17. Concentration 2

ARTIST STATEMENT:

This is the second piece in my concentration series; my main focus being snakes and working them into my artwork. A rather bold piece, the contrast being between the red, black, and gold, I think it gives the whole thing a very 'poster like' composition. Using black ink or the black linework, I colored the snake and background red with a regular marker; and the gold details were added at the end with gold tape.

Honestly, I don't believe this piece changed all that much. In my first sketches I knew that I wanted it to be a portrait styled piece, and then the snake added to fit the requirements for my concentration. I also knew that I wanted to add in some gold details to this piece; though I didn't decide where until the end. The only thing I think changed about this project from the beginning to end would be that this was originally going to be a duo piece. I was going to have a different portrait, same subject, but this time her face facing down. In the end though I decided to just put the final details on this piece, as I actually didn't like how the composition came out on the other piece.

Looking back at this piece, there are a few easter eggs that I decided to add in to fit with the whole atmosphere of the piece; the most prominent one being the phrase "ad undas" above the subjects head. A Latin phrase translating to "to hell" I decided to add this phrase because of what I was trying to interpret in the piece. The subject looking up, but surrounding in red, I wanted it to portray her looking up from hell; grief and worry displayed on her face as she looks up towards something that is out of reach. The snake itself wrapped around her throat, and therefore restriking her, perhaps an imaging of the devil itself; as the figure is said to take the form of the animal. Rather a lot of biblical allusions in this piece, my choice of langue to including in this piece can also be thought of as another easter egg as sermons in Catholic churches as sometimes spoken in Latin.

Overall I'm pretty happy with how this piece came out. I really like the whole poster feel that you get from this piece, and the contrast between colors really appeals to me. But if I was to revise in the future, I would probably try to add some more details to the face; most likely with more color tape detailing.