Art History Inspired Project

Gold capped Ocean

11'' x 14'' Art paper, graphite pencil, Elmers glue, gold leaf, gold glitter

11'' x 14''

The main idea that guided my artwork was a wave with gold to depict the white caps on a wave. This idea was inspired by artist's Gustav Klimt and Katsushika Hokusai. 

The materials I used were 11'' x 14'' art paper, graphite pencil, gold leaf, gold glitter, and Elmers glue. I used graphite pencil because it was easy to obtain, and I felt I've had a lot of practice using it, and am fairly confident in using it. I used gold leaf because I never had before, and wanted to try something new. I used gold glitter because I ran out of gold leaf while making this piece. 

The first step I took to creating this art was to come up with an idea, which I did by going through the art history slideshow with the intent to be inspired by at least 2 artists. I came across artists Gustav Klimt and Katsushika Hokusai, who I was inspired by to incorporate gold, and include the theme of the ocean. To begin my work I started with a 1 inch border and a light sketch of the wave. Once I was happy with this I added more shading to the parts of the wave I thought would be darker/have more shadow. I then added some more detail such as darker lines and highlightes, which I did by erasing specific spots. I then added glue to the top of the wave, where the white part would be, and covered the glue in gold leaf. This is where I think my biggest mistake occurred, because I didn't erase any graphite smudges before putting on the glue, which caused the graphite to be unable to come off. While I was adding the gold leaf, I actually ran out, so I had to resort to gold glitter. Once I completed all of this I cleaned up the edges of the wave, and the border of the paper.