WhatchamaDRAWit

Artist Statement

The prompt I was given for this project was “create a house for unicorns and rainbows.” What came to my mind instantly, was a little red, purple, pink house, exploding with color, and packed full of unicorns. I wanted there to be Rainbows in the piece, but I didn’t want them to be the standard, ROY G BIV rainbows. I added more swirls and spirals, which made the Rainbows come alive in a sense. Receiving this prompt made me create a piece of art that I don't think I ever would have had I not been given this as inspiration. I really liked that there was no right or wrong to the drawing, and this made me feel free to dive into the topic. I haven’t for a long time been the “Rainbows and Unicorns” type of person, but somehow in making this, I found more of what makes them so fun. Rainbows and Unicorns give off such color and love, that for me, it was really fun to explore drawing them.

The materials I used, were Oil pastel, charcoal, and colored pencil. I used Oil pastel the most, as I really liked the way it helped me making certain parts appear smooth. The colored pencil on top would take away a layer of the Oil pastel, which I found I really liked. When I started it, it was with charcoal, and that was what I made my first marks with. I often with sketch in charcoal because I like how, if it’s light, it can disappear under Oil pastel in a way that normal pencil doesn't do.

The way I started this piece was by sketching in charcoal. I made an outline of this slightly put together shack/house, that the unicorns lived in. After adding color, I started to look outside of the house. I added a tree/large branch up the side and across the top of the piece. This helped me because then I was able to branch off of it and add the swirls. These swirls soon morphed into the “Explosion of color and love” at the back of the house.In this piece, there is certainly a lot of movement. What it lacks though, is blank space. If I went ahead and experimented further with this, that would be something that I might want to consider.