Size: 16 in x 20 in Medium: Acrylic on Canvas Completed: September 9, 2022 Exhibition Text: The heart itself can lead us to what we so most desire but in turn can take us down a road of darkness. A fragile heart, the idea of taking care of something so vulnerable, hoping it doesn’t break, holding onto it so tightly, however you are the one who is causing it harm. Inspired by Frida Kahlo's concepts and Michelangelo's painting style. |
Inspiration:
Frida Kahlo was one of my inspirations when it came to thinking about the whole composition of the piece. The idea of the red strings coming from the heart to then be cut by the other her. This idea was almost similar to what I had planned in my sketches, and was actually going to not go through until I found The Two Fridas. My concept of the strings is tied with the idea that sometimes we go after things that hurt us, and at times even pursue it after seeing the signs. I will have one of the strings ripped, showing the breakage from that routine, however in the back we see more strings intact, showing how it's not that easy and there's still a long process to achieve our desirable goal. In this particular piece by Frida, the other hero is the embodiment of her desperation and loneliness while being heartbroken, however it is said to have many other meanings. That is the same sorrowful impact I want with my piece.
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The Two Fridas, 1939 by Frida Kahlo
Close up of 'The Creation of Adam' by Michelangelo
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The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo was the painting I had in mind the most before and while working on this piece. The technique presented in his pieces was what I wanted to replicate since the focus of my piece isn't just on the heart but also the hands, as well as due to it being a close up piece, I wanted it to look somewhat realistic.
This piece by Michelangelo is one of his most known paintings, representing when God created his own image of a man. |
Planning:
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For my planning, I began by having my sister take pictures of my hands. I wanted it to look like I was holding something fragile, therefore position my hands in a tightly-coupled manner. I then, digitally, began editing the picture, fixing the colors, and also adding a messy sketch of where I want the heart to be. I had to go through numerous references of real life hearts for it. I made this digital collage in order to have a reference of what I wanted my piece to look like while working, as well as to use grids due to the hands being in a somewhat difficult pose.
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Process:
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I began by measuring out 16 x 20 inch square grids onto my canvas. I then carefully sketched my image, making sure that every is correctly counted to have perfect proportions. After the sketch was done I added a light wash of red paint, it helps in building up skin tones as well as just making easier on the eyes compared to a white canvas.
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I started off with a base of muted yellow with a bit of red and blue. I made sure not to make my base too light of a color or too dark as it's easier to build up the colors that way. Little by little I added the shadows and highlights. I changed between red, orange, yellow and blue toned colors for the skin, since staying within the same color range could make it look flat, and my goal for this piece was realism, as my inspiration Michelangelo work is hyper realism. I also found that once I incorporated blue into my color palette, the painting began to feel more alive, which was what I was lacking when I had first begun it. In order to add the smaller details, like the slight dents in the hands, the crevices, and the faded muscles, I watered down my lightest color. I found that watering down the lighter colors helps to blend them easier into the painting, and since I am working with acrylic, prone to not blending, I had to find ways to actually blend it.
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I then began the second hand, same process as the first hand however I did find this hand to be a lot more challenging. By the time I was done with the first hand, a lot of my paint had dried, even though I had added an adhesive to stop the drying process, and also ran out of a lot of my mixed paint. Although I wrote down the combinations of colors, they weren't coming out the same. However, looking back at it now, I feel as though they are similar but I used a bit too much green in some parts of my mixtures. I encountered this problem again when working on the second hand as I forgot to finish on of the fingers. Although the colors weren't 100% the same, it ended up working out.
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After I was done with the hands, I moved on to the heart. I first began by mixing a batch of different hues of red, mixing it with a bit of blue to make it darker, and yellow with white for lighter tones. Then I began marking where each of these colors would go, not adding too much detail, just adding large chunks of colors where needed. After it all dried, that is when I began adding detail, staring off in the base area of the heart. A lot of the heart references I was following had yellow/light beige, fat or tissue at the base, with light yellow and beige, I did my best to replicate this, then I let it dry. Then I began painting what I believe is the artery. I used very bright red for this part as this is the part of the heart with the most red hues. I made sure to make it look 3D-ish, by adding shading on the sides and lighter colors in the front (it also makes it look curved/round). I followed this same step for all the other parts at the top of the heart. Once everything was dried, I went in and added vein lines with a darker red, as well as adding a white highlight around the veins to accentuate them. Then I added highlights where needed with a light beige + light blue combo.
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After everything fully dried, I began painting the background. I wasn't going to do much with the background, just add a dark color to it because I wanted everything else to stand out, like a baroque painting. Also while researching The Creation of Adam, it was said that Michelangelo kept the background simple as he wanted all the focus to be on the main subjects of the painting, which is also why I decided to go with a flat color. This part of the process was very tedious as I had to be very careful not to get black paint on the heart or hands. I will say I have the shakiest hands and my hand slipped a couple times however I cleaned it up with lots of water, acting fast before the paint dried.
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Experimentation:
Before beginning my paintings, I played around with colors on my painting palette. Making a variety of skin tones and undertones, keeping note of the ones I wanted to use, with the estimation of the colors used to mix that said color. With colors I didn't like I would also write down as to avoid using them. With this in mind, I made sure to make a good amount of the paint colors I did want to use, as well as leaving bits of blue, green, yellow and red (primary colors) on the side in case I wanted to change them. While painting I change the color of the background a lot, starting off with a light red, then a very dark red, then a dark blue and eventually pure black. This was due to the fact that the heart wasn't standing out as much as I envisioned it with these colors.
Critique:
Hands critiqued with Michelangelo's in The Creation of Adam
Similarities: The composition and overall pose and perspective of the hands are very expressive. I wanted to emit the idea of the hands holding something very fragile while Michelangelo wanted to show the idea of one hand giving energy to the other. The blending in both set of hands is very smooth and throughout. As well as both using lighter tones in order to show muscles and bending of the hands.
Differences: Michelangelo's color choices are less vivid compared to mine. Michelangelo’s hands stand out more compared to my piece, while I rely solely on my background, his hands stand out on their own. This is probably due to the fact that he was heavy in the shading, using very dark browns to show the folds and crevices of the skin, while I did this with warmer browns.
Differences: Michelangelo's color choices are less vivid compared to mine. Michelangelo’s hands stand out more compared to my piece, while I rely solely on my background, his hands stand out on their own. This is probably due to the fact that he was heavy in the shading, using very dark browns to show the folds and crevices of the skin, while I did this with warmer browns.
Reflection:
This painting was one that I enjoyed. Although I wasn't sure I would be able to pull off painting a realistic heart, I think I did a better job than I thought even though I wasn't 100% if the heart had the correct proportions and parts. The hands also came out better than I envisioned. I expected them to take me at least a week to complete, but instead they took me 4 hours. If I could go and do something different I would probably use oil paint instead of acrylic. I do like how the hands came out but I feel as though the heart could’ve come out more realistic looking had I used oil paint instead because the problem that I found when doing that heart is that the paint wouldn't blend, I had to accommodate to using watered down paint to blend instead. My strongest point is differently blending and choosing the right colors. Every time I paint I never want the painting to look dull or gray, keeping that in mind I make sure to use as little black paint as possible, if I want to make a color more cool toned or darker I use blues and greens instead.
Connections to ACT:
1. Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
Compared to Frida Kahlo and Michelangelo’s pieces there's an underlying sense or sorrow. In The Three Fridas, it relates to heartbreak, in The Creation of Adam there's the weakness Adam feels before he touches hands with what we presume is God, although not super sorrow, it does show a vulnerable feeling. For my piece I also wanted to incorporate a feeling of sorrow in the form of desire.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
As mentioned above, the painters approach with these pieces was to show a greater meaning, whether it was the feeling of loneliness, or weakness. Me personally also wanted to approach my piece like this.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Art has so much more meaning than what meets the eye. When researching my inspirations, my first impression of it was totally different from their actual meanings, it’s very cool to read what the painting actually represents as it gives you a whole new perspective on it when you see it again.
4. What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea for my piece relates to the bad parts of desire as well as the idea of some causing harm to themselves even though they tried so hard to protect it. Desire isn't really a bad thing, however it’s something that perhaps can lead us to do bad things in order to get that said desire, I want to explore more deeper into it.
5. What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
A lot of art doesn't have a definite meaning. When researching, I found that the paintings from my inspiration don't just have one meaning, but more. I noticed that artists enjoy giving people more to think about rather than giving them just one definite meaning, as it in turn opens it for discussion and personal interpretation.
Citations (MLA FORMAT)
https://www.fridakahlo.org/the-two-fridas.jsp
https://www.thesistinechapel.org/the-creation-of-adam
Compared to Frida Kahlo and Michelangelo’s pieces there's an underlying sense or sorrow. In The Three Fridas, it relates to heartbreak, in The Creation of Adam there's the weakness Adam feels before he touches hands with what we presume is God, although not super sorrow, it does show a vulnerable feeling. For my piece I also wanted to incorporate a feeling of sorrow in the form of desire.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
As mentioned above, the painters approach with these pieces was to show a greater meaning, whether it was the feeling of loneliness, or weakness. Me personally also wanted to approach my piece like this.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Art has so much more meaning than what meets the eye. When researching my inspirations, my first impression of it was totally different from their actual meanings, it’s very cool to read what the painting actually represents as it gives you a whole new perspective on it when you see it again.
4. What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea for my piece relates to the bad parts of desire as well as the idea of some causing harm to themselves even though they tried so hard to protect it. Desire isn't really a bad thing, however it’s something that perhaps can lead us to do bad things in order to get that said desire, I want to explore more deeper into it.
5. What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
A lot of art doesn't have a definite meaning. When researching, I found that the paintings from my inspiration don't just have one meaning, but more. I noticed that artists enjoy giving people more to think about rather than giving them just one definite meaning, as it in turn opens it for discussion and personal interpretation.
Citations (MLA FORMAT)
https://www.fridakahlo.org/the-two-fridas.jsp
https://www.thesistinechapel.org/the-creation-of-adam