Block Print
Sickening Relationship
15 cm x 22.9 cm
Block Print September 9, 2019 The Sickening Relationship is inspired by the Mexican culture's belief that one's own sickness is based on your soul's relationship with nature. By using the inspiration of Georgia O'Keeffe and as well as the human anatomy, I was able to show this belief. As a Hispanic, I have a strong agreement with this idea and with Sickening Relationship I wanted to show other people this idea that many Hispanics have as well.
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Inspiration
My main inspiration came from Georgia O'Keeffe, and the Mexican culture. At first I mainly focused at Georgia O'Keeffe's "Red Canna" painting I really ended up liking O'Keeffe's use of the lines. I new this was when I wanted to find a way to incorporate the smooth, elegant, and flowing lines to my art work. I ended up incorporating the line work to represent nature, in an abstract form. I also Looked into Georgia's "Hibiscus and Plumeria" painting, for this I focused on the simple details of the flower. I really liked how Georgia focused her work mostly on colors, while in the actual flower, itself, is simple and involves really soft and basic, organic forms and shapes. I used a basic outline of the flowers to create simple flowers to also incorporate nature in my art piece. After this I looked into my Mexican culture, I was fascinated by the idea and belief of, one's own sickness is based on the person's relationship with nature. I had some background knowledge about how nature had involvement in our spiritual health, but never fully understood this idea, or theory. In the block print I wanted to show this belief, this is where I looked into the human anatomy. I studied a bit the human organs and as well of the perspective of the Mexican culture to the body. To represent a person's soul, I was debating between the mind and heart. Both the heart and the mind are what makes up a person, but in different ways. The mind is what people think, it stores the person's thoughts, while the heart contains the person’s personality, I decided to go with the heart because it was what closely represented the Mexican belief. To represent relationship I decided to go with hands, personally, hands represent power and connection. With the hands I wanted to show the gentleness a person can have, but also hold so much, which is why I posed the hands the way I did.
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Planning
Hand PosesTo show the hands I decided to pose my own hands, this way I would be able to get exactly what I want. I posed three different ways, one of them gives a tougher feel, while the other two give a softer more nurturing feel.
When seeing Georgia's painting, "Red Canna" I immediately went into drawing what I wanted to include inspired by her. The smooth line work I what I focused on, after that I made sure there was a variety of thickness to it, which is why I came up with this pattern I would be using within the heart.
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Sketches Planning Sketches (Click image to enlarge)
For the planning sketches, I already had an idea how I wanted it to look like. I made sure the heart was the center of attention, and have everything else as a detail.
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Final Sketch
I chose this as my final sketch because I think it represented well the meaning behind it. The lines within the heart made the heart stand out just like I wanted it to. The hands as they were had a soft and almost caring feeling towards the heart. Nature was represented in two different ways, being the lines and flowers and plants around the heart. Overall I was very pleased with everything added, but later on was modified because of spacing and tools available. |
Process
When deciding on my final sketch I had start off by having an exact size of the linoleum onto paper so I would be able to draw the sketch again, but much more in depth. Then I would have to use the graphite transfer method to transfer it onto the linoleum. This way when beginning to carve it would give me an exact image.
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The first day I started carving I wanted to know what tools to use. I grabbed a couple different tools and started carving in a section that would eventually be all carved. I did this mainly because I had to choose what tools to use when carving out details, when carving out bigger spaces, as well to see which tools I was most comfortable with.
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After a couple of days I learned what tools was best for certain sections, this is where I began to carve out the outline of everything. Once I carved out the sections I would carve out the rest of linoleum that I did not want to show in the final product.
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Towards the end of me carving I realized some details of the piece would have to be removed because of spacing. For example, the bottom, right flower was removed because there was too much detail in a small section. While carving I also realized I would be making marks that almost represented wood. I fell in love with it and though it would add detail to the overall piece. I continued to do this pattern all around the art piece.
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Expirementation
I ended up printing a total of 4. In certain pieces the wood detail I would've liked to have did not come out or came out just a little bit. after printing three , I went back and carved out more of the wood to see how it would look with non of that detail in. The last print was too see how it would look to have just the heart and the hands.
(First Print and Fourth Print) I was very pleased with there was enough back ground texture in both, but in the fourth print towards the left of the hear, lost some of the texture created.
(Second Print) The second print was decent, regarding texture was good, but there was a problem with ink transferring, which was the reason I did not choose it as my final piece.
(Third print)I made one print without the "wood" texture in the back because I wanted to see how it would look without it. I wasn't very fully convinced on how it looked because I believed it lost some of the meaning behind it.
(First Print and Fourth Print) I was very pleased with there was enough back ground texture in both, but in the fourth print towards the left of the hear, lost some of the texture created.
(Second Print) The second print was decent, regarding texture was good, but there was a problem with ink transferring, which was the reason I did not choose it as my final piece.
(Third print)I made one print without the "wood" texture in the back because I wanted to see how it would look without it. I wasn't very fully convinced on how it looked because I believed it lost some of the meaning behind it.
Reflection
Overall I am very pleased with how the block print turned out. The only problem I ran into was the wood texture on the block print and the spacing and amount of detail in a small space. I think for the next time I now know, what to do differently to have that texture I would like. I would only need to make one thin carve and have it next to each other, rather than making multiple in the same area. I also need to be more aware of how much space I have, and how much detail I have available. When I had to take of the lower right flower off of the design, it took part of the meaning behind it. For the next project I do, I now know my own skills and limitations, and what I need to practice.
With all the research I did, I was able to learn more about my own culture and as well more about the human anatomy. I learned more in-depth about how Hispanics have certain beliefs, for example, this belief about the art piece, came from the Virgin Mary and "curadores". Curadores meaning people who heal others. I was also exposed to ancient medical strategies, for example some Aztec groups would set a fire and use plants to get rid of all evil. I was really intrigued by this, and I am also thinking about doing another project based around the research.
With all the research I did, I was able to learn more about my own culture and as well more about the human anatomy. I learned more in-depth about how Hispanics have certain beliefs, for example, this belief about the art piece, came from the Virgin Mary and "curadores". Curadores meaning people who heal others. I was also exposed to ancient medical strategies, for example some Aztec groups would set a fire and use plants to get rid of all evil. I was really intrigued by this, and I am also thinking about doing another project based around the research.
Similarities and Differences to Georgia O'Keeffe's art works
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