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.