Drowning in Ecstacy

Zoey Tiefenthaler "Drowning in Ecstacy"

16 x 20”, Acrylics, 2023 

My inspiration for creating this piece came from a random sketch I drew up while I was figuring out my project planning. I was enthralled by the look and tone of the sketch and decided that this was something I wanted to go forward with. The final look of the painting didn’t change much, overall.

Once I was happy with the sketch, I started painting in layers of red acrylic for the background to keep things simple and bring attention to the main focal point. Afterward, I traced the sketch on my canvas with a white colored pencil. Once everything was marked out, I started painting the rose petals using various different shades of red and pink, still keeping their look simple by not adding much shading and not edging on the scope of realism. The woman was the next part I painted. I alternated between painting her and the hands surrounding her. This part of the project took the longest as I had to figure out how I wanted to approach this part of the painting (i.e. the ratio of realism to surrealism to animated) as well as the greater amount of time and detail I ended up putting in. It was a bit of a learning curve for me too as I almost never paint human skin.

While this piece could mean a number of things, I wanted it to lean in the direction of the over-romanticization and commercialization of sex and love. It's an unhealthy addiction both men and women possess, all to attempt to satisfy their indulgencies. This woman, while being forced down into this pile of rose petals and being approached by multiple human-like figures, appears to be in a state of absolute incomprehensible lust. The blown-out pupils and blushing cheeks are just small indicators of how she feels to be in this situation. And although you could argue that this was something that this woman was involuntarily put into, it's also safe to assume the opposite has occurred. You're just viewing what's happening right now, at the moment, so it's up to you to interpret what could've happened before. The same could be argued for what the power dynamic between both of the subjects; the woman and the hands. When initially viewing this, the hands appear demeaning and overpowering against this woman. That could be true, yes, but if you were to speculate about the woman and what she's feeling in this moment of time, she could very well hold most or all of the power within this scene. 

The most difficult part of this process was the woman, in particular. Not only did she take the most time out of the project to complete it, but I had to debate a bit with color choices and figure out how I wanted it to stick out. Using a totally contradictory color like blue for the eyes helped give way to bringing focus to the main subject of the painting, and translating my style didn’t prove to be as difficult as I thought it would be. Though, had I started over, I would’ve added some of the woman’s body in the background instead of just leaving it at the head. I also wouldn't have made the woman's skin appear as red as it does., and I would've done more to not make the rose petals not look overly simplistic.

This painting is a mix of Realistic and Surreal. The look of the woman and hands as well as the posing of the painting really pertains to my own style. I love the atmospheric feel of the piece and the look of ambiguity in the woman’s expression.