Woman in a Purple Coat. Vincent Van Gogh is a post-impressionist who is one of many other famous and influential painters in Western Art. Van Gogh struggled with mental illness and stayed poor and unknown his whole life. Starry Night is a view just before sunrise from his asylum room at Saint-Remy-de-Provence . He embraced mood and expression in his artworks. Woman in a Purple Coat, by Henri Matisse uses both color and light to express his emotions in life, to life itself. He juxtapose the colors together and with no definite outline. I want to incorporate several colors and provide movement as shown in Starry Night. I want to express the emotions that the majority many people are experiencing right now as well.
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Process Sketches
In planning sketch 1, my original idea was to do a bedroom setting. During quarantine, I tried my best to be productive and better myself, I tried to eat better and fuel my body, workout and run consistently, and take care of my mental health overall. Some days, I faced challenges where I couldn't even get out of bed, and I thought that maybe I overworked myself. Except, I had to give myself a rest day, and I had to continuously remind myself that it was okay to lay in bed and watch television. Of course, this isn't my bedroom, but I wanted to just draw something that wasn't from a reference photo. I liked this idea very much, but I didn't know how to continue with it as far as painting and how I wanted to paint it.
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While I was making planning sketch 2, I soon thought that this was the one I wanted to continue with. It touched on the ideas I had from planning sketch 1, but I thought this was more personal. This piece depicts a person (I meant for it to be me, but it didn't necessarily work out that way) who feels trapped and always asking questions. As well as constantly wondering what will happen in the future. I chose to go with this sketch because it was one I was more invested in and took more time on.
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For planning sketch number 3, I wanted to present the idea of going online for the beginning of the school year. Even though we wouldn't be wearing masks if we were virtual, I wanted to depict how the pandemic has changed many things. This has created a new normal for many people and has changed their routine tremendously. After creating my second planning sketch, I realized I was more set on that than anything else. I plan to maybe use this sketch for another piece or use it as inspiration for the future.
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Experimentation
What Happens Next? was my first acrylic painting over 1ft x 2ft. However, my tryptic was 3ft x 2ft all together, but each painting was 1ft x 2ft separately. One thing I enjoyed was that the paint would spread out a lot more compared to my oil painting. While painting, I would start off with base colors and then add different variations of white or a different base color. Shown in the first picture down below, I would mix pink with orange and white, or just white. In the third picture, I would also mix colors on top of each other to get similar colors that would be placed next to each other and create a smooth transition. Shown below in the second picture, I tried to paint it how many impressionists pieces are painted. Except, I didn't like the opacity of the paint. I decided to go with more defined lines in my piece to create movement. In the last two pictures below, the 4th picture is a circle that incorporates both red and blue hues where I wanted blue to be placed. I also didn't how the paint turned out on the canvas, so I chose to go over it with all blue hues.
Process
1. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I was unable to make a canvas from scratch and jesso it. In replace of the canvas made from scratch, I had to purchase a 2ft by 2ft canvas from Michael's craft store.
2. After creating my three planning sketches, I sketched my final sketch onto the canvas, seen in the first photo.
3. When I first started painting, I initially started with the background, because I would be able to go over it with other paints and it wouldn't be that big deal.
4. I mixed different variations of yellows, oranges, pinks, purples and blues to create a sunset like sky. I would paint different kinds of lines or shapes with lines, to create movement.
5. After painting the background, I mixed white, yellow, red and burnt umber together to create a skin tone. I then painted the face since it was another thing that I would be able to go over in the end.
6. Finally, I finished my painting off with mixing burnt umber, burnt sienna, and white to create the hair color, as well as adding darker tones of brown to the hair and white to create texture and as well as value between light and dark.
2. After creating my three planning sketches, I sketched my final sketch onto the canvas, seen in the first photo.
3. When I first started painting, I initially started with the background, because I would be able to go over it with other paints and it wouldn't be that big deal.
4. I mixed different variations of yellows, oranges, pinks, purples and blues to create a sunset like sky. I would paint different kinds of lines or shapes with lines, to create movement.
5. After painting the background, I mixed white, yellow, red and burnt umber together to create a skin tone. I then painted the face since it was another thing that I would be able to go over in the end.
6. Finally, I finished my painting off with mixing burnt umber, burnt sienna, and white to create the hair color, as well as adding darker tones of brown to the hair and white to create texture and as well as value between light and dark.
