Asher Haedike "Moonlight Swimmer"
4.5 x 6, Acrylic Paint, 2024
(IDEA) My idea originated from my love for sharks and the moon. It was originally gonna be a full body shark with fish under it from the top view, but I didn't like that one as much so it slowly morphed into a shark fin in front of the moon.
(PROCESS) I started with the water first, painting it blue and adding details like the little ripples as I went, then I painted the shark fin, originally just being plain grey before I decided to add little scar marks, then came the moon, which I used light blues and purples to add more detail to it, then I painted the sky and the stars, I put yellow paint on my finger tips and wiped most of it off before dabbing my finger around each star to give them their own glow.
(SYMBOLISM & ICONOGRAPHY) There was no real meaning behind it, I just started painting and continued to add things when I wanted until I decided it was finished.
(ARTISTIC GROWTH) I originally struggled a lot with sketching the idea, I couldn't figure out how to make everything look right, I overcame that struggle by just stopping. I stopped sketching and just started painting, fixing things as I went instead of trying to make the sketch perfect. If I redid this painting, I'd change the way I painted the sharks fin and the moon, they are too close in color and almost blend together.
(VISUAL VOICE) It's painted in the style of surrealism, what I like about it is how I painted the water and the stars, I like how the stars glow and how the lines in the water try to show it moving.
(IDEA) My idea just kinda spawned in my head because I had to come up with one animal sketch with a reference for our 4 ideas assignment, and I just immediately knew I wanted to paint one of the Eastern Tiger Swallowtails that are always in my backyard, mostly because I thought it would be easier for me personally than trying to paint a dog or a cat, but I also just really like butterflies, they're very beautiful insects.
(PROCESS) I started with the green background, it started off very streaky but I eventually got it to it's solid different shades of green, then I used transfer paper and a printed out version of my reference photo to sketch on...the sketch. Then I started painting a white base color onto the areas of the butterfly that were gonna be white, as well as painting a white base layer for the flower too. I then started on painting the yellow areas of the butterfly, then the black. After that I started painting the flower, painting the center area then the petals, then I went back to the butterfly and started shading in each yellow section of the butterfly with different shades of orange and orange-reds. Then I worked on the flower more, making the center more brown instead of orange because there was already so much orange with the wings of the butterfly, I also worked on the stem of the flower, then finished it with a signature.
(SYMBOLISM & ICONOGRAPHY) Eastern Tiger Swallowtails are specifically known to symbolize happiness and pure joy.
(ARTISTIC GROWTH) At first my biggest struggle was just being able to stop messing with the green. I kept adding more and changing it until eventually I just had to force myself to pull away and stop. Now a struggle I had was black from me touching up the black lines on the wings smeared into a yellow section I was actively shading, but I fixed it as I went.
(VISUAL VOICE) Originally, I wasn't expecting to paint it so realistically, but then the petals of the flower got too much detail so the butterfly looked flat, so I had to add more detail to it to make it look less boring. I love everything about this painting so far, if I had to restart it I don't think I would change anything, everything looks perfectly find and just the way I want it too look right now.
(IDEA) I didn't really have an idea going into this, I just knew I had to have a still life/object for one of my paintings so I spent a while just walking around my house trying to find things to sketch and later paint, I eventually decided on a decorative little cup thing and the front of a wooden train, I cleared off my desk and positioned them the way I liked best and took a picture to start sketching.Â
(PROCESS) I started by painting the tan-ish color on the background for the wall of my room, then the dark grey as my desk. Then I painted the objects in as plain white objects before I started on the green part of the cup, I used different shades and tints of green to get the gradient I wanted before finishing the top with the white highlight before starting on the tan bottom. I finished that with what ended up looking like a dark green instead of a darker brown/tan color, but it's okay, I just left it and moved onto the train. I started with a plain brown, then painted the wheels a lighter brown like my reference showed. Then I painted the dark shadows of the back wheels, and added some detail to the front wheels before painting the rest of the shadows onto the trains body and painting the little hole in before adding some shadow to the top of the front wheels and calling it done.
(SYMBOLISM & ICONOGRAPHY) I don't really know what symbolism there is to grasp at here, all I know or have found out really is that the wooden train is often a Christmas decoration due to nostalgia and even tradition.
(ARTISTIC GROWTH) My first big struggle with this painting was shading the bottom section of the cup, it wasn't turning out how I wanted because the paint was more of a dark green instead of darker brown or tan so it just didn't look right to me. If I had to start over on this piece I would definitely redo the shading on the bottom of the cup.
(VISUAL VOICE) It's again a more realistic piece of mine, and also a more disliked one for me personally. I really only love the train and how I painted it, I'm not a really big fan of the rest of it but I've learned to accept it.