Planning: Before drawing the grid, the gesso on the canvas was thin so I applied a watery coat of blue. Afterwards I drew a grid to draw one half of my reference photo. The right side was just a reflection across the y-axis. There after I went in with a light gray coat for the base of the chappala, not painting the straps. I had to give the footwear a personality and a story and to do so meant visualizing the environment that they inhabited. The footwear were carefully situated precisely how I wanted. Now I had to add personality by adding the wear and tear of long term wear. I drew the ends beginning to erode as well as the top. Then I added slight rips on the apex of where the strap lies between the toes. I added a light gray coat for the base and then went in with darker shades of gray towards the edges of the base and the strap, places in shadow.
Experience: The paint was easy to work with this time around as my previous experiences led me to mix a little bit of water into the paint for better spread ability. Working with a larger piece such as this, I kept running out the specific tone of color and having to remake it. However the second time around the color was always slightly off. This was troublesome as the chappala were in grayscale. For blending once again I resorted to adding small strokes of paint so that when viewed further back the color would blend. When adding the 1/2 inch marks I had to make sure I was marking it accurately as the canvas curved towards the ground in the center.
ACT Questions:
1) Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork. -Manet's still life, The Lemon, contains blocks of color placed near each other to insinuate value and the effect of light. Similarly, my artwork utilizes the differences in color to suggest a 3D form. 2) What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration? -Impressionists were concerned with showing the affect of light on objects. Creating a new technique of painting that deviates from Realism and focused more on hues and value through still-life at first and then other subjects allowed them to emphasize light and color as parts of the artwork. 3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration? -Society at the Impressionism period was booming. With new jobs and opportunities for the poorer class to become part of the middle class, new ideas were bred and executed. Such an idea was Impressionism which was a 'rebellious' movement that did not conform to the previous realism pieces. 4) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research? -I wanted to pick an art movement that emphasized still life. The Impressionist movement had numerous still life pieces as still life is important when developing a new technique. This fit nicely as I was planning on painting an inanimate object. 5) What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research? -Certain still-life can be connected to the class of society. For example, a still life of flowers would be attributed to a wealthier class as they were the ones back then who could afford such luxuries. Impressionists were radicals in a tumultuous society which was susceptible to change. |
Title: Still Life: Chappala
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas Size: 61x91cm Date: September 2016 Exhibition Text: A still-life of a common footwear surrounded by roots is centered. Blocks of color form the chappala with lines for texture and emphasis. The condition and personality of the footwear represents key ideas surrounding chappala. This still life focuses on exploring the disparities between two societies while still upholding one’s honor and dignity. A bird’s eye view shows the chappala carefully placed. When split vertically in the middle, the two halves are symmetrical.
Artistic Inspiration: Edouard Manet
Inspiration: Edouard Manet often known as the instigator of the Impressionist Movement developed a style known for blocks of color and playful light and form. Although Impressionists may have painted still life's for practicing their new technique, choosing what to paint was still an indicator of the society at that time. For example, the wealthy populace would have still lifes of flowers as they could afford to have them in the estate. With the medium oil on canvas, thin under layers could be applied and on top, more vibrant colors creating contrast and movement which gave the subject movement. Manet's subject was a lemon on a plate which he situated to the offhand right space. The background is dark as if to draw all attention to the lemon. A peculiar subject, the lemon, the motive behind it could be interpreted several ways.
Technique: To signify wear I added highlights where the heel, tarsals and the meta tarsals should be. If light is hitting the chappala from above the areas of wear would be the areas of highlight. Now that I had all the paint on the canvas I concentrated on the background which in hindsight was a bad idea. The whole point of still life is for the viewers attention to be led throughout the piece by me, the artist. I foiled that by adding roots as my background. I started off with thicker roots towards the top and they were slender by the time they reached the bottom of the piece. I didn't want a lot of branches to distract from the footwear. To keep the line of symmetry what I did on one side I had to replicate on the other. To add a more realistic feel to the branches I added small sinuous strokes of different tones of brown. This texture allowed the roots to become gnarled with age. My focus was once again on the chappala as I blended the lighter and darker colors for a smoother interpretation of the light and the strap's curvature. To further display wear I applied texture to the footwear by lines. In order to do this I marked 1/2 inch intervals the entire length of the footwear. Now I slanted the lines and reflected the action to the other chappal. The lines were dashed where wear had eroded the protruding rubber design. To resemble dirt I added a watery coat of light brown where they would normally be.
Critique: If the footwear is regarded in isolation I believe I did well incorporating a story into an inanimate object. If the background is also taken into consideration then I do not think I did so well. It would've been better and less distracting to the still life if the background was completely black. I plan on changing this sometime in the future. The message I wanted to convey with this piece was that "flip flops" as some call them are not always an item of luxury that one can wear to the beach or regularly wear in the summertime. To some flip flops are all they have because they are cheap and shoes are expensive. I wanted to challenge such societal thinking. However such footwear does not enunciate that a lower class does not have the qualities of a higher class. The footwear is situated with care as the owner has dignity and respect for the chappala. They are grateful for what they have. Seeing chappala outside of households and more importantly in front of the entrance to a temple is what inspired me to create this piece. Ever since I was younger my mother would always advise me to set down my chappala with care.
|
Word Count: 950