Painting
Inspiration
The inspiration came from the installations located on Rio de Janero beach. I was mainly drawn into how they let the face speak for itself, giving a very powerful voice almost. I wanted to include the face similarly, by doing this I used a random reference picture of a women. I would then want to think about who had a say in these laws, and saw most were men. I decided instead of the hand placement on the mount to completely take off the bottom part of the face and include flowers, as a representation of a women's reproductive system. I did want to incorporate the representation of men, which is when I decided to do the flowers blue. In the inspiration pictures there was not a background, I did decide to use strokes of black and white. I did this to represent the laws being made worldwide, this way it would also seem as if the background was about to takeover the women in the paintings. Also providing more meaning , showing how constant laws being set up are drowning women in unfairness, and basically stripping them away from their freedom to their own body.
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Planning
For my sketches I was struggling to figure out how I wanted to show the meaning. The first two sketches where done when I was not set on one inspiration piece. The third sketch was the one I went with, but along the process I did decide I wanted to add a background and not include the almost faded away on the rose.
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When preparing my canvas, I worked on the background first so I would not have problems later on, I started off by directly putting black and white paint onto the canvas, and using a flat brush I did brush strokes to get a base coat. Once I let it dry I grabbed a piece of paper folded it and pored more paint onto the canvas, letting it dry just a little, but not fully. I used the paper and used vertical and horizontal motions to create an almost rustic effect.
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Once the back ground was completed I decided to plan out the figures face, with help from a reference photo, I mixed in colors to create a skin tone, creating a base color, lighter shade, and a darkker shade. I then eyeballed the overall figure, and did a very sloppy "copy" to get an idea of where shading had to be done, as well as making sure all the proportions were correct before starting on details.
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Process
I began working on the details, starting off with the eyes. When working on areas with black I did mix black and blue together to provide a nicer color rather then just black itself, when working on the eyebrows I would mix black and brown. I also did the same thing in the white part of the eyes, mixing white and a very small amount of blue. I worked my way around the face, making sure I kept the eyebrows and eyelashes last. As for the tools I mainly used a flat brush because it allowed me to use two different shades of colors at the same time, making the blending very smoothly. As for the eyebrows, lashes, and inside the eye I used a round brush, helping get the small hair details and blending the strokes just enough, to the point you can still see each strand.
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When I finished the face I worked on the hair. I did this by placing a little bit of black around the face, and then used a flat tool to almost scrape it to form hair. I then used a little bit of white, going a little bit outwards, then using the same method as the background. By doing this It allowed to show how the hair disappeared into the background. I then when back using a small flat brush and fixed the hair until I liked it.
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I then began working on the flowers using shades of blues. I did begin with working on the center of the flowers with darker colors and then got lighter as I worked around. For the flowers I used a larger rounded brush, I made swerving strokes. To make the water strokes I dabbed on more paint then added water with the same rounded brush and let it drip down. I then bragged a napkin and took away the access after I liked the length. I did notice however, the strokes were too transparent. Once I let them dry for a bit I added more paint and followed the same strokes. For the flowers I decided to shape them as a similar shape as a uterus, but it was a bit disturbing which is something I did not want to do. I did an almost rough shape of it, I added the strokes to show how women's reproductive rights were taken away from women, or falling apart.
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Experimentation
For experimentation, I needed to work on making skin tones for the figure, once I got the color I wanted I made sure to paint them on paper so later on I would be able to get the same shade. I also practiced a bit blending them together. I did also have to practice how I would do the eye, since it was the very first time working on it. I then also practiced the eyelashes it was the first time I did eyelashes, and when practicing I was not very happy with them and I eventually just decided to do it on thee canvas and hope for the best, which I think turned out better than expected. I did also provide the practice runs for the flowers and drips, however the drips did not turn out as good as i hoped on the practice runs
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Reflection
The overall project turned out very good I believe, I think technique wise I could have improved in the eyebrows, actually doing each individual strand to provide a more realistic look to the piece, rather then filling it in and then doing strokes. I also really like how it seems like the background is almost going to cover her whole face. I am extremely proud of how the nose turned out, especially since it was the first time painting a nose. I did not run into many issues except the flowers drip being too transparent because of the background, but I was able to fix that quickly, however, going over it with paint did mess up the actually realistic details I wanted to include. I also do notice one eye is bigger then the other eye and it does bother me, but I do think it is somewhat a depiction of what actually people look like. The overall project depicting the meaning I believe I did very well on, it shows what I wanted it too.
Similarities and Differences to Reuters, Untitled.
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ACT Responses
1. Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your work.
I was very inspired by the face of the person, and how it was taking over the whole composition, which is something I made sure to include in mine.
2. What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from the research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The author was speaking upon the femicide issue going on, where all the women have been missing or found killed. Which is something I thought was somewhat similar to thee topic I was speaking about.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusion have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I did find out there are a lot of women who are pro-life, that still are against the abortion law. They did say they are pro-life for themselves, and pro-choice for other women.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
I wanted to speak on how women's are being told what they can't and can do to their own body, by men, who do not understand what a women goes through when pregnant.
5. What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
There is plenty of women support within the community and topic, worldwide, as I have also seen women, who do not live in Poland participate in protests, bring awareness, etc.
I was very inspired by the face of the person, and how it was taking over the whole composition, which is something I made sure to include in mine.
2. What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from the research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The author was speaking upon the femicide issue going on, where all the women have been missing or found killed. Which is something I thought was somewhat similar to thee topic I was speaking about.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusion have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I did find out there are a lot of women who are pro-life, that still are against the abortion law. They did say they are pro-life for themselves, and pro-choice for other women.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
I wanted to speak on how women's are being told what they can't and can do to their own body, by men, who do not understand what a women goes through when pregnant.
5. What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
There is plenty of women support within the community and topic, worldwide, as I have also seen women, who do not live in Poland participate in protests, bring awareness, etc.
Bibliography
Maglhaes, Maria Jose. "Contributions from Art Activism for Feminist Agency Combating Gender Violence." Discoversociety. February 5, 2020