Sustained Investigation #7

Artist's Statement:

One of the ideas for this piece was to show both a comforting side to and a dangerous side to animals, and how creature comforts can be dangerous too. I wanted to play with the idea of using something dangerous to be warm and cozy, and how that appeals to our animal side thats looking for comfort. I think that many things that bring us comfort has the potential to be dangerous, and I think that dangerous things have the potential to be cozy as well.

I chose the rough watercolor paper because it looked a bit like fur, with the bumpy white surface. I wanted to do wood burning because fire can be a comfort and a danger at the same time, and that tied into the idea that I was trying to portray. I also wanted to use something that took away from the surface, carved out the subjects rather than drawing them in.

I wanted the background to surround the subjects a bit like a hug, because I wanted it to tie into the idea I was going off. I also wanted the background to be darker than the foreground, because I wanted that contrast, and I wanted it to feel like an enclosed space. I was thinking of a den of wolves, and how they sleep all curled into each other. I drew some inspiration from the movie WolfWalkers, by Cartoon Saloon.