Circle Project

fISH LENs

9"x12"

Acrylic, Pencil, Paper

Artist Statement

The main idea in my artwork is the idea of zooming in and looking at things in a different way. It really focuses on just the face. The concept of happiness and emotion is represented through the smile. The yellows bring out the emotion of happiness as well.

This work was made using a lead pencil, acrylics, and paper. I used color to create an emphasis on the happiness and light emotions of my friend, Maya. I used value to create a pattern of shadows and highlights. I used lines to create unity throughout the piece - and unity within the face and circled lens (I often go back over my paintings with lead pencil to define some of the darker areas and again create unity). I used space to create a balance between negative and positive space and emphasize the actual face. I used shape to create proportion between the nose and rest of the face as well as movement from each facial feature to the next.

I went through many processes in coming up with the idea of this piece. It was even challenging to think of a basis point. I started off experimenting with sketches. I had this vision in mind of a certain angle - specifically a zoomed-in, top view, angle of a person or animated character. I made my first sketch, experimenting with sizing and proportion. I was satisfied with its looks however when I began to paint, it just wasn’t working. For me, I need to be in a groove when doing art. If it starts to not work out or I begin to lose interest in the idea, it's hard for me to keep going - it's also not as fun. So, I pulled back from that idea and started over. I simply just thought for a while, not even sketching and I remembered that I and my friends take funny photos using this special lens. One of my friends has an actual lens that you put on your phone. We also have a certain setting on phones called .5 zoom out that allows you to take these distorted pictures. At first, I thought I would just use one as inspiration to help me with the angled idea. But then, I thought why don’t I just paint the actual picture I had taken of my friend, Maya. This made it easier to sketch and paint however I still altered it a tiny bit. I didn’t have the tree background like the original photo. I had some trouble as there was barely any black or yellow paint left (two important colors in this piece). I made it work, however, I struggled at moments. If I did this again, I would change how I did the hair - it's not bad and doesn’t take away from my main focus (the face), however, I just dislike it. All in all, this was a fun and enjoyable project.