Sustained Investigation #6

Artist Statement:

For this project, I wanted to focus on material experimentation. My original idea was to create an image by carving one piece of paper with an exacto knife and then putting it on top of another piece of paper that would act as the background. Following this idea, I decided to create the background of my image with glue and a toothpick, using the latter to manipulate the texture and create an interesting look. 

To create the base design, I carved out a piece of bristol board paper using an exacto knife. Then, using some glue, I tried to create a savannah-like background by moving it around with a toothpick. Finally, I used acrylic paint for the first layer. 

I started by creating the design I was going to carve out of the elephants, which started as blobby forms and ended up creating a strange but kind of cool skeletal look. Then, I transferred this onto a piece of bristol board paper and actually carved it out. I originally started by painting nuetral colors on this layer, but gave up on the idea. Then, I took some tube glue and manipulated it to create a landscape in the background of the carved design. Finally, I painted over this layer with black acrylic paint, and over a white layer, created the main image above.