Sustained Investigation #15

Title: Life Changes Through The Female Body

Size: 24'' x 15.5''

Statement:

For this piece I wanted to show the female body as it grows through life. Because of this I decided to have all the figures connected in some way. I chose to focus on female bodies from baby to old woman. I think it is beautiful how the female body grows and changes. Along with the anatomical growth of the body I also included body awareness and comfort/confidence. I did this by the way the figures are seen standing or in motion.

For this piece I used colored pencils and chalk pastels. I made the bodies with colored pencils because I wanted to have the control to make small lines and focus on contrast in the body. I used a range of warm colors to create the bodies - starting with yellow, then moving on the oranges and reds to show figure and body contour. I used chalk pastel in the background because I wanted to bathe the bodies in soft shapes and colors. I continued with the theme of warm colors that have been seen in most of my pieces so far. Out of the warm colored background I created swirling shapes of warm colors. Swirls and spirals often symbolize life as a whole and the journey through it. I thought this was appropriate as I was portraying the female body through life.

At first I wanted the bodies to be yellow, glowing silhouettes of sorts and have the background be very dark to contrast the bodies. However with my limited materials, I decided against that because the colored pencil did not show up how I wanted them to under the pastel. After this realization, I decided to go into the bodies with more detail and focus on the color and pattern of the bodies and what it feels like to go through these transformations. After spending time on making the bodies show movement and strength, maturity, or lack thereof, I moved onto the background. At first, I simple create warm colors throughout the background and blended them around the bodies. After seeing this, I wanted more movement in the piece so I added swirls and growing shapes in the same color trend. I used a Q-tip create details in the pastel in the background.

If I were to continue this piece, I would like to add more color, maybe oil pastel, to the bodies to make their colors stand out more against the colorful background.