Exhibition Text
Inspiration
Artist in Focus: Sadan Vague
While looking for inspiration for a painting, I came across Sadan Vague and their 3D digital models and something immediately caught my eye. I think it was how eerie the art felt like and how realistic it was. The flesh-like appearance that the art has was also interesting. The way that you can't tell where the subjects are makes this piece seem even more mysterious than the subjects themselves with their contemplative "faces" that are actually emotionally incapable of that because they're skulls. There seems to be a sense of loss or turning the cold shoulder to someone, even though it looks to be the subject's own reflection. The way that the figures looked inspired me to create a similar figure in mine.
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Artists in Focus: Nicolas Uribe and Daniela Ocampo/Our Painted Lives
When I was looking for more inspiration for the kind of approach I'd use for this painting, I looked for an art style that John Singer Sargent had while making his portraits. I came across Nicolas Uribe who I found out actually works with another artist, Daniela Ocampo and paint together, creating Our Painted Lives. When I came across their art, I thought that their art had a sense of melancholy but also nonchalant-ness. The expressions of the figures seem to be very dissatisfied with what is going on in the painting and I wanted to emulate that in my own painting. At this point in finding the inspiration, I knew I wanted the theme of it to be centered around being brought out of the dilemma phase of questioning oneself, and into acceptance. I know that when I was done questioning who I was, I didn't feel happy at first, I just felt a wave of completion, but I wasn't happy. It was exhausting to come to terms with who I was just because of how long it took, and I wanted to express that through this painting.
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Planning
With these ideas in mind, I thought that it would be smart to associate one of the three phases from my comparative study with this painting so I could reflect on what I said inspired me, so I chose to associate it with acceptance. With what I was trying to do with my comparative study, this meant I had to take elements of inspiration from the three artists that I picked out for it and make the elements work together. This is what I came up with after rereading it.
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Additionally, I also started to make some possible compositions and ideas for the painting. I wanted to experiment with different compositions, and I ended up going for a triangular composition because of Frida Kahlo and Francis Bacon's influence on me from my comparative study. I worked on other compositions, but I realized that I would probably struggle painting in the perspective I wanted to because of how difficult it was to get the drawing down, specifically my second drawing.
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In addition to those drawings, I was talking to some friends about what I wanted to do with this piece and one recommended that I make the universe purple. I immediately agreed as purple symbolizes wisdom, creativity, and peace, which I thought was very representative of what the universe means to me. I was also recommended to add things like stars and clouds into the universe's hair due to one of my friends who asked me, "What if her hair was the night sky?" This made me feel very excited to start the painting, but I also felt overwhelmed with all the ideas that came into my head after that. I thought about lighting and how I could play with that since I wanted to do something like that for a while now. This inspired me to modify what my thumbnail/concept idea would look like and prompted me to create my reference picture that I'd transfer onto the canvas.
Process and Experimentation
To begin my process, I decided to paint my canvas with a wash of red. This is because I wanted to have the subjects to have undertones that were red in the finished product. I also was going to use the grid method for this painting, so I made 1in squares all along the canvas using colored pencils and a tape measure.
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Next, I began to transfer the reference image I made using Photopea to the canvas using colored pencils. The grid method ended up being pretty useful as it helped me to become more aware of the subject as shapes and colors rather than humans and textures. This would end up benefiting me in the future.
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Then, I began the painting itself by painting the corners of the canvas black, as I knew I wanted to create emphasis on the figures compared to the background, like in Francis Bacon's painting Study After Velazquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X. Then, once I had the general idea of where the legs of one of the figures and the arm of the other was going to be, I made the black even darker. After that, I started laying colors down in washes to give myself a general idea of where shadows would be placed within the painting and where light sources would be coming from.
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Then, I began on creating the skirt since I knew it would be my favorite part of the painting to make because of the effect of fabric that I wanted to make. To start this, I laid down a midtone purple for the base. Then, I began to lay down the darkest shadows into the skirt. I added more and more detail to the wrinkles and tried to make a gradient for most of them since I knew that light doesn't immediately stop on an object. Once that was done, I did the same for the top and added highlights on both the top and bottom. I was done with that portion of the figure and began to work on the hair, probably the most difficult part of the process.
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I wanted to create a glowing effect that came from the figure meant to represent the universe, so I began with the strongest color of light, white. There would end up being a gradient leading to yellow, and then blue. This process was very difficult for me to do because this was the first time I ever tried to create a glowing effect in any of my pieces. Personally, I thought that doing this part of the process would've been easier with oil paints compared to acrylic paints but I'm glad I trusted myself with this because I was proud of the end result. I would try creating different gradients with different shades of blues and yellows until it looked cohesive, and I stuck with one that looked good. Then, I added smaller details like streaks of hair and individual strands.
Once I figured out what I was doing with the hair, I added smaller details to better signify that the figure was the universe through stars, galaxies, shooting stars, and clouds. With the hair finally done, I also began to give the figure that represents the universe her skin color, purple. |
Eventually, I began working on the human figure and the universe's skin. I knew I wanted to make the points where the universe is touching the human figure glow so I made space for that on the body by marking the place around the light source with a dark red in for the gradient. To do that, I just added more of the skin tone on top of the red.
