Inspiration Research - Mixed Media

Andy Goldsworthy is a British artist that works primarily with nature to create art. He
worked in farms since he was 13 which may be how he developed his love towards
nature. He uses everything he can find from sticks and pebbles to snow and
feathers. He's gained a reputation for his works that so beautifully balances common
natural elements and important art aspects such as movement, lines, and balance in
the piece. He even uses color to make the piece either blend in beautifully with the
negative space or clearly distinguish from it making pop out the viewer. He learned
how to be able to do this while attending Preston Polytechnic during a presentation
on Long Art by professor Richard Long. He is also a photographer since not only
does he produce the pieces but he also photographs them finding an angle that
makes the piece have more impact on the person looking at the art piece. I plan to
use the elements he does in my piece by also having a gradient in my piece the way
Pebbles around a hole by Andy Goldsworthy
he does in his works with leaves and pebbles making sure there is a smooth
Itransition
also wantfrom one
to be color
able to another.
to develop the same ability to manipulate the shape of things to the degree he is able to do so making
circles with leaves and arches with ice. I will probably have to glue my piece to something if I want to bring a physical sculpture
however i could also do what Andy does which is take a picture of the piece and angle to camera to the perfect angle of the piece.
Influence of Inspiration in Planning
I liked the idea of having shapes as the thing that divides one thing from another like the various circles he made using color to
show the sharp contrast between one edge to another. However, instead of using a circle like the majority of Andy's work I will use
squares since a square is a strong geometric shape that is easily recognized. I will make the square be outlined on the inside to by
having it be separated by both color (cool tone rocks vs warm tone rocks) and by the lines the rocks make. I was inspired by his
piece where he made a line across the beach using rocks so I thought of the possibility of making a line as well. Using rocks found
in the beach I would be able to make a line on snow. Snow would be a good place to make the line since the rocks would be clearly
seen in the white snow. This would compare to the original piece since it would be across a surface with a single color however his
piece can be seen with a transition from the rocks to the sand and then to the ocean. I could get this effect by making the transition
from rocks to snow and then to grass, cement, or sand.
I liked the piece he did where he had a smooth
transition from dark gray rocks to white rocks. I could
do this as well using the type of rock they are to make
the transition. I could start with metamorphic rock and
then go down to sedimentary rock. I could use color to
separate it and give the layers depth. I could start with
light brown and then go down to blue or gray rocks. I
also want to keep the circle in the middle of the piece
since it gives the piece more depth and definition.
Incorporation of Research in Process
The first thing I did was collect the rocks. The rocks I got were obtained from Bradford beach during the winter season. This
meant a lot of the rocks still had frost on them and some were even trapped under ice so my selection of rocks was very
minuscule. Even so, I tried to get rocks that were all types of sizes from very big rocks to very small pebbles. This would
help me when trying to create the piece by allowing me to play with the size of the rocks therefore having more variety in
the piece. Since a found object piece deals with both natural and man made products I wanted to be able to merge them
together to give more depth into the way that we treat nature which is also inspired by mt inspiration of Andy Goldsworthy.
In his documentary Rivers and Tides he often talked about how nature was trying to tell him something and that he was
trying to get to know the element he was working with better. To him these elements were not just something to use for art
but something to get to know to understand it better.
I wanted to give my piece a similar
meaning steering a bit from that by
adding a mirror to the piece. I
wanted the mirror to represent how
close nature is to us and how often
we see it and even so we often take
the things nature does for us for
granted like raining to help crops
grow and trees giving off oxygen
which helps us breathe.
Inspiration Research - Drypoint
Andy Warhol's Big Campbell's Soup Can 19c (Beef Noodle) was my main source of inspiration
for the drypoint piece since dry point brings emphasis on the outlined edges of the piece which is
similar to the effect given to the soup can in Warhol's piece. The clean look his piece has with
minimal sketching except on the inside of the can makes this simplistic piece look even more
beautiful. The accuracy of the color scheme from the piece to an actual Campbell Soup can is
astonishing which is what I aimed to do maybe using a printed picture of the actual item as a
stencil to trace it. The asymmetrical balance brought to the piece through the lid being open,
however, I did not plan on having since I knew I want to have a bottle and it is not possible to
have the cap of a plastic bottle positioned the way the lid of the soup can is.
I also gathered inspiration from Warhol's piece 100 Cans from
the repetition of the cans in neat rows which inspired me to
have a similar effect with my piece by having multiple prints of
the same design over and over in neat rows when on display. I
could also use the same shade of gouache on the bottle when Big Campbell's Soup Can 19c
painting them and the same shade of orange for the cap of the (Beef Noodle) by Andy Warhol
bottle. The repetition of the piece brings emphasis to its general
form since you see it over and over.

