Renaissance, pattern, and movement. My three words, at first, seemed to be a challenge. But, as I kept thinking and exploring these different ideas, many things came to mind. Starting with renaissance, I immediately thought about medieval times and my trip to Europe last year. The amount of detailed work and paintings I saw at the Louvre and France in general really sparked as inspiration for this painting. And so, I branched out of the Renaissance style of painting and used the word as a starting point. I had known I wanted to do some type of golden intricate work in my painting which would resemble the renaissance time period, and the repeated design would create a pattern. Movement, however, was the more difficult of the three words. And so, I decided to get started and think about movement along the way.
My main concept for this piece was to emphasize a person. I wanted to create a blank human form and have them wear a statement dress. But, by having no facial features, hair, etc they were just a person. This person has no gender and no sexuality. Some people may say that because they are wearing a dress they are female, but that isn’t necessarily true. I believe it is important to not assume who someone is and to not shame them for that either. And so, to make a stand on labels and gender roles I decided this painting would focus on that.
I painted the dress on a canvas and glued paper on top. I used watercolors to paint the background and the human form. I’m not very familiar or comfortable with watercolors, but I think it turned out quite well in this piece. To make the message behind the piece stronger, I decided to add triangles which acted like arrows coming towards the person. The bright red arrows coming off of the canvas really show movement since they point in different directions. Your eyes move in the direction of the arrows, but end up at the dress.
In terms of composition, I believe this piece is stronger than my previous ones. By placing the person at the right end of the piece, with the arrows on the top and side, the piece became more complex. There is balance throughout the piece because the arrows were added, and that made it much more interesting.
Craftsmanship wise, it took me a very long time to paint the gold detail and overall it turned out quite well. I really like how the sleeves of the dress turned out because the visible brush strokes make the sleeves look like satin with folds. Since I don’t work with watercolors, I tried to blend the colors as best I could and I think a lot of the shading I tried worked well. The way the red bruises on the person is subtle with the skin tone was well done too.
When looking at the piece as a whole it is evident that pattern and movement are a part of the piece. Although color plays a major role as well as shape, my two picked elements and principles are the main focal points. The renaissance art style may not be as evident, but since it was used as inspiration, I think it fits in well.
Overall, my work on this project was much better than my previous pieces. However, I could’ve taken more time in the dress since it seems quite flat. I could have made it more realistic, but I think it turned out okay. The use of mixed media makes my piece unique as well. Through this piece, I really pushed on my use of media and trying to make it complex, and I think I succeeded on that front. At first this You Pick Three assignment seemed like a nightmare since I was so lost, but having guidelines and something to work off of was a different and very cool opportunity. In the end, my message is strong and the piece is approved by my standards (as of now).
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