Donate Life

The idea behind this work was to create a piece of work that went along with a hopeful phrase followed by "organ and tissue donation" that would encourage people to check to the donor box when applying for or updating their driver's license. I wanted to create a forest using nontraditional strokes to create an impressionism effect while still capturing the lightness of the forest. I thought that connecting to nature would be a powerful way to connect to the message and the meaning.

I used oil pastel for this project. I wanted it to look very smooth and full and not completely realistic which I felt could probably be best achieved through the use of small strokes and minimal blending of the oil pastels. I wanted there also to be really bright and vibrant colors which oil pastels never cease to accomplish.

I began with the idea to paint with acrylic or guache a forest then have light streaming through the trees and having a phrase about being the light. I sketched out the whole idea and then decided I really didn't want to paint, so I began working in oil sticks which turned out to be much too out of control. I thought having some line and thick texture could be cool, but it definitely did not turn out how I had hoped. I continued looking for ideas when one specific photo came up and it was a drawing of a forest that you couldn't see much of what it was until you looked from far away because everything was kind of blended together. I wanted to try something like that.