Reflection
Overall, I think my painting turned out very interesting and showed a lot of depth. I really liked using several different colors that were bright. It changed my mood during the process and made me happier since I was using hues that I enjoyed mixing and that were appealing to look at. However, this piece did take an extraordinary amount of time, and the lines were the most challenging part about it. It was difficult to keep focus and concentrated for a long period of time on the background and constantly coming up with new ideas to create movement in the piece. In the future, I don't know if I would want to try this style again since it was time-consuming, but I maybe would try it again and possibly on something smaller. I liked the concept a lot and like the way it turned out, but even during the process, I would question why I chose to paint it like this. In conclusion, it was a unique approach to the piece, I just didn't know what to expect while painting it. The sunset background brought emphasis to the piece and made the focal point the background and not the person. It gives more attention to the question marks and the emotion that is being felt during these times.
Compare and Contrast
Similarities:
- Like Starry Night, both use movement in the background as well as a variety of shapes in the sky.
- In Woman in a Purple Coat, both pieces use bright hues as well as no definite lines
- In both Starry Night and Woman in a Purple Coat, there is great use of negative space with the background being the majorly of the painting.
Differences:
- In Starry Night, Van Gogh uses cool hues, focusing more on blues, blacks and soft yellows, where as I use a mix of both warm and cool hues
- In Woman in a Purple Coat, Matisse uses no definite outline, however, his shapes are more visible and clear with some black outlining to create focus. In my piece, What Happens Next?, there is some outlining with visible shapes, but my background blends in with each other.
- In Starry Night, Van Gogh uses vague outlines of the village and everything comes together in unity, my piece uses more harmony, with more use of line, color and shape.
ACT Responses
1) Clearly explain and describe how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork. My piece and Vincent Van Gogh's piece, Starry Night, and Henri Matisse's piece, Woman in a Purple Coat, use color, movement, line and shape. I think that the colors bring out different emotions in the pieces, where in Starry Night, it is more sad and hopeless and in What Happens Next? there is more hope but it's uncertain. In Woman in a purple Coat, the bright outline and colors give more of a focal point on the woman where as my focal point is directed in the background.
2)What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration? Van Gogh painted Starry Night while in his asylum dealing with a mental illness, this makes people think about how powerful people who struggle are.
3)What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration? I learned mainly from Woman in a Purple Coat that beauty can be overlooked and along with Starry Night, the focus isn't necessarily a person, but it comes from what is around that person.
4)What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research? My central idea is life's journey's. I wanted to show how no one really saw this pandemic coming and that it is a different and challenging experience which has helped people grow.
5)What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research? It seems that both Van Gogh and Matisse focused on what was around them and painted what they could with what they had.
2)What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration? Van Gogh painted Starry Night while in his asylum dealing with a mental illness, this makes people think about how powerful people who struggle are.
3)What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration? I learned mainly from Woman in a Purple Coat that beauty can be overlooked and along with Starry Night, the focus isn't necessarily a person, but it comes from what is around that person.
4)What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research? My central idea is life's journey's. I wanted to show how no one really saw this pandemic coming and that it is a different and challenging experience which has helped people grow.
5)What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research? It seems that both Van Gogh and Matisse focused on what was around them and painted what they could with what they had.
Bibliography
Gogh, Vincent van. “Vincent Van Gogh. The Starry Night. Saint Rémy, June 1889: MoMA.” The Museum of Modern Art, www.moma.org/collection/works/79802.
“Henri Matisse Biography.” Henri Matisse: 100 Famous Paintings Analysis, Complete Works, & Bio, www.henrimatisse.org/.
“Vincent Van Gogh.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 4 Mar. 2020, www.biography.com/artist/vincent-van-gogh.
Woman in a Purple Coat, 1937 by Henri Matisse. www.henrimatisse.org/woman-in-a-purple-coat.jsp.
“Henri Matisse Biography.” Henri Matisse: 100 Famous Paintings Analysis, Complete Works, & Bio, www.henrimatisse.org/.
“Vincent Van Gogh.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 4 Mar. 2020, www.biography.com/artist/vincent-van-gogh.
Woman in a Purple Coat, 1937 by Henri Matisse. www.henrimatisse.org/woman-in-a-purple-coat.jsp.