Choice Piece
"In Bloom" |
OVERVIEW:
Title: "In Bloom" Dimensions: 1ft x 1ft Medium: Acrylic Paint Date: March 2024 EXHIBITION TEXTThis painting in acrylic represents me and my identity, my name is Lily, I was named after the flower and it has always been a part of my identity, I created the feathered brushstrokes and messy blending to show that as imperfect as this flower is, it has life and it has meaning in a dark space. I drew inspiration from the painter Manet to create a very messy distorted image of the Lily flower. I added my own twist to the painting with the vibrant colors such as the orange and teal. This painting represents me, as simple as it is, it represents my growth and my identity.
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INSPIRATION
When creating this painting I immediately thought of Manet's "Bouquet of Flowers 1882", Manet uses impressionism to create the distorted image of a bouquet of flowers. I wanted the same effect on my painting so I used his painting "Bouquet of Flowers" and I brought up an image of a Lily, I made sure to pick a photo of a traditional orange Lily as those are the flowers that grow in my garden at home. I wanted to use the messy brush strokes Manet uses in his painting to give the impressionist feel, I also admired how Manet does not fully blend most of the brush strokes, it creates a very raw image, one that one might associate with a part of nature like a flower. I also wanted to keep the dark background Manet uses since I knew it would make the orange of the Lily pop out. To keep the same orange of the Lily in the image I knew I would need to pay close attention to the different shades of orange, while I knew I didn't intend to blend the brushstrokes, I still wanted to keep the same colors of the reference image I chose. Manet created several flower paintings of the flowers sent to him by his friends in his final weeks, his intention was to capture his friends feelings towards him.
I created this piece to a large part of my identity, a persons name is a persons face, personality, and identity. Just as Manet painted the flowers sent by his friends to capture the love his friends had for him, I will capture the love I have grown for myself, the un-blended and rough parts of myself that I have gotten to know and grown to appreciate.
I created this piece to a large part of my identity, a persons name is a persons face, personality, and identity. Just as Manet painted the flowers sent by his friends to capture the love his friends had for him, I will capture the love I have grown for myself, the un-blended and rough parts of myself that I have gotten to know and grown to appreciate.
PLANNING
I started my process by creating the canvas for my painting. I took four 1 foot by 1 foot wooden pieces for my frame. I then connected the wooden pieces together into a square shape by sliding the end of a wooden piece into the intended slot of another wooden piece. After I felt my frame was stable I took a cloth sheet made for canvases and cut out a square that was slightly larger than my frame. I then took a staple gun and stapled the canvas cloth to my frame, once it was stable I cut the edges of the canvas cloth that stuck out. After this was done I took a bucket of gesso and did two layers of gesso on my canvas being sure not to make the canvas cloth too tight and warp my frame.
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The two sketches I did for the lily flower painting was to plan for the perspective I wanted for the lily. When I made my first sketch I planned on making a vase of lilies, I used a very similar sketch to that of my reference of Manet's "Bouquet of Flowers 1882". In my second sketch I made the lily flower more personal and added a few extra elements like the leaves on the flower. In my notes, I debated over whether or not to have a black background, I eventually tested a section of the sketch with acrylic paint and decided I liked the black background the best. At this point I also decided which colors I would likely be using. I tested different orange and green colors and set those aside for my painting process. Once I had my final sketch and my paint colors were ready, I began my painting process.
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PROCESS
I planned out the different shades of orange I was going to use, I tested out what this would look like on a large piece of white paper. I had 5 different shades of orange that I used to create the Lily flower, I had two shades of green for the leafs, black, and some highlights of white I planned on using as well as a slightly darker grey for the center of the flower.
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I began my base of the flower, this process consisted of layering shades of orange on top of each other, I began to fan out the orange color into the black background to be able to shape the brush strokes with black paint later on, at this point I was pretty confident with technique I was using, it became easier to not worry about blending as the process went on. I had to be careful not to loose the different shades of orange when I was layering, I also made brush strokes in different directions to create a more natural looking flower.
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I added the finishing touches of the shadows and highlights, I then used my shades of green to create the leaves, I made four leafs and used my teal color as a highlight on the leaves. I attempted to use a fan brush to make the teal highlights more natural and more leaf-like, once I was satisfied with my brushstrokes, colors, and shape, I reshaped the flower a little more with my black paint, then I brought my painting into a darker room and used a lamp to show even more of the brush strokes on my painting as it was something I wanted to emphasize especially after referring to my reference photo of Manets painting.
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At this point I had shapes the feathered out brush strokes with my black paint and I was adding highlights on the ends of the flower petals as well as a deeper shade of orange in the center of the petals, I created the pistils with a light shade of yellow and a thinner brush, I had some mishaps and had to re-coat my black background, I used a lighter shade of black (grey) on some edges of the flower to add light, I used the same shade of grey on the ends of the pistils, I went back to my reference several times to observe the brushstrokes Manet uses in his painting of the flowers. I added a few more fanned out brushstrokes on the petals and moved on to creating the leafs.
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EXPERIMENTATION
I experimented with the feathering of the petals of my flower. I used different directions of my brushstrokes and reshaped the feathered out brushstrokes with black paint that I pushed from the edge to the flower to keep the natural petal look. I also reshaped the petals with black paint in a way that made the petals look more realistic.
