Life Struggles

Over the past few weeks, I have been dealing with high levels of stress and have been trying to figure out on how I was going to get my life back into place. For this week’s piece I want to display this struggles and feelings. The butterfly is meat to represent life and I thought it would be fitting if I was the one to struggle in a spider’s web as the prey flies away

I’ve debated whether to keep the skin tone as is or change the color scheme to black and white, the final decision was the idea to make the hand seem lifeless, as if all the color has been drained from the body.

Out of all the colors, I decided to have the butterfly to be orange and yellow because it symbolizes health and happiness. These colors stand out the most and it can also capture viewers’ attention which is the idea against the dark background. This would show how stress can leave me drained and powerless while my energy and joy flies away.

Reference -

Photo of my hand with a few color alterations

Visual Reference on Butterfly - https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/color-butterfly-flying-isolated-on-white-146449802?src=FEmwvKicvDkUvinsEfd7aQ-1-13

Trickle Tree

The purpose of this piece is a first for the theme concept I had in mind for this portfolio. The idea that light does not shine the brightness without the darkness to surrounds it, something to reflect my personal life. It was also an experimentation to see if I should continue with this theme of the light versus the dark. I’m also trying to incorporate color and subject symbolism as much as possible. The subject of the tree for example symbolism spiritual growth, I’m trying to move on from my past and not let it haunt me.

 

The background colors were chosen to give off the feeling of calmness, desolation, and mystery. I’m drawn to the way water drips leave remnants of itself on the page because they are unpredictable, you never really know which direction it will go or what type of mark it will leave behind. I thought it would be fitting in this piece because of the mental scars that were left from the memories of my school days.

 

I picked black for the base color of the tree because it gives the tree a haunting and grim feel to it. Black also symbolizes boldness and elegances. I applied charcoal pastel and added water to smooth out and filled in the rest of areas in the tree.

After giving it a few minutes to dry I went back in with some white pastels to add light value to the tree to make it realistic instead of leaving it just plain black.

Artist Talk - Jake Longstreth

During this art event artist, Jake Longstreth, discussed where his inspiration comes from, his reasons behind his pieces, and his backstory.

I truly admired his paintings based on his color scheme, the layouts on the canvas, and the amazing blending effect he has done in the skies in most of his pieces. I also find it interesting that as he was traveling, he document certain building with iconic logos and took pictures of them in every state he visited. Jake focused more on the buildings architecture and color more than the logos because he believed text is already powerful on its own, which I completely agree. Some of the building in his pieces I recognize based on shapes and colors and then I began to feel a little nostalgic.  Like the tricolor walls of Toys R Us shop, it would remind me how I use to beg my grandma to go there because I was such a spoiled child, or the Blockbuster movie shop, when every Friday night after school my mom and I would pick out a movie and candy for a little movie night together. Today I can no longer go to these places anymore; unfortunately both are out of business in my hometown cause me to miss my childhood memories. You never truly appreciate something, or in this case some place, until it is gone forever.