"Put The Flame Out..."
Acrylic paint on canvas
30cm x 61cm (all canvases combined)
December 1, 2019
Exhibition Text:
"Put the Flame Out..." is based on a fear called Athazagoraphobia, which is the fear of being forgotten. Being an artist, I want my art to stand out as much as possible and bring attention towards my artwork. I decided to illustrate my insecurities of being an artist. The first panel is me feeling inspired, the second is the inspiration slowly dying away, but the third panel specifically resembles my emotions of being unnoticed/forgotten due to the flower petals slowly starting to burn away.
30cm x 61cm (all canvases combined)
December 1, 2019
Exhibition Text:
"Put the Flame Out..." is based on a fear called Athazagoraphobia, which is the fear of being forgotten. Being an artist, I want my art to stand out as much as possible and bring attention towards my artwork. I decided to illustrate my insecurities of being an artist. The first panel is me feeling inspired, the second is the inspiration slowly dying away, but the third panel specifically resembles my emotions of being unnoticed/forgotten due to the flower petals slowly starting to burn away.
Planning:
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Inspiration:
My inspiration correlates to the Surrealism art movement. Each painting to the left is related to a different panel in the Triptych painting. I wanted to go for a more floral, nature type of aesthetic. The first panel is inspired by the Ecstasy of the Lilies by Octavio Ocampo. I found this artist in fact to be the most inspiring into creating this piece. I loved how free the petals looked on the face and tranquility feeling of the leaves coming together in the background. What I thought to be the most capturing aspect of Octavio Ocampo's artwork is how the water lilies came together into forming a face. The shadows of the leaves and the ends of the water lilies' created depth and also brought up facial features, for example the eye lids of Ecstasy of the Lilies. I wanted to incorporate a similar piece in this fashion, except I want to slightly change in which the color choice I use. For the flower petals, I wanted to create more of a fiery color rather than it being a pure. The second art piece by Ocatvio Ocampo (this turned out to be an inspiration for my second panel) is Lily Woman. In this painting, I liked angle in which the woman is looking act, as she's looking at a 3/4 angle, while meeting eye contact. I thought I wanted to take in more of a challenge and try painting more leaves or wilted petals in my Triptych, so I thought this would satisfy my curiosity. I want to illustrate my face in this panel rather than it looking quite similar to the woman in the painting. The third art piece is much different than the first two inspirations,so I decided to choose Philosopher's Lamp by Rene Margette. I was thinking for the Triptych to add some type of fire in any shape or form, since it would match my theme. This piece helped resemble that, and also inspired me to base it around a candle. I wanted the water lilies to be blue around his face for ironic purposes of cool to hot, and gave the side of his face/body to be burning from the candle. |
I wanted to add a slight change to my piece, so I decided that I want the flower lilies in the piece to be set on fire. I did a search on Google, and I found this particular burning flower. It stuck out the most to me out of the other images, so I decided to choose this one as a reference.
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Sketches:
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Design 1:
In the first sketch, I was just out my proportions for my second panel of the Lily Woman. I decided to take a picture of myself, and sketch out basic shapes in which the painting can be executed in. I felt that this part of the sketching was quite helpful. The line art visible was used from the software on my phone. |
Design 2:
In the second sketch, I wanted to go for a water lily aspect towards me dealing with my mental state. I highlighted each rectangle so I can define what I want to draw on each panel. The first panel is me slowly falling apart and having trouble picking myself up. This is the first stage of me feeling omit. The second panel is me proposing a fake preeminence of myself in order to cover up my flaws. I try to act like as though staying quiet common, but sometimes I feel excluded. The third panel finally is me giving up with trying to be perfect, and me trying to burn myself away from existence. The summary of all this panels combined is the thought of being known, and not just being easily burned away or forgotten about. |
Design 3:
In the third sketch, I used colored pencil first, then went over the facial features in pen. I wanted to illustrate a blocky colored in type of style for my triptych, but I wasn't sure how to what colors I should use. I overall liked the idea I was going with having the 2D trippy effect, but I felt that it would take much longer to create than I anticipate. |
Process:
*Click to enlarge slideshow process*
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Process:
After selecting my sketch, I first had to create my own canvases. Doing so, I grabbed the 1 x 2 feet wooden holders, and shaped them into a rectangle. After the frames of the canvases (holders) were connected, I started cutting the fabric for the canvas to place it on the wooden stretchers. I made sure not to cut too short, or it'll be difficult to staple gun it to stay in place. After everything was cut evenly, I started to staple gun the canvas fabric into the wooden stretch. I went vertical (by the 2 foot way) the I went 1 foot way (horizontal way). I folded the corners on the edges, then stapled it down to complete the canvas sets. When I was finished creating the three canvases, I started to Gesso the front and edges of the board. After completing my first layer, I waited for approximately 10-15 minutes before adding a second layer. I made sure all of the canvases was evenly coated before letting them dry on separate easel. After the canvases were dry, I started to lightly sketch in mechanical pencil the images I used as a reference. When each canvas was sketched in, I started to slowly layer in paint, starting the backgrounds first. After the backgrounds were complete for each canvas, I started working on my first panel and developed the lighter cream shade of redish orange, than added facial details towards the face in black paint once it was dry. When I finished the first panel and let it dry, I started on the second panel, using more of a blue color scheme. I started painting the leaf on top of my head since it took up the most space in the overall drawing in purple, then I layered each part of the face and body in orange and lavender. I started to develop the designs in painting to define the water lilies. After that, I went in with a darker shade of purple and black to add refined edges and shadows. In the end, I started finally my third canvas. This canvas took me the longest in my process due to the fire affect I wanted to add. I made a light to dark scale next to the candle to add depth in the background. I layered the "skin" aka flower petals in blue to change up the color. Once the shadows were completed, I started with the fire affect, first using white fore highlights, yellow for mid tone, then orange for shadows. |