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Critique
Compare
To compare, Untitled by Alexandra Medina-Serna is similar to Fashion by Vague due to the way that the figures' colors and the way that the shadows are used to create depth. The human figure is clearly inspired by the artist and the hues used in the painting show that. In addition to that, the background is the same, a black void that makes the figures in the works stand out from it. The way that the purple figure's face was painted is similar to the way that Our Painted Lives make their paintings through the use of value changes and gradients through transitional colors.
Contrast
To contrast, Untitled by Alexandra Medina-Serna is different from Fashion by Vague, as their figures fade into the background towards the bottom of the composition and in other areas where there are shadows while mine don't, except for the arms of the purple figure. In addition, as much as the hues of the human figure are similar, there were nudes/whites that weren't as present as the ones in Vague's rendering. Although there are highlights on the paintings of my figures, the way that they are placed is different to the way that Vague's work is done. In my painting, I make the highlights of the purple figure around her rather than on her, except for the way that the glow of her hair hits her face and hands. This means that the lighting is also different from the two other artists. Their lighting is placed from the top while mine is placed from the back of the figures. Also, the compositions were different between all three of the works. In Our Painted Lives' painting, they used tones that were bright and some that were desaturated, as they were in my painting, but the saturated colors weren't as present as the ones in Our Painted Lives' painting.
Reflection
Throughout my time working with this project, there were times when I loved working on it, and other times that I wish I had used my medium of interest, oil paints, but the amount of time that I had allotted for the project and with how long it took me to even come up with the concept wouldn't allow me to be completely satisfied with the end result in time. I liked how I decided to talk to my friends for input on what I should do with the painting because it allowed us to bounce ideas off of each other and I am happy that I did that because of the ideas that I got out of it. I will definitely be working on collaborating with other creatives more often.
In addition, I feel like I should've chosen some other pictures for inspiration, as the two artists that I chose ended up being only small influences in my actual concept. I feel as though I could've done more research for that portion of my planning. The hues and styles that I chose from the paintings and were the reason I chose the pieces of inspiration were definitely still seen in my painting but weren't as impactful as some other inspirations I chose for my other projects.
In addition, I feel like I should've chosen some other pictures for inspiration, as the two artists that I chose ended up being only small influences in my actual concept. I feel as though I could've done more research for that portion of my planning. The hues and styles that I chose from the paintings and were the reason I chose the pieces of inspiration were definitely still seen in my painting but weren't as impactful as some other inspirations I chose for my other projects.
Connection to the ACT
1. Clearly explain how you can identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your work.
The way that the figures were painted in terms of approaches and styles and color selection impacted the way I made my painting.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The authors focused on appearance and aesthetics over meanings in their work.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I realized that I wasn't going to find much inspiration that looked like what I envisioned so I tried to research certain aspects that I thought would be interesting for this painting.
4. What is the central theme around your inspirational research?
The theme around my research was on hues and lighting along with approaches and styles of painting.
5. What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I realized that I wasn't going to find much inspiration that looked like what I envisioned and if there was, it'd take a long time to find it.
The way that the figures were painted in terms of approaches and styles and color selection impacted the way I made my painting.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The authors focused on appearance and aesthetics over meanings in their work.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I realized that I wasn't going to find much inspiration that looked like what I envisioned so I tried to research certain aspects that I thought would be interesting for this painting.
4. What is the central theme around your inspirational research?
The theme around my research was on hues and lighting along with approaches and styles of painting.
5. What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I realized that I wasn't going to find much inspiration that looked like what I envisioned and if there was, it'd take a long time to find it.
MLA Citations
“Fashion.” Sadan Vague, sadania.artstation.com/projects/XBo8DR.
Basik. “Nicolas Uribe.” Pinterest, 22 July 2017, www.pinterest.com/pin/203717583128005392.
Yara. “Our Painted Lives.” Pinterest, 28 June 2022, www.pinterest.com/pin/1035476139298659544.
MSEd, Kendra Cherry. “What Does the Color Purple Mean?” Verywell Mind, Mar. 2023, www.verywellmind.com/the-color-psychology-of-purple-2795820.
Cuddington, Gary. “Our Painted Lives.” Pinterest, 19 Mar. 2021, br.pinterest.com/pin/449726712797097333.
Basik. “Nicolas Uribe.” Pinterest, 22 July 2017, www.pinterest.com/pin/203717583128005392.
Yara. “Our Painted Lives.” Pinterest, 28 June 2022, www.pinterest.com/pin/1035476139298659544.
MSEd, Kendra Cherry. “What Does the Color Purple Mean?” Verywell Mind, Mar. 2023, www.verywellmind.com/the-color-psychology-of-purple-2795820.
Cuddington, Gary. “Our Painted Lives.” Pinterest, 19 Mar. 2021, br.pinterest.com/pin/449726712797097333.