So I've been working on my senior seminar portfolio all semester (and a good portion of last year, too!) and my ideas have morphed time and time again. I started out with the theme of fairytales and children's literature (typically portrayed through illustration), in an attempt to transfer what is typically not considered a fine art "topic" to a fine art medium and style. My piece, "Work of My Life," was actually supposed to be one of the starter pieces for this series--if you look very closely, the shadow in the foreground belongs to none other than Jack Frost, pointed elfish clothing and all (in reality, the shadow belongs to my dear friend, Brian). But as I finished that piece and began to move on to my next few that I had planned, I felt bogged down and out of sorts; to say that I have commitment issues with my artwork would be an understatement. "Work of My Life" had won Best in Show, doing what I asked of it, and I felt as if it was time to move on.
My next theme would be somewhat similar to my original, in that I would be using photorealism with a touch of fantasy and abstraction to convey my feelings on the art community I'm currently involved in and those brilliant artists who have come before me. Namely Salvador Dali--may he rest in peace and in his exquisite joy. I wanted to draw "critiques" and "tributes" of my peers, my faculty, my inspirations, and myself (the "portrait of me" was of my boyfriend, Hunter, and was one of the critiques; he looked like a proud peacock perched upon an art room table). I loved the portraiture I was using, and I was feeling very confident with my style and my compositions--until one fateful day when I dropped a microwavable pizza pie on my favorite piece. I resigned myself to cutting off and matting the offending stained area, but I think that was the day where a switch flipped in my mind: the commitment phobe in me was getting tired of this theme. Oh dear.
So I flopped...er... flip-flopped again. Mind you, this change was absolutely necessary! I had spilled meat-lovers PIZZA on my ARTWORK. I still recoil a little on the inside when I remember that clumsy moment...and what I could have done to prevent it. Anyway, the new theme was completely different than the old. Completely different style, completely different medium, completely different mindset. I was tired of focusing on the negatives in my little art world; I needed to give myself (and those poor people I targeted in my artwork) a break and a change of scenery. Aaaand here we are:
sheep.
At first I thought I would use only the two colors (cadmium red light and a mixture of titanium white and pthalocyline blue [green shade]), and I did. Six paintings came and went, and by the time I had "finished" the sixth (part of an oddly set-up tryptich), well... you guessed it. THIS COUNTRY NEEDS CHANGE! and so do I. I need it like I need my imitation-down pillows after a long day (and night?) in the studio and bouncing back and forth between classes. This time, the change hasn't been so drastic... although I did get quite the reaction from my professor. I think she was under the impression that I was revising everything. Silly professor, I'm not THAT crazy; our first huge deadline is only two weeks away!
What I have decided to do is re-design all of my compositions to be black and white. This has meant some obvious (and very difficult, at times) compositional shifts--color fields cannot appear on top of one another when one is merely using black paint. One of my biggest epiphanies thus far (in my newly revamped series) has been that...instead of changing the entire layout of my painting... I could simply have a white sheep on a black "color" field. It was absolutely mind-blowing, I kid you not.
Well, it's back to the grind--and eventually to bed--so I will update again when I have more pictures and more progress. :) Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
