She's Never Watching

In my piece, I wanted to make an impact. I chose a large four foot canvas, making the girl in the middle almost life size and relatable to the audience. This was a self initiated project over covid. I tend to be bad with communicating my feelings with words. I can do directions, facts, anything technical. But feelings are hard for me, which is why I got into painting. For the color Scheme, i chose none! I wanted something very different, unconventional if you will. I used neon colors that glowed in black light, dark purples and blues for outlines, and light purples and pinks for the skin and hair tones. When experimenting with neon colors, I figured out they glowed in black light. I thought this would be a great opportunities to give my painting two paintings if you will. One that focuses on the girl and one on the background.

I was inspired to explore the concept and general pop surrealism, a modern take on the whimsical surrealism explored something in the past. I wanted this piece to be chaotic, something the viewer has to think about for awhile to get a sense of what it is. I also wanted the contrast of a smooth portrait and chaotic color background to make each one stand out on its own with or without black light. I also wanted an optical illusion effect with the background being striped many different colors, pulling you in every direction and piece of the painting. 

As far as the Iconography, the girl can be anyone in a sense. the viewer can connect with it as it has no eyes, but showing emotions of sadness crying. Meanwhile there is a contrast of many large eye balls almost soulless, showing no emotion. I wanted this contrast to evoke thought in the viewer. Overall this piece took about 4 months over time to complete and I absolutely love painting and how large the canvas was.