Surrealist Collage Painting

Giovanni 27 March, 2019

This work of art is called "The King's Beetle" as it is a painting of a beetle presiding over the oceans with a gem behind him, signifying his wealth and progress. An ant looms behind the beetle as if in anger, waiting for the beetle to fall. I created this scene because I thought that it would be interesting to see such a spectacle in a painting. This painting was also the first painting that I ever painted, or at least my first freestyle painting. I made this piece of art by creating a collage using scenes from magazines and then setting them up into a surrealist work of art. I then painted a copy of the collage using only the primary colors. Other colors other than the primary colors and white and black were made by mixing these colors to create the appropriate colors that matched the collage that I had made. After I finished the painting I then outlined the outside with a special paint Sharpie to keep the edges crisp and clean.

For this project, I used only paint. I had to mix all of the colors by using the three primary colors and white and black. This led to multiple different shades for each color that I made. To make the project look as realistic as the collage, I had to create multiple layers and plaster paint on top of the first layer of paint, over and over again. This created a realistic look at multiple areas in my painting, including the water. The water was created by first adding a layer of light blue, then a layer of darker blue, and then a light blue (almost a white) with some white and pale yellow accents to act like sea foam. Other textures were similarly created and were fun and exciting to do. However, due to the time that I had on this project, I did not have enough time to add in a few of the scenes that were originally in my collage. Even though this disappointed me, I had other ideas that included the new space that I had left over. I drew rocks and other structures to fill the gaps.

This project came out pretty well, even though it was not my favorite work of art. I just wish that I had more time to work on the project. Many mistakes or errors that I had made could have easily been fixed if I had more time on my hands. Some white spot and difference in color (to the collage) would have been fixed over a few hours. However, I am still happy that my work is finished and looks surreal. I thought that this project was a fun one and was a project that I learned a lot from. I hope that this will not be the last time that I will work with paint in my life and can't wait to try other cool and surreal projects.