Three Views of a Shoe

To begin, I was tasked with drawing my shoe from three different angles, the side, the top and the front. Next, we were instructed to ‘zoom in’ on one of the views, and choose a detail area to copy, and to do this three times, each time copying a detail area from the last drawing in a much larger space. To conclude this project we were instructed to choose one of these ‘zoomed in’ drawings and use that as a base for an abstract piece of artwork. To create the first set of three drawings I sketched from sight using a B graphite pencil, and copious amounts of erasing. This practice of heavy erasing and B graphite pencils carried over to the ‘zoomed in’ set of drawings as well. But to create the final summative, I changed my medium, if only slightly. I used a B graphite pencil to sketch in the lines taken from one of the three ‘zoomed in’ ones, and carefully added new pieces to the composition. From there, I traced the lines that I had sketched in using various Micron pens ranging from .05 width to the miniscule .005 width. Here I made a redundant decision, once again using colored pencils, instead of experimenting with a different medium. Anyway, I then spent all waking hours that I wasn’t presently engaged with extracurricular activities, eating, or doing other schoolwork coloring in this artwork (which was handed in far too late).

Now, I will now discuss my reasoning and the somewhat inventive meaning behind this artwork. From the beginning I wanted to incorporate a mesa-style mountain within the composition, whereas gray rock can often look somber and jagged, these mountains have rounded peaks, and a red-orange color that contrasts the blue in the sky. As well as drawing inspiration from land features, I also drew inspiration from cellular structures and the design in some lizard tails to create the design in the bottom left area. I quite like this, and I think it contrasts the mountain quite nicely, it being inspired by stuff that we can’t even see with our naked eyes, right next to something inspired by a mountain. I also incorporated some other things I enjoy drawing, such as fried eggs (I like the color contrast), clouds (I like trying to suggest wispy texture using pen) and swirls (I mean c’mon, they look cool). But within these seemingly trifle motifs, there are other objects that are more meaningful. The tiles behind the fried egg is actually inspired by my grandparents old house, which was very sad about them selling, and was near the ocean which connects to another panel. Within the cacophony of swirling ‘water’ and shells, are a tuna fish can and a plastic water bottle. Both are ironic in their existence, for the Tuna that was in that can, existed in the ocean, and it was taken from its natural habitat and put in a can. Now the tuna can is in its unnatural habitat, the habitat of the very thing it once held. This is true for the water bottle as well, it once held water, but now the water holds it.

This entire piece seems to be random, and in many ways it is, but also, there are little things that connect a little. Because of this I wanted that could make sense to a viewer, and for that reason this piece is called Amalgam. A mixture or blend.