*Click to enlarge slideshow experimentation*
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Experimentation:
The pictures to the left demonstrate the highlights of my experimentation in this project. My main focus was on painting flowers/water lilies, so I researched a quick google search on "How to paint water lilies?" and the first two were the images I decided to reference slightly. This seemed to be much more challenging than I anticipated, due to the light and shadows. The second thing I wanted to experiment with is painting fire. Looking back at my third panel, I felt as though I should have built up a darker coating on the yellow, to bring the color up more. |
Reflection:
Critique:
Overall, I feel as though this Triptych piece turned out very well, especially since I haven't used the acrylic media in a long time. I felt that the concept of the piece was illustrated, and that the feeling of the burning petals were expressed. I felt that the first panel turned out the best out of the other two considering the amount of details and layers in the piece. However, the reasoning for the first panel to have much more layering than the other one's is the amount of mistakes and cover ups made. The second panel turned out my least favorite because the color choice looked awful to me, and the blending could have been executed much better. I felt that the panel looks rushed and unfinished. I have no comments towards the third panel, since it turned out quite decent to me. In the end, the overview of it all together shows a blossoming effect and the burning petals helped bring more attention.
Overall, I feel as though this Triptych piece turned out very well, especially since I haven't used the acrylic media in a long time. I felt that the concept of the piece was illustrated, and that the feeling of the burning petals were expressed. I felt that the first panel turned out the best out of the other two considering the amount of details and layers in the piece. However, the reasoning for the first panel to have much more layering than the other one's is the amount of mistakes and cover ups made. The second panel turned out my least favorite because the color choice looked awful to me, and the blending could have been executed much better. I felt that the panel looks rushed and unfinished. I have no comments towards the third panel, since it turned out quite decent to me. In the end, the overview of it all together shows a blossoming effect and the burning petals helped bring more attention.
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Compare & Contrast
Similarities:
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ACT Responses:
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
From the inspiration of the piece, there are water lilies (flowers) I wanted to create the affect of them burning/wilting away (the color choice my piece is rather different that the inspiration).
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Octavio Ocampo was a Spanish artist and didn't necessarily connect his pieces around his culture. They seemed to be more free willed. Rene Magritte also didn't specify his overall goal with creating the piece.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc, while you researched your inspiration?
I've concluded that the people within the Surrealism art movement focus more on making ordinary items resemble a human or an animal.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
My theme surrounding my piece was fear. This piece resembles my fear of being an ordinary artist amongst the other artists, hence why the third panel is burning in flames (to show my creativity fading away).
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
While researching, I noticed that Surrealist paintings look liked multiple objects combined together into one painting/piece. I found that to be interesting, because majority of the images I saw while researching had several objects like cloth, flowers, clocks, etc. combined together to make a face.
From the inspiration of the piece, there are water lilies (flowers) I wanted to create the affect of them burning/wilting away (the color choice my piece is rather different that the inspiration).
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Octavio Ocampo was a Spanish artist and didn't necessarily connect his pieces around his culture. They seemed to be more free willed. Rene Magritte also didn't specify his overall goal with creating the piece.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc, while you researched your inspiration?
I've concluded that the people within the Surrealism art movement focus more on making ordinary items resemble a human or an animal.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
My theme surrounding my piece was fear. This piece resembles my fear of being an ordinary artist amongst the other artists, hence why the third panel is burning in flames (to show my creativity fading away).
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
While researching, I noticed that Surrealist paintings look liked multiple objects combined together into one painting/piece. I found that to be interesting, because majority of the images I saw while researching had several objects like cloth, flowers, clocks, etc. combined together to make a face.
Bibliography:
Magritte, Rene. “Philosopher's Lamp, 1936 - Rene Magritte.” Www.wikiart.org, 1 Jan. 1970, https://www.wikiart.org/en/rene-magritte/philosopher-s-lamp-1936.
Potts, James. Visions Fine Art Gallery - Sedona Arizona - Ecstasy of the Lilies, by Octavio Ocampo, https://www.visionsfineart.com/ocampo/ecstasy_of_the_lillies.html.
Ocampo, Octavio. “Lily Woman - Octavio Ocampo.” Www.wikiart.org, https://www.wikiart.org/en/octavio-ocampo/lily-woman.
Potts, James. Visions Fine Art Gallery - Sedona Arizona - Ecstasy of the Lilies, by Octavio Ocampo, https://www.visionsfineart.com/ocampo/ecstasy_of_the_lillies.html.
Ocampo, Octavio. “Lily Woman - Octavio Ocampo.” Www.wikiart.org, https://www.wikiart.org/en/octavio-ocampo/lily-woman.