Painting

My first idea was just someone with flowers over their eyes because I thought it would be an interesting idea. Then as I was sketching my idea out, I decided to make it sort of the opposite of “Winged Victory (Nike) of Samothrace”. I wanted her to look defeated, hopeless. That idea helped me to decide the colors I used for the painting. 

First, I sketched out my idea on the canvas. Then, I painted the background and the skin. I had to repaint the skin because I messed up the skin color the first time, it looked too orangey. I painted the hair after that, but I shaded it wrong. I didn’t realize until after the paint dried and I had already finished the flowers. Luckily, I was able to repaint it without much issue. I painted the dress after, and finished it off with the arm band and sword. To add a small touch I put black paint around the edges. 

I wanted to convey the feeling of defeat. You don’t always win, and I want people to remember that. But, defeat can lead to more growth and an even greater sense of victory. Defeat can help you bloom into an even stronger person. The broken sword and muted colors stand for defeat and hopelessness. On the other hand, the angel wings on the sword and flowers represent an even greater victory to come. 

The most difficult part of this piece was shading the hair. It was difficult to find a color that would work well as shading. Eventually, I just settled for a bit darker of a color, but it doesn’t look that bad. If I had to change something about it, I would change the shading on the hair to add more dimension. 

This is my own special art style! It’s really cartoony, with a big head and small mouth and nose. The shading is kind of complex, but not too complex. My favorite part about this piece is the flowers.

My first idea was to explore human emotions. I wanted to portray how people really feel behind their masks. I wanted to do a shattered glass feel and put the images inside what would be the broken glass. I decided to do imagery to make people think about what was being portrayed and give them a chance to interpret it in their own way. I decided to add some things people think about too because I wanted to add more variety.

I started by sketching out everything on the canvas. This gives me a feel for where everything will go. I then individually painted the different sections. After I finished all the sections, I painted between them with white paint to give it the feel I wanted.

Every single section of this piece can be interpreted differently depending on the person looking at it. At the same time, every since section has a meaning behind it. When people look at this piece, I want them to think about what it means to them. 

The most difficult part was the gears. I miscalculated how difficult it would be to keep them the same size. If I made it too long by accident or messed up a part, I would paint over it until I liked the look. If I had to change a part of this painting, I would change the clocks. I wasn’t sure what colors to make it and I’m not sure how to feel about the yellow and red.

This piece is a mix of multiple styles, which is partly because of all the different sections. I would like to not define it by one specific style. My favorite part is all the different colors, I really like how they work together.

This painting was inspired by a song I listened to. The song is titled “Trapped in a Dream” by RudyWade. The song combined with a movie I had recently watched gave me the idea to paint this. 

I started by sketching out a few different versions on some paper, which allowed me to experiment with my ideas. After deciding on the layout for the final, I sketched it out on the canvas. I started by painting the background. I blended the colors together to get the effect I wanted. After the background, I did paint splatters to mimic stars. I painted the doors and paths, then the person. Lastly, I painted the eyes. 

This piece can be interpreted many different ways. For example, it can be interpreted as a dark time in your life. You feel like you’re the only person in your life, walking a lonely path. You don’t know where it leads and sometimes it seems like it’s not worth it. It feels like everyone is watching you and judging your every move. But eventually, you’ll find the correct door out. 

The most difficult part was the galaxy background. It was tough to mix the colors and I couldn’t mix the purple color I wanted. I decided to mix the paint directly on the canvas. I was surprised that this actually worked. I was able to mix a pretty purple and in the end, I was able to get the colors I wanted. If I had to change something about the painting, I would change the colors inside the doors. I had wanted to mix the purple with the blue and the green with the yellow but I accidentally switched it. I really love how it turned out though so I’m not really upset about my little oopsie. 

This piece is painted in a surreal style. It’s meant to look dreamy but unsettling at the same time. I absolutely love how the entire piece came together! It’s definitely one of my favorites.