The Wrong to Choose

This is a mixed media piece done on a canvas board. The three materials I used for this painting was acrylic paint, seed beads, and high gloss gel medium. The political and emotional statement I tried to make with this piece was the sorrow associated with abortion. I am a very pro life individual, and I believe that every life is sacred. In this piece I painted an eye, which i painted over with gloss to make it shiny. the eye is crying a tear, and in the tear is an unborn baby. I tried to make it very symbolic, and if you saw the picture you would definitely get the message. Throughout the rest of the piece I used very wet paint to make streaks across the painting. I also used a primarily blue color palate. The whole piece has a very prominent feeling of sadness. This represents the sorrow that a mother who has had an abortion might feel. It also represents the sorrow of the people trying to fight the legal "right" of having an abortion. I hope that people who see this picture will immediately get the message i am trying to send.

Afghan Girl

This piece is a realistic acrylic painting done on a canvas board. My subject is the girl from the famous National Geographic picture taken in the 1980's. The subject is a twelve-year-old girl living on a refugee camp in Afghanistan. The thing that drew me to paint this photograph was the girls eyes. They had a very unique color and definitely popped. I also liked the contrast of the green in her eyes and the background and the red-ish brown of her cloak. I gave my own little twist to the piece by brightening the colors to make them more vibrant. I think its a little darker than the actual version of the picture. I also was a little off with the proportions of her mouth, but i think all in all she turned out ok. My favorite part about doing this project was working on her hair and eyes. I liked using texture for both. I hopefully created a realistic piece that is just as moving as the original picture.

Going Up

This piece is a surrealistic acrylic painting done on a canvas board. My subject is a green pasture under a cow being "abducted" by a red balloon. I used a rough painting technique using short strokes with a fairly large amount of paint. I wanted the style of the painting to reflect the surrealism. It's kind of choppy and uneven, but I used a lot of color mixing to bring in dimension. I mixed some green and purple in the sky and clouds so it wasn't monochromatic. I used several different kinds of reds in the balloon to give it dimension as well. The cows were more difficult to give dimension to, because they have a very specific shape, and my painting technique doesn't really lend to much detail. The pasture was also difficult because I found it hard to find a shade of green that didn't resemble pea soup. I added some pink to give it a little more interest. My favorite parts of this painting are the balloon, clouds and mountains in the background. I tried to create a light source by adding highlights to these objects, and I think it gave them way more dimension. I enjoyed working with this media very much. I think it allows more freedom in technique and style, which makes it easier to create a piece that can be interpreted and viewed many different ways.

Twisted

This painting was a mixed media project I did with oil pastels and acrylic. I love octopi (I believe thats the correct way of saying it), especially the tentacles. I think that they definitely make for a good subject to paint, because of all the shading involved. I was also inspired by Klimpt's "Tree of Life" painting, the way the branches split and twisted. I also admired the gold background in his pieces. I thought I would incorporate these in my piece. I think I created a very abstract piece, and I hope people enjoy viewing it as much as I enjoyed making it.