Artistic Inspiration:
For my piece, I was inspired by the work of Roy Lichtenstein, specifically his pieces, Ohhh... Alright (1964) and Crying Girl (1963). I had wanted to do a piece like this for a while now, and I became inspired by it right away. The way Lichtenstein showed emotion in his work interested me from the beginning, and it reminded me of a soapopera, for the characters display this exaggerated emotion or feeling during a dramatic scene in the show. While Lichtenstein uses these bright colors to enhance his work, I decided to do my piece in black and white, or a gray tone so it can fit into this oldish flim noir style.
Citation:
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Roy Lichtenstein, Ohhh... Alright..., c.1964. Oil and Magna on canvas: 92.7 x 96.5 cm.
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Roy Lichtenstein, Crying Girl, c.1963. Offset lithograph: 45.72 x 60.96 cm.
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Cultural Inspiration:
For my cultural inspiration, I was inspired by Mexican culture, more specifically, their telenovelas/novelas. Novelas are similar to American soap operas, but novelas are very exaggerated and dramatic, and tend to have story-lines that are unbelievable and crazy. Usually in most novelas, deception, trouble/danger, and murder are involved, and I wanted to show that in my painting by having the female crying while calling someone, to get help, for a mysterious character is banging/pounding on the door. I wanted to better emphasize this idea by painting my piece in black and white, like an old movie. I was also inspired a bit by the flim culture/style of flim noir, for these types of movies are based off crime and mysteries, and have suspenseful, on-the-edge moments and are in black and white, which is what I wanted to use for my piece.
Citation:
- Times, Latin. "'María La Del Barrio' Vines: Watch The 32 Best Soraya Montenegro Videos!" Latin Times. N.p., 17 June 2015. Web. 01 Dec. 2016.
- "In a Lonely Place." The Criterion Collection. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2016.
Experimentation:
For my experimentation, I only did color experimentation. I had to constantly change the the amount of black and white I was using for my painting. The background color was easy for me to make, but trying to make different shades of gray was a lot more difficult than I had thought. When I was creating the different shades of gray, they blended into the other grays I had painted. I constantly had to test out different shades of grays on papers to see which gray I wanted and how it would look like when it dried.
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Process:
1.) First, I painted my background with a medium shade of gray.
2.) Next, I used a projector to display the sketch I had chosen onto my canvas, where I then proceeded to outline. 3.) Once I finished outlining, I began to outline it again but this time with black paint. 4.) Next, I began to paint the face and hand with a light shade of gray, and the facial features like the mouth, nose, and eyebrows with a darker shade of gray. 5.) I then proceeded to paint the telephone and her eyes. 6.) I stopped working on my facial features and began to work on the hair. I went back and forth between the eyes and hair, and eventually finished it. I didn't fill in the hair because I liked the background color and left it as the hair color. 7.) I then made the lines of the floor next to her, which was hard since I couldn't make them straight. 8.) I then painted the words out in black paint, and I finished anything else that needed to be done. |
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Sketches:
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All of my sketches deal with a girl or woman crying
For my first sketch, I drew half a girl's face, crying. The reason why the girl is crying is unknown, creating this mysterious mood. For my second sketch, I drew another girl crying and showing half of her face, but this time the girl is hiding behind something, looking at something or someone that has caused her to cry. For my third sketch, I drew a girl in a shocked state, yelling at someone who betrayed her. This creates an ominous mood, for she appears threatened by this person. For my forth sketch, I drew a woman crying, and holding a phone with an anonymous person speaking to her. The girl is in distress, but as to what caused that is unknown, for I wanted others to come up with their own theories. My fifth sketch involves parabolic curves around the edges, and a woman staring seductively. I didn't consider this sketch for my piece because it consisted of two styles in one piece. |
Meaning Behind My Piece:
The meaning behind my piece is that the mysterious setting of the painting and the emotion shown give off a suspenseful mood. I wanted the viewer to be curious about what's behind the door and, who is on the phone with the woman. I wanted the viewer to ask themselves, "Why is the woman crying?", "Who's pounding on the door?" "Who's on the phone with the woman?" I wanted to give off this mysterious mood and I felt like I somewhat accomplished that with what I had painted on my canvas.
Reflection:
While working on this project, I had successes and challenges. One challenged I face while working on this painting was trying to get the eyes right. This is where I had the most trouble, for the color that I used for the eyes seemed to blend into the background, and the iris of the eye looked too bright. I tried to make it darker, but making it darker only made the iris match the background. When I tried to lighten it up, it looked too bright again. I kept repeating this over and over again, and eventually I just left it with the eyes looking too bright. Another challenge I had was trying to make the door straight around each side. I was able to draw it straight on the canvas when I used my pencil, but going over it with paint was hard. I tried using a ruler and masking tape, but the lines still didn't appear straight. While I did have my challenges, some successes I had was being able to get at least most of the colors I wanted on my canvas right. Even though it was hard to get the right blends, I felt that I successfully got the right shades. Overall, I was happy with how the piece turned out, but if I was given another chance to do this project, I would change some things like the eyes and the background of the setting.