Painting based upon photography
Title: "Pain!"
Size: 30 cm by 30 cm
Medium: Acrylic on a canvas
Date: October 2020
This piece captures the two most important features of my photo “Emptiness”: the emotion in the model’s face and the rose (an important symbol in the lens based photo). The photo was inspired by Tsoku Maela and my painting is also inspired by Litchenstein and the Pop art movement. The piece was named after the word I incorporated in my painting. The reason I chose that word is because it is a key emotion in my original theme of depression.
Artistic Inspiration
Inspiration Behind The Painting:
My painting was heavily influenced by my inspiration of Lichtenstein's work and the Pop art movement. I think that the words with the exclamation marks and the bright are a very important part of artwork in the Pop art movement, which is why I included a word with an exclamation mark in my piece with the same background design and colors. In several of his pieces, there are girls with a tear, so I incorporated that into my piece, since the model in my piece is also sad. My piece has bright colors that are part of the Pop movement as well as the explosion of the word "Pain!"
About Roy Lichtenstein:
Roy Lichtenstein was born on October 23, 1973 in New York City. He was one of the most influential artists in the second half of the twentieth century of the Pop art movement; he helped originate the movement. His first paintings were based on the imagery from comic strips as well as advertisements.
How My Piece Connects To Tsoku Maela and My Original Theme:
My piece connects to my theme of depression because I took the face of the model which represents emotions of sadness, as well as the rose which like my life, the petals fall apart. This is what makes it not just a portrait; it takes important parts of my original piece and displays them in acrylics. Tsoku's work also represents his own depression.
About Tsoku Maela:
Tsoku Maela was born in South Africa on March 29, Much of his work represents African culture. His goal is to make people realize that mental health isn't just a white people problem. He said in an interview that he originally thought depression was an African people, but received emails from people with many different cultures saying they experience these issues too. His art inspired many people across the globe to get rid of the bad stigma around mental health.
Planning
Planning Sketches
When I first started planning out my painting, I knew it was likely that I would paint the face and rose as those are the most significant parts of the photo to me. It wasn't until after I had painted the face, that I decided to incorporate pop art into my piece. I looked at my painting and realized I wasn't happy with the composition; the background was empty and looked unprofessional as well as unfinished. It didn't take me long to remember studying Pop art sophomore year, and I remembered how much I love the movement. I thought it would be fun to base it off of Lichtenstein. I chose the word "pain" because it sounded dramatic and fit with my theme of depression. I also decided to include a tear on the model's eye because of how popular it was and how cool it looked in Lichtenstein's work. I wanted my painting to look dramatic and exciting, while still revealing and expressing all of the pain and hurting that comes with depression. At first, I was afraid that people would see my painting as just a regular portrait, but then I realized I could just explain the process. The face is one of the more important parts of the photo which is why I decided to include it in my painting because it represents sadness and emotion. It shows the model from the photo looking off into space as if they are contemplating life and as if they are so numb to pain, it feels normalized. I also included the rose because just like rose petals, there are parts of my life that fall apart until all you are left with is the stem; the stem remains and so do you, but everything you thought you knew is gone and all you do is exist.
Process & Experimentation
Before I started the painting, I cropped my original photo to be only the face of the model as well as the rose. Then I printed out the photo and used a regular led pencil to cover the back of the image. I traced a basic outline of the image onto my canvas and began painting the face and hair. The hair consisted of brown and different parts of brown mixed with vanilla. I used the brown mixed with vanilla on the face as well where there were shadows. I used vanilla mixed with coral for most of the face and blended the coral with the vanilla/brown and vanilla/coral. I used vanilla paint on highlights of the model such as the forehead, center of the nose, the chin, and the lower half of her neck. I used a darker and medium shade of red for the rose petals as well as a dark green for the stem of the rose. I wanted to make the rose petals look like they had texture so I carefully outlined the shape of each petal with the darker red and after adding the lighter red, only mixed the two colors slightly so that the outline was still a little bit visible, but in a natural looking way. After I painted the model, I realized my painting looked unfinished because of the empty background, so I decided to incorporate a Lichtenstein inspired background. I painted the words first and then the explosion. After those dried, I outlined the words with a Sharpie marker, making parts of the edges thicker in ink. Then I undid a paper clip and used one of the ends to create the tiny red dots in the white cloud I did this by dipping the end of the paper clip in the paint and stamping it onto the canvas; I had to dip the paperclip into the paint quite frequently though, so it did take way longer to do than I thought it would. The stripes took two layers of pink and violet, but after they dried, I outlined the stripes, explosion, and tear with a Sharpie marker as well.
Reflection
If I am being honest, although I enjoyed painting this piece, it isn't my best. The face didn't turn out as I hoped; my painting still conveys its message, but the shape of the nose and eyes didn't turn out right making the whole face look different from the original. Because it took so much time though to stamp on all of the tiny red dots, it was actually kind of calming and stress relieving. I also enjoyed creating the brush strokes of the stripes in the background. Overall, I do think the painting turned out pretty decent, despite my struggles with the facial features. In the future, I will spend more time and try to be more careful, especially since noses have always been a little challenging for me. The final piece has a direct connection to my inspiration of Lichtenstein's Pop art; the background and tear were taken directly from his work, but I chose my own word to include in the explosion part. My piece also still connects to my theme of depression, which relates it to Tsoku's work as well.
Compare & Contrast
Similarities: Differences:
-Same colors -The purple I used in the background is darker
-I put my colors in the same order as Lichtenstein -My pink lines are thicker
-My background has the exact same design outline -In my piece, the word "pain" is slanted
-Same colors -The purple I used in the background is darker
-I put my colors in the same order as Lichtenstein -My pink lines are thicker
-My background has the exact same design outline -In my piece, the word "pain" is slanted
ACT Responses
1. Clearly explain and describe how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.
I was inspired by Lichtenstein's use of bright colors and the explosion of the word.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The author gave a detailed biography of Lichtenstein's life, highlights, and work based off of other sources such as interviews.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc, while you researched your inspiration?
I realized that I could create a piece that represents depression and it will still convey that special meaning even when I make the piece look dramatic and exciting.
4. What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
My inspiration from Tsoku came from the theme of depression, but the theme/art movement Lichtenstein studied was Pop art, which was art based off of popular modern culture and entertainment.
5. What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I can infer that Lichtenstein was probably the most famous Pop art artist and his art really shaped how other people in the movement created their work. His art was a very influential part of the movement and important part of art history.
I was inspired by Lichtenstein's use of bright colors and the explosion of the word.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The author gave a detailed biography of Lichtenstein's life, highlights, and work based off of other sources such as interviews.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc, while you researched your inspiration?
I realized that I could create a piece that represents depression and it will still convey that special meaning even when I make the piece look dramatic and exciting.
4. What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
My inspiration from Tsoku came from the theme of depression, but the theme/art movement Lichtenstein studied was Pop art, which was art based off of popular modern culture and entertainment.
5. What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I can infer that Lichtenstein was probably the most famous Pop art artist and his art really shaped how other people in the movement created their work. His art was a very influential part of the movement and important part of art history.
Bibliography
Berman, Avis. “BIOGRAPHY.” Roy Lichtenstein Foundation, 2019, lichtensteinfoundation.org/biography/.
"About Tsoku Maela." 2020. https://www.tsokumaela.com/about
"An Artist Photographs His Depression to Destigmatize Mental Illness." HyperAllergic, 6 July, 2016. https://hyperallergic.com/308318/an-artist-photographs-his-depression-to-destigmatize-mental-illness/
"About Tsoku Maela." 2020. https://www.tsokumaela.com/about
"An Artist Photographs His Depression to Destigmatize Mental Illness." HyperAllergic, 6 July, 2016. https://hyperallergic.com/308318/an-artist-photographs-his-depression-to-destigmatize-mental-illness/