I planned on having this repetition in my piece as well, however, less dense since I would
have to print each individual image and paint it with gouache as well. I also considered
having the bottles in my piece all be the same color and shade instead of having them all be
different colors such as in Warhol's Marilyn Monroe screen print portfolios.
Exploration
I was inspired by Andy Warhol's Big Campbell's Soup Can 19c (Beef Noodle) piece. The simplicity of
his piece inspired me to do something similar, take an everyday item and make it a symbol for an
important issue in today's society. The first thing I thought of was plastic bottled and how much harm
they cause to the environment, and yet, more and more companies seem to be switching over to plastic
bottles to save production costs on glass since plastic is a cheaper option. The bottle is meant to make
people think about all the harm using and incorrectly discarding of plastic products has on the
environment, wildlife, and even people. he first thing I did was tape the plate over the drawing I made of
the Gatorade bottle to trace the drawing on the plexiglass with the drypoint tool. I made sure to get the
text exactly how it is on the actual bottle in the drawing including the ounces, calories,
and text saying "Gatorade Thirst Quencher"
over the label with the flavor. I also made sure to get the lines and shape
of the cap exactly how it looks on the actual bottle. Once I had traced the
image onto the plexiglass I got ready to print the image onto paper. My
experimentation consisted of a mistake I made at first when carving my
plexiglass plate with the drypoint tool. This mistake was forgetting that the
design I printed onto the plexiglass would come out as if it were reflected
in a mirror so when I printed the image the text was backwards. After I
printed two copies of this I considered having two prints from that plate
and two prints from the other plate (after realizing my mistake I carved
another plate, using the back of the first plate I made as a stencil to do it
Target. “Gatorade Cool Blue Sports Drink - 20 Fl Oz
Bottle.” Target, backwards so that when it printed the image would come out correctly).
www.target.com/p/gatorade-cool-blue-sports-drink-20-fl-oz
-bottle/-/A-15640474.
Inspiration Research - Abstract Painting
Wassily Kandinsky was a Russian painter from the 1900's to the
1940's who often focused on the Der Blaue Reiter movement. The
Der Blaue Reiter movement was structured around colors and
form in how they interacted with each other to bring unity to the
piece. This unity was thought to bring spiritual values to the
elements in the pieces, particularly since they were abstract
elements. The movement is called Der Blaue Reiter because the
founders' believed blue contained the most spiritual energy. ​I was
inspired by Kandinsky’s pieces titled Improvisation 26 and Merry
Improvisation 26 by Structure. At first I was inspired by Improvisation 26 for the way it
Wassily Kandinsky blended colors together so effectively while still leaving behind
residue of the original color at the place it was originally put.
Improvisation 26 seemed to give out a feeling of true watercolor,
as if the brush were put on the paper and left there for the paper to
absorb the color. The shapes on the piece are truly organic as
they have seemingly no pattern to their curves and lines. The mix
of color was also strategic as there were only primary and Merry structure by Wassily
secondary colors in the piece. These colors were then balanced Kandinsky
by black lines and shapes that brought unity to the overall piece.
Incorporation of Research in Process
However I wanted to have more sophisticated elements of abstract art in my piece by
having less organic shapes in my piece and more geometric ones. I also liked the
pattern of warm colors balanced by cool colors in Merry Structure. The whole paper
was balanced by different groups of shapes in strategically placed areas of the paper,
for example, there was a variety of squares placed on the lower right hand corner with
each square being a different shade of red. I also liked that shapes were often made
using various thin lines with a variety of brown and black lines of different thicknesses
in the lower left hand corner to bring to bring a balance to the strong red squares in the
lower right hand corner. I wanted to have that kind of balance in my piece so I planned
on doing a similar pattern with squares in the bottom right corner and thick and thin
lines on the lower left hand corner. For my first sketch I used primary colors and made organic shapes
on the paper using Improvisation 26 as the inspiration. I tried to get a general idea of what
Improvisation 26 looked like in the sketch as well as the lines on it. For my second sketch, I tried to get
a better feel on how to get different opacities with the gouache as well as how to spread the gouache
on the paper so that as I spread it the opacity would make the same shape look as if it were different
shades of the same color by simply having different opacities. For my third sketch, I had a lighter
opacity with every color I used to get better at controlling both how to spread the gouache and how to
lower the opacity. I also tried to blend colors by stacking them one over the other.
Exploration
After I finished painting the squares and turning the stain that dripped into the paper into a
circle, I painted red and blue triangles above each row of squares and outlined one of the
squares in black paint. I then began to paint elements on other areas of the paper, such as a
yellow circle in the upper right hand corner of the paper and blue lined at the top middle of the
paper. I then also outlined the yellow circle in the upper right hand corner in brown paint to
emphasize its presence in the piece. The next big element of the piece was the big yellow triangle I painted in the middle left
hand side of the paper. I made it by putting painter's tape on the page in the shape of a triangle and then painting the triangle to
tape made in yellow gouache, using water to get different levels of opacity in different areas of the triangle. I then made organic
shapes under the yellow triangle and began to make geometric shapes in red and blue paint to stick to the theme or primary
colors. Since the yellow triangle took such a large amount of space in the page I wanted blue and red shaped to balance the
presence of the large yellow triangle so I painted a blue circle to the right of the triangle and red and blue squares to the top left
of the triangle. When painting the aforementioned squares I wanted to have them be more transparent so right after I painted
them I dabbed them with a napkin so that it would absorb the color leaving only a small amount of color left behind.
Looking back at my piece I realize I used both geometric and organic shapes while my inspiration used only
geometric shapes. For example, I have a blue spiral in the middle left side of the paper, and my inspiration
only has squares and triangles made of thick and thin black and brown lines which means there was a
difference in the shapes and overall forms of the shapes in my piece compared to the inspiration. The form
of Kandinsky's piece has a general composition of strictly geometric shapes throughout the entire piece
while mine has both geometric and organic. However, a similarity is that there is a balance of cool and
warm colors with a higher tendency for warm colors that balance each other. We also both have square
pyramids in our piece and the places where the certain shapes and forms tend to be present are similar as
well.
Inspiration Research - Illustration
​For this piece my main source of inspiration was Pablo Picasso, particularly, his more abstract
works focused around cubism with works such as Head of a Woman in a Hat and Girl before a
Mirror. I wanted to have a portrait of a woman since I wanted the piece to be a self portrait however I
wanted to have the portrait incorporate abstract elements, therefore, portraits influenced by cubism
were the perfect source of inspiration. Head of a Woman in a Hat is a painting of his wife at the time,
Jacqueline Roque, done in 1962. From 1961 to 1962 Picasso made a variety of different pieces all
centered around the theme of a woman in a hat. The cubism elements that can be observed in the
piece include making the two-dimensionality of the piece very clear through the use of dark black
Head of a Woman in a Hat
lines to emphasize the general outline of the piece as well as the use of rough and ragged lines (1962) by Pablo Picasso
used to provide the aforementioned outline of the piece. However, even though my main source of
information will be Picasso's Head of a Woman in a Hat, I do want to use elements that he also used
in his piece Girl Before a Mirror such as the way he neatly organized the color scheme to be warm
in the background and cool in the foreground. Head of a Woman in a Hat uses an entirely warm
color scheme with the exception of the woman's hair which uses cool hues (blue and green). I intend
to combine these two color scheme techniques and make the body of the woman have entirely
warm hues while the background and hair will have cool hues. I will do this by using hues of different
colors and laying them accordingly on the outlined paper. I also plan on using these pieces as
metaphor inspiration since they both depict the beauty of women. I also want to use the same
technique he uses to use geometric shape to make the piece abstract while still keeping the general
form of the figure in the portrait the way he does in Girl Before a Mirror by using circles to make the
body in an abstract way that still make it clear that he's making them the body.
Exploration
My first sketch is one that I had previously considered using for another project (dry point), however, I saw
the potential for this piece to be produced in another medium (illustration). However, I soon realized that
the details I had on the face were too small and detailed to be able to achieve with the tools I had available
to me and so I decided to make more sketches with the same general outline but more distinct and
prominent features to be able to achieve the same effect using tools that were meant to do thicker lines.
My second sketch was focused on Picasso's Woman with a Hat 1961 painting. This piece depicted a
woman in much more defined clothes since the piece had more realism than cubism influences. I
attempted to keep the same style for the clothes however I liked the abstract face of Head of a Woman Girl Before a Mirror
with a hat so I decided to keep a similar face for this sketch. My third sketch was inspired by Girl before a (1932) by Pablo Picasso
Mirror by Picasso. I wanted to get the same intense abstract shapes that he had in his piece however I
knew I wanted to do a piece that looked more like a portrait so made the portrait using similar shapes. I
also used the same technique Picasso used- using a side profile face and combining I
it with a full frontal image to make a full frontal image from the
side profile. I attempted to have the same kinds of patterns on
the body as well as decorative clothes. I experimented with my
piece by first thinking about turning the image into a block
print, however, once I started carving the printing block I
realized the amount of detail needed for the size of the printing
block would not be able to be achieved using the tools I had
available would be very difficult since the tools I had to carve
the printing block were not able to achieve such precise detail in the printing block.
Inspiration Research - Drypoint
My piece was inspired by Vincent Van Gogh's Sunflowers painting. I decided to use this as my inspiration
since Van Gogh is known for his strong brush strokes which was perfect for the effect I wanted for my dry
point project. Van Gogh painted this painting while in Arles in southern France during the time he bought
his yellow house. He painted various of these sunflower paintings to decorate his home. His thick brush
strokes called impasto gave the piece the texture that can be seen in the petals and stems of the flowers.
I attempted to give my piece the same effect as Van Gogh to the petals and stems of the flowers. The way
Van Gogh used lines in the painting shows movement all over the piece guiding the eye all around the painting. I want to give my
piece a similar effect of guiding the eye from flower to flower. My piece, however, will be in a field instead of a vase. I want to give
my piece the illusion of a spacious environment so an outside setting will be better. I used black-eyed
Susans in my piece because they represent justice and I want this piece to represent the justice and
equality minorities want to see in everyday life. Black-eyed Susans come in many different shades of
yellow and orange. They have scratchy hairy leaves and a dark center seed head. I will use this as a
reference for when I paint my piece with gouache after printing it. I will be using gouache to be able to
accurately capture the delicacy and smooth texture of the petals and the scratchy texture of the leaves
and stem. This medium will also help because I will be able to capture the opaqueness of the stem and
center seed head and have the petals be less opaque to show the texture they have compared to the
other parts of the flower. My piece, however, will have more flowers than the reference picture and I will
try to get highlights and shadows from different angles in the flowers so that they’ll have some individuality.

Sunflowers (1888) Vincent Van Gogh

Progress When I first began the project I wanted to do
something with plants since they have veins on the
leaves, petals, and stems. My initial
experimentation consisted of drawing my first
drawing sketch which is a maple leaf. I tried to stay
true to how the veins on a real leaf might look like
however once I had finished the leaf I realized two
things. The first is that in order for the plant to look
clearer once the ink was on the plate I might want
to focus on the shadows caused by the sun on the
plant so that the lines wouldn't mix into each other
making the lines unrecognizable. The second was
that if I used a flower instead of a leaf I would be
able to control the meaning of the piece more
effectively since flowers have different meanings.

My final sketch had long thin petals like black eyed susans and i only drew a few of them because I
wanted my piece to differ from my inspiration in some way and I decided that the best way for that to
happen was by having my piece take place outside. I drew only a few flowers to leave space for grass
in the background. I also wanted different angles to be able to experiment with shadow. I used
crosshatching because I felt it had the best effect on the stem and petals and thought I would be able
to use it to show the thickness or thinness of the stem as well as being able to show the intensity of
the shadow in the flower.
Reflection
My piece is similar to the inspiration in the fact that they both use flowers and they both use lines to
show movement in the piece from one flower to another. My piece is different from my inspiration since
Van Gogh's piece is in an interior setting in a vase and my piece is in an exterior setting in a field. The
balance in both pieces is asymmetrical balance since the emphasis is on the flowers however the
flowers in Van Gogh's piece are in the center while mine are all over the piece giving the piece a more
circular movement. The lines in Van Gogh's painting are also more blended into the painting while the
lines in my piece (except the grass) consist of the outline of the flowers. Some of the challenges for my
piece where that I have never done a drypoint piece before so I didn't know what to do to make sure
my piece would not turn into a blob once I put ink on the plate and put it in the press.

I also didn't know how deep I needed to make the lines on the plate
and I was worried about that since in previous projects it was
important to have the lines not be too deep but not too shallow either.
Some things I could have improved on were that I did not stick to my
original sketch for the piece when it came to transferring it onto the
plate which made my piece look different from what I intended. I also
would change the shade of green of the grass since I did want to but
didn't since I have never worked with gouache before and was afraid
of messing up my piece.
Decision of Composition
Barbara Kruger is best known for her direct slogans over black and white pictures. One
of her best known works is her Untitled (Your body is your battleground) piece created
in 1989. This piece was designed for the March for Women's Lives in Washington, D.C.
She used a monochrome palette for the entire piece except for the highlight on the text
with is a bright red, therefore bringing the most attention to the text. The image of the
woman is split in half directly down the middle vertically with the left half having the
woman be white and the right half having her be black. This choice of white and black
on the woman represents the internal struggle between good and evil. It's all about me, I mean you, I mean me
(2010) by Barbara Kruger
The position in which the women is on the picture is
purposeful, even having her look directly the camera when
the photo was taken to make the image have an effect of
looking out at the audience. The problem I chose to address
pertained to the overwhelming presence of advertising and
promotional material that has blended into everyday life. I
liked the emphasis that the image and words on the
provided by working together to guide the viewer onto the
intended message. My intention is to also highlight certain
items using a color palette and having the color or lack
thereof help make the message of the piece more clear.

Your body is a battleground (1989) by Barbara Kruger

Technique Development
For all the photos the first thing I did was create a new document that
was 170 resolution and 24 inches wide as well as 36 inches in height.
Then I used the quick selection tools to select the items and the
cleaned up the edges using the lasso tool and clicked either the plus
or minus on the menu for the lasso tools to add or subtract from the
selection. I zoomed in as much as I could to be able to clean up the
photo well. I also used the feather and smooth tools to make the
edges on the photos look clean. I then selected copy and paste to the
new layer I had created and proceeded to edit the image.

Once I had the image ready on the new layer I selected the
image option on the top menu and edited the hue and
saturation of the of the photo to make the photo have more
vibrant hues. I looked at images of products being advertised
to be able to know how vibrant the colors are on the
advertisements for the items I photographed.I wanted the
vibrant and exaggerated hues to show contrast against the
black and white background I would put them on so that they
would not only stand out but also look appealing to the
audience as is the aim in advertising.
 Practicing Technique
My piece will be inspired by Alphonse Mucha's painting Flower from
the The Flowers series. Flower is a lithograph created in 1897. I will
use this piece to keep my theme of Mexican culture with his piece
showing how Mexican culture perceives women. This is perceiving
women as always humble, submissive, and nurturing to others
thinking about others before themselves. I will use the same aura this
piece has however I will have the background pastel pink and I will
have the triangles at the top of the portrait plain brown to mock a
picture frame. I will also change her appearance to look more like me.
I will make her hair black and the color of her skin will be altered to
look like mine since she seems to have a green undertone and I have
Flower by Alphonse Mucha
more of a golden undertone.
Her skin is also more pale than mine so I will make the skin color slightly darker. I will alter her facial features such as her eyebrows
since her's are very thin and mine are thick.
My piece is similar to my inspiration since they both have the flowers around the figure which makes the piece have circular
movement. My piece is inspired by Alphonse Mucha's piece Flower which was made with the rest of his lithographs centered around
flowers. The positioning of the flowers on both pieces gave the piece circular movement. The color in the pieces is a little different
since the colors in Mucha's piece are more muted down and cool and the colors in my piece are warmer and a little less muted down.
This is because I changed the color of the background from light green to pastel pink which changed the piece from looking like it has
more cool colors to making it look like there are more warm colors. Something I could've improved on was having more flowers in the
portrait and painting in between the flowers with black so it would look more like hair. A challenge I had was getting the skin color to
look like my skin color since my skin color is different from my arms to my face. A success I had however was making the eyes look
good and the nose as well since usually the most difficult part of the face for me is the nose.
Technique

After the frame was completed I divided the canvas into nine quadrants. I also divided my reference picture into nine quadrants to
be able to transfer the picture onto the canvas to have the figure in my piece in the exact same position. The first thing I drew on
the canvas was the arm on the lower right quadrant since the first thing I wanted to draw was the body so that I wouldn't have the
trouble of not having enough space for the body with all the flowers or that I wouldn't be able to see where the body lines would be.
However, I notices the face shape of the original woman on the piece was not the same as mine so I decided to look at the pictures
again to compare. I realized my cheek bones were much higher than hers were and my chin was longer than hers. After I finished
with the body and face shape I worked on the face and tried to make it look exactly like the picture of me that I had previously
taken using the grid method. A challenge I had was getting the skin color to look like my skin color since my skin color is different
from my arms to my face. A success I had however was making the eyes look good and the nose as well since usually the most
difficult part of the face for me is the nose.
Grid Technique with photographs

The first thing I did was take pictures of my hands in a position that thought was similar to the positions in which God and
Adam have them in Michelangelo's painting. I did this while positioning them over a black notebook so that it would be
easier to outline the hand without having to worry about object in the background or too close to the hand. After a few
pictures I picked out the ones I liked best and printed them out. I then cut them out so that only the notebook could be seen.
First, I outlined the hand with a sharpie pen so that the transfer would be easier on to the canvas. I made a grid that I could
use for this hand on the canvas positioning it on the corner so that it would look like the hand was coming from above. I
then transferred the picture using a bianco stick (white charcoal stick) making sure to get all the lines I made with the
sharpie on the printed picture into the grid. After that I did the same with the second hand on a 2 x 4 square grid although
this time I had to make sure to position the grid exactly how I wanted it to look next to the other hand. After I had both hands
drawn I got rid of the grid I drew with the bianco stick by covering it with black paint. I then outlined the second hand with
white paint making sure to make all the lines clean
Practicing Artist Technique
The first panel represents me as an
individual so I decided to paint a sort of
portrait of me in the same way as
Lichtenstein's Girl with Hair Ribbon since
I want to capture the same emotion he
has on her. I have previously done work
similar to Lichtenstein's in a painting of a
woman in the same way as Lichtenstein. I
made my own edits to the painting since I
wanted to have it be more personalized
but I want to capture the same strength in
the shadows as Lichtenstein's work. I will
use the same technique I used for this
painting which was the grid drawing
technique.
Girl with a Hair Ribbon by Lichtenstein

For the first panel I decided to draw a grid on the panel to be able to more accurately depict Lichtenstein's Girl with Hair Ribbon. I
printed out a copy of the piece and cute it using an exacto knife so that the dimension of the panel would go well with the
dimensions of the photo. I added details on the printed copy that were left blank like the tops of the head and below her neck. I
completed the hair and added clothes to give the piece a more united look. I also divided both the printed copy of the piece and the
panel into twelve equal size squares to be able to better copy the general takes I wanted from Lichtenstein's piece. I used the grid to
guide me on drawing the figure on the canvas and once I had finished I fixed any minor details I wasn't satisfied with. The first thing I
painted on the canvas was the black lines since I wanted to have a general outline for the piece. Once it was done I painted the area
where the skin would go white so that I didn't have the yellow background color on the face. I used the rations I had previously used
to make a skin color of half white, one fourth yellow, one eighth brown, and one eighth red paint. Then, I used a deer foot stippling
brush to make dots on the face like skin making sure to not put dots on the highlighted parts of the face to give the face some sort of
dimension which is necessary considering Lichtenstein's style.
Landscape Inspiration and Planning

Mountains at Collioure by Andre Derian

When I began to paint the first thing I did was paint the yellow side of the mountain. I first began to paint it using light orange but later
changed it to bright cadmium yellow to pair it with the light violet made using titanium white, cadmium red, and cobalt blue. This color
scheme was meant to convey the tone of a sunrise with the yellow showing the sun reflecting on the mountains and the purple being
the shadow. I then remembered I had to paint the sky so I painted the sky using a combination of cobalt blue and titanium white. After
I painted the sky I went back and painted the yellow side of the mountain again and then the light violet since the light violet yellow
was meant to be above all the other layers. After I spread the violet layer more along the canvas I added to the cadmium yellow side
of the mountain with more paint and more lines. After I finished that I added more yellow across the canvas underneath the other
mountain in the process of adding two more mountains next to the initial first mountain with one on the left and one on the right. After I
added the cadmium yellow layer I added another layer of violet on top of the yellow to show the dark side of the mountain (the part not
getting sunlight reflected off of it). I also added some clouds to the sky using a round paint brush and titanium white paint. I painted in
circles and made a cloud by gently blending three circles of different sizes together using the titanium white paint.
 Stippling Technique

I experimented on my swatch paper by painting a branch with green leaves and

adding cobalt blue to one and cadmium red to another. The red did not mix well
with the green since one is a cool color and one is a warm color so I decided to try
to use blue to differentiate the tree leaves from the grass to balance the piece. I
then decided to make a green with a cooler undertone so I mixed the darkest shade
of green with cobalt blue and used it to make the outermost leaves in the
tree. ​While I chose to use a bolder color palette than my inspiration, Andre Derain, I
still wanted to maintain the same elements that brought his piece together bringing
unity to the piece. I wanted the brush strokes to be strong and defined to stick to the
theme of bold composition with the bold colors.
I also experimented with texture by layering paint to make certain areas look thicker, however, such techniques were applied to the
background rather than the foreground. If this technique had been applied to the foreground, more specifically the leaves of the trees
then there could have been a stronger distinction between the grass and the leaves of the trees even though the colors used for both
things were about the same shades. A technique that could be used to differentiate between the two things could be to follow in
Derian's footsteps and have a higher concentration of yellow-green in the grass and a higher concentration of blue-green on the tree.
Color Choices Throughout Process
I was inspired by Andy Warhol's work including pieces like Shot Marilyns and Che
Guevara which use repetition to emphasize the portrait of the person in the portrait.
They also have a different color scheme on each part of the portrait so that each
portrait has its own unique use of color that uses a color scheme that balances the
portrait in different ways. For example, in Warhol’s Shot Marilyns piece the color of
her eyeshadow changed along with the the color of her skin so that it is identical to
the hue used for the background. For the portraits however since I knew the skin
color of the portraits would be realistic skin colors for women I decided to use color
theory to be able to provide the piece with balance by using two opposite colors on
the color wheel as the main colors of the piece when excluding the skin color of the
woman in the portrait.
graf1x.com. “graf1x.Com.” Posters for Artists, Designers, Teachers, graf1x.Com,
graf1x.com/product/color-wheel-pdf-for-printing/.

For example, if the portrait was background were to be red, then the main color of her clothes
would be green since red is the opposite of green on the color wheel. This would be repeated
along all four portraits I did. I was not sure about what skin colors to use since I didn't want to
exclude any particular group so I decided to research how make up brands categorized skin
tones since I thought that way I could get a better idea of what shades to use.

The Shot Marilyns (1964) by Andy Warhol

Research Throughout Process
The first thing I did was research a large range of skin tones to be able to more adequately
show a proper skin tone range. When researching skin tones I decided to research them on
makeup sites since I thought they would have the most realistic skin tones since they were
meant to blend in to people's skin. I came across a brand that had a very extensive range of
skin tones (Fenty Beauty) and decided to use the midtone range from the light, medium and
deep tones. I also considered doing a fourth category between medium and deep however I
decided to do a triptych instead. I painted all the skin colors on the panels and painted on the
facial features and hair. I used the same blending techniques I used for the sweaters, however,
after I had blended the contour on the face I want back with the original solid color I used and
outlined the contour again to have a strong contour. When painting the skin tones I used some
paint I had saved from a different piece using half titanium white paint, one fourth cadmium
yellow paint, one eighth cadmium red paint and one eighth raw umber paint.
When painting the skin tones I used some paint I had saved from a different piece using half
titanium white paint, one fourth cadmium yellow paint, one eighth cadmium red paint and one
eighth raw umber paint.When painting the skin tones I used some paint I had saved from a
different piece using half titanium white paint, one fourth cadmium yellow paint, one eighth
cadmium red paint and one eighth raw umber paint. I added some more raw umber for the paint
used for the contoured part of the face so that it would stand out. After I finished doing this with
the light skin tone I continued to the medium and deep skin tone adding either more raw umber or
more sienna. Throughout the entire process I swatched the color next to a printed out version of
the foundation skin tones I was modeling them after to make sure they did look like the skin tones
Fenty Beauty. (n.d.). Pro Filt'r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation - FENTY BEAUTY by Rihanna. Retrieved from
I wanted them to look like.
Influence of Inspiration
Looking back at my process I think I could have spent more time researching facial ratios
so that the face could look more realistic than it does now. For example, the contour of the
faces is very obvious and not faded. In addition, the eyes don't look as natural as they could
with their size not only not being identical in both sides but the way the eyes look has some
faces having eyes that are more far apart or closer to each other than on other faces.
However, real faces are not always one hundred percent symmetrical so it is okay that the
faces in my piece are not one hundred percent symmetrical either. The main thing to focus
on would be the contouring technique so that the faces look as natural as possible instead
of flat. The face was easily the most challenging part of the three panels, however, a
success I had was adequately transferring the sketch into the panels. The Shot Marilyns (1964) by Andy Warhol
When comparing it to my inspiration, I did do what I intended to do which is
have the color of their clothes be opposite on the color wheel to the color of
the background. I also used the same background colors that Warhol used in
his work since I liked the selection he made mixing primary and one
secondary color (green) as background colors. The primary colors also
provided a simpler color palette for the piece. Although I did not use the same
display layout that Warhol used as I originally planned on doing the layout I
chose helps communicate the message of equality that my piece is meant to
have better than Warhol's display layout would have done.
Photographic Inspiration
Jo-Anne McArthur is a Canadian photographer, journalist, and educator well known for
her project We Animals in which she aimed to captivate the relationship we have with
animals. Her work has been used by various organizations to promote animal rights as
well as published in The Washington Post, National Geographic, The Guardian, etc. Her
project We Animals aims to break the barrier we humans have built between us and all
Factory Farmed Pigs. Sweden. 2009. By
other animals allowing us to treat them as objects as use the for food, companionship, Jo-Anne McArthur
entertainment, research, clothing, etc. The aim of the project is to promote the humane
treatment of animals through photographs that show the conditions of abuse and neglect
they endure in factories and farms for the purpose of food, clothing, or research. I liked
the idea of being able to make a difference in the community in respect to animals since I
myself have gotten more informed on the subject of ethical treatment of animals and
have even changed my diet to vegetarian as a result of all the information and
awareness being spread on the treatment of animals in the food, clothing, and
entertainment industries so this project was something I was ready to take on. I wanted
to have an asymmetrical balance composition just like the photo Factory Farmed Pigs
which shows two pigs in a cage. This was the type of photos I wanted to get to show how
even just proper space in cages can help go the right way towards ethical animal
treatment