Ocean #3

My idea behind the creation of this work was to show how oftentimes the ocean can become a classified, almost delicacy. Many very fancy and expensive restaurants are overlooking the ocean, or some are even on boats. I wanted to show that, how the being able to eat near the ocean or enjoy cocktails near the ocean can be a privilege that sometimes only people of higher class can enjoy. I made the drinks to be shrimp cocktails to connect to the ideas from my last work on this same theme. 

I used a photograph that I took of the ocean right off of Harraseeket when I was on a boat. I think that the fact that this was a photo that I took when I was actually on the ocean makes sense, it is of a place that matters to me and it was a time when I was not just looking at the ocean from the side, but I was on the boat. I then used cyanotype to transfer the image into drawing paper. I used this material because I thought that the deep blue color of the cyanotype prints would connect well and represent nicely the intriguing color of the Maine ocean. I then used colored pencil for the figures in the ocean because I thought that the colors would be bright enough that they could contrast the blue of the cyanotype beneath. They also allowed me to get small details and blend colors. 

I started by sketching my idea, and originally I had wanted to have the figures be sinking into the ocean slowly, or have the bottom of their bodies kind of starting to blend into the ocean, but when I decided to use cyanotype, that didn't end of working as well because I had a hard time color matching to the print, and I didn't want to take away from the beautiful blue color. Before I actually printed, I had to turn the photo black and white and invert the colors so that the white parts turned into the lowlights in the print due to more exposure. You can see the inverted image below. I then made two prints in the dark room using the light table and dipping them in water and hydrogen peroxide then pressing them dry, then I just left the other one in my car for a couple days with the image taped over it and it turned out pretty well, however, I ended up using one of the light table printed ones. I then made sketches of all my figures before draing on the print, because I often struggle with proportions so I wanted to figure those out before I drew them onto my final product. I then used colored pencil to draw the figures in color onto the print.