Without a strong focus on what I should be painting, I undertook to just start painting in oils, using myself as the subject. I had intended to make the scene fantastical and extraordinary, but what I found myself painting was an ordinary figure with slightly off proportions and only a half-thought-out concept. Although I wasted a good deal of time into this piece, it was important for me to realize that what I thought I wanted to do was not actually the type of figural painting I was ready for just yet. After talking with Professor Dancy, she made me realize that the size and subject matter I was interested in were just a little too overwhelming to undertake at this point. After going through my sketchbook, she pulled out an old map design I had done for the fantasy novel I am currently writing. The idea of a map was intrigung to her and I began to consider the idea myself. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I wanted to create a map of my fantasy world that encompassed everything about it. I had done a partial map of the land because creating a map of the entire area would have been too overwhelming at one go. After buying and taking out books on medieval maps, Renaissance dress, monster creation, and world cultures, the type of art I should be doing became very clear. Rather than attempt a realistic map on a single, large, flat piece of paper, I will collage pieces of history, culture, geography, etc. to map out the ideas racing through my brain already in an effort to organize information for my writing, but more importantly, so I can visualize the world I have created in its entirety. Maybe from my collaged elements, I will create another map that IS on a single, large, flat piece of paper, but I will not hold myself to that. Right now, I want to make a patchwork of different concepts, showing different cities, landmarks, peoples...everything, using different media, such as watercolor, gauche, acrylic, pen and ink drawings and more, where the process of piecing it all together is of the utmost importance.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Without a strong focus on what I should be painting, I undertook to just start painting in oils, using myself as the subject. I had intended to make the scene fantastical and extraordinary, but what I found myself painting was an ordinary figure with slightly off proportions and only a half-thought-out concept. Although I wasted a good deal of time into this piece, it was important for me to realize that what I thought I wanted to do was not actually the type of figural painting I was ready for just yet. After talking with Professor Dancy, she made me realize that the size and subject matter I was interested in were just a little too overwhelming to undertake at this point. After going through my sketchbook, she pulled out an old map design I had done for the fantasy novel I am currently writing. The idea of a map was intrigung to her and I began to consider the idea myself. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I wanted to create a map of my fantasy world that encompassed everything about it. I had done a partial map of the land because creating a map of the entire area would have been too overwhelming at one go. After buying and taking out books on medieval maps, Renaissance dress, monster creation, and world cultures, the type of art I should be doing became very clear. Rather than attempt a realistic map on a single, large, flat piece of paper, I will collage pieces of history, culture, geography, etc. to map out the ideas racing through my brain already in an effort to organize information for my writing, but more importantly, so I can visualize the world I have created in its entirety. Maybe from my collaged elements, I will create another map that IS on a single, large, flat piece of paper, but I will not hold myself to that. Right now, I want to make a patchwork of different concepts, showing different cities, landmarks, peoples...everything, using different media, such as watercolor, gauche, acrylic, pen and ink drawings and more, where the process of piecing it all together is of the utmost importance.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment