Madison McKnight - Contrasts of the Mind

9x12"

Canvas, Acrylic Paint, Sharpie, Pencil

2022

My original idea for this painting was to show the different sides of the mind. One side, bright and happy; all the good times. The other side, dark and gloomy; the sad and not-so-great times. I wanted to show that through a contrast of night and day. I feel like the two represent what I wanted to show very well. The day, being sunny and bright, and the night being dark and lonesome. So I decided this would be my landscape painting since I’d be showing parts of the day that appear outside.

The first thing I did was sketch my idea in my notebook. I labeled where I wanted things and what colors I wanted to use, etc. I then got to work on sketching my idea more detailed on my canvas. A few people suggested I paint it white before sketching my idea out on it, but I did not. I’m almost glad I didn’t. I didn’t want the colors on the day side super vibrant, I wanted them more pastel. Along with the night side, I wanted the colors more vibrant in the beginning, but in the end I wanted them more dark and shadowy. After sketching everything out I began painting. I started with adding a base color to each quadrant since the piece is somewhat divided into four main colors. On the night side, the top is black, resembling a midnight sky, and the grass is a dark green on the bottom. On the day side, the top is a mix of different pastel colors but mainly being white and blue, with the bottom being a light shade of green for the grass. After getting those done I started working on the more important details like painting the moon, the butterflies, the flowers, etc. Once I got the basics of those done, I began adding more detail like highlighting and shading, along with adding some texture to the grass and some clouds and lightning to the sky, giving it more life. The moon is probably my favorite thing about this piece. It turned out exactly how I wanted it, maybe even better.

I had quite a few difficulties with this piece. Between trying to get the colors right, to making things within it the right size, or even just painting the stems of the flowers. Overall I think it was all a bit of the struggle, but I probably had the most struggle with the flowers on the dark side. They weren’t turning out the way I wanted them to. They weren’t the correct colors, I couldn’t get the underside of the flower to look correct, and they were very frustrating to highlight and shadow. In the end, I just went with the flow of things and improvised by making light come out of them like there were fireflies hiding inside.

I would say my painting is a surreal piece. It’s almost dream-like, and it represents the human mind and emotions. In the end, my painting falls into that category perfectly.

Madison McKnight - Eras, Tour through T.S.

12x18"

Watercolor paper, Watercolor Paint, Paint markers, Ink Pen, Sharpie, Pencil.

2022

Growing up, I've always been a huge Taylor Swift fan. So for my portrait painting, I decided I would do it with my favorite singer: Taylor Swift. I originally wanted a messy, splash of color over a black outline of her. But as I started sketching, I decided I wanted to do something that included all of her eras (inspiration from the eras tour). I started with the sketch of her face and hair. I then went on with drawing and coloring the symbols of her albums. The guitar for Debute, Taylor Swift. The heart hands for Fearless. The 13 for Speak Now. The scarf points to the red lips to represent Red. The photographs for 1989. The snake for Reputation. The butterfly for Lover. The clock for Midnights. Finally, I came to the part where I had to come up with something for Folklore and Evermore. I decided I'd draw some fading trees at the top for Folklore, inspired by the trees in the album cover that seemed to be foggy. Finally, the flannel from Evermore falls at the bottom. I then started finishing up the painting. I struggled with the lips a bit. The red mixed with the colors around it, but I soon got it fixed. My biggest struggle was probably the hair. I couldn't figure out how to cover the pencil marks for detail but soon figured it out with just darker hair. Towards the end, I realized the background was still very bland. The idea of writing song lyrics was presented to me, so I took it into consideration. Starting at the top to about halfway, I have the lyrics of Never Grow Up. It's a song that means a lot to me. My mom use to sing it to me and my sister when we were little. It's very meaningful. Starting halfway to the end, I have All Too Well (10-minute version). It's my mom's all-time favorite song, so I wanted to include that as well. In the end, I'm very happy with the way it turned out. I don't think I'd change anything about it.

Madison McKnight - Visual Plate Painting

8x5"

Paper, Paint, Pencil.

2022

This assignment required me to paint something I saw on a card and get the colors as exact as possible. I wanted something relatively easy to paint, but hard to match colors. This made me go with the plate. I started with drawing a circle on the paper to show where the plate would go. I then started mixing my colors. I got the background color exactly but then ran out of paint. The color wasn't exactly the same after, but still pretty close. After getting the background done I moved onto the plate. The plate was much easier in all honesty. The blue was practically already made for me, so all I had to do was highlight and add shadow, along with a bit of detail. I'm very happy with the way this turned out. I don't think I'd change a thing.