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I worked with the lighter green color and the darker green color to create the detail on the leaf. I used different sized brushes to create sharp, dull,, thin, and thick lines. I experimented with the placement of the highlights, I had to repaint the leaves with the darker green to fix my mistakes. After a few attempts, I referred back to my reference photo of the lily flower to see where the light hit the leaf. Once I was confident in my technique I used a paint brush that was cut into two points on each edge and pushed the light green paint out from the bottom center of the leaf out to the edge of the leaf.
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I created a grayish-bluish color to create the pollen part of the pistil of the lily. I zoomed in on the pistil on my reference of the lily flower to see where the pistils were and how they fanned out. I struggled with the color of the pistils because in the photo the pistils are a very similar color to the petals of the lily, I had a hard time making the pistils look like their own shape without blending the pistils into the petals. I decided to use the highlight color of the pistils on the reference which was a very light yellow, I then experimented with shading the center of the flower with the same color I used on the pollen part of the pistil.
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CRITIQUE
My painting is very similar in shape to the image of the Lily and very similar in style to that of Manet's painting. I used the same impressionist technique on my painting as Manet used in his. I made sure to keep the noticeable brush strokes and blurred effect on my flower. In Manet's painting there are few blended areas, I liked this look so I recreated it in my painting. I also kept the black background the same since I knew it would make the orange of the Lily stand out. Manet's painting has little shadow in the flowers so I kept the same look in my flower, I focused heavily on the highlights and shied away from the shadows, thankfully, the black background made it easier to ignore shadowing the flower. Manet uses a very raw jagged brushstroke technique in his flowers and leaves, this partially contributed to the impressionist look, I admired how it made the flowers look more natural and since the meaning of my painting was to represent the natural parts of my identity, I felt it was necessary to contribute the technique in my painting. A few major differences are the vibrant colors I used and the number of flowers used as well as the perspective of the flower. Manet uses slightly diluted colors of red and white in his flowers whereas I used vibrant oranges and a vibrant teal color to lead viewers eyes around my piece. I focused on a singular Lily flower whereas Manet used five flowers in a vase to paint his piece. Manet also paints the flowers from a slightly downward position, as if he is slightly looking up at the flowers, my approach was the opposite, I created my flower as if you are looking right down at it, my flower is not hiding, and it cannot hide from the critical eye of others.
REFLECTION
This piece helped me refresh my skills with acrylic, I was also able to make my own canvas for the first time which was difficult especially when gessoing the canvas. I don't usually create impressionism pieces but I really loved the freeing feeling of being carefree with my brushstrokes and not worrying about blending anything out. My inspiration, Manet's "Bouquet of Flowers 1882" made it easier to be okay with the process it took to make my painting in a way that gave it an impressionist look. Through this piece I feel I was able to portray myself in a simple way, I have always had a connotation with the Lily flower but I felt I was able to personalize it and accept it as part of my identity since it's always been something that's been placed on me simply because of my name. My painting of a lily represents me in my un-blended and rough edged form, the part of me I hate and don't accept. I created this painting to portray the end of an era for me, recently I have realized my time in high school is coming to an end, and I am moving into another part of my life, while one cycle of the Lily flower is over, I will keep the distorted image of a lily with me forever because it is who I am and it is my identity.
ACT
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
- I was able to use Manet as my inspiration to recreate his flower painting in the impressionist style, it has a large effect on my work because I used Manet's painting as a base understanding of what an impressionist painting should look like.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
- The research I conducted taught me about the meaning behind Manet's flower paintings as well as information on the impressionist style.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
- I have concluded that humans have used the impressionist style to portray raw and natural scenes of life, Manet's flowers for example represent the love his friends had for him, the impressionist style and meaning is something that continues to influence the modern age.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
- My goal was the get information on the meaning behind Manet's paintings and information on impressionism and it's properties.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
- I made inferences on the meaning behind Manet's flower paintings after discovering vague information that the flowers had been send to Manet by his friends as tokens of their feelings towards him, I was also able to make the inference that every artist draws inspiration from their environments.
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
- I was able to use Manet as my inspiration to recreate his flower painting in the impressionist style, it has a large effect on my work because I used Manet's painting as a base understanding of what an impressionist painting should look like.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
- The research I conducted taught me about the meaning behind Manet's flower paintings as well as information on the impressionist style.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
- I have concluded that humans have used the impressionist style to portray raw and natural scenes of life, Manet's flowers for example represent the love his friends had for him, the impressionist style and meaning is something that continues to influence the modern age.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
- My goal was the get information on the meaning behind Manet's paintings and information on impressionism and it's properties.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
- I made inferences on the meaning behind Manet's flower paintings after discovering vague information that the flowers had been send to Manet by his friends as tokens of their feelings towards him, I was also able to make the inference that every artist draws inspiration from their environments.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
https://www.earth.com/earthpedia-articles/whats-so-special-about-the-lily-flower/ (image reference)
https://www.wikiart.org/en/edouard-manet/bouquet-of-flowers-1882 (image reference)
https://www.maramarietta.com/the-arts/painting-drawing-sculpture/artists-h-m/manet-bar-folies-dejeuner-olympia/#:~:text=In%20his%20final%20year%20or,on%20its%20most%20basic%20level.
https://www.wikiart.org/en/edouard-manet/bouquet-of-flowers-1882 (image reference)
https://www.maramarietta.com/the-arts/painting-drawing-sculpture/artists-h-m/manet-bar-folies-dejeuner-olympia/#:~:text=In%20his%20final%20year%20or,on%20its%20most%20basic%20level.