The first inspiration is Bouguereau. The middle character in my painting is inspired by the woman in the painting with the basket. I wanted a woman that showed visually represented rebirth and innocence. Historically, an overflowing basket represents social and financial success. Additionally, it symbolizes health. I decided to leave the basket on top of the woman's head due to the placement in the painting being important. Height can show importance. Then I used the positioning of the woman at the foot of the woman with the basket. However, I made her a plague doctor. This gives a creepy and interesting dynamic to the painting. I kept this style of painting (classicism) since it flows with the last painting.
My second inspiration is primarily for composition and the amount of detail. I like Bouguereau's use of realism and try to replicate it as much as I can, however I like Ariana Vaeth's use of detail and layering in the colors. I plan to recreate that effect in my art with the robe in the painting. Another aspect that really changed my art is the composition in the painting. The three dynamics in my painting are reflected in my piece with the three. In the painting there is a sense of tenseness in the tone and mood that I want to bring over into my painting and give justice to.
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My preliminary sketch was probably the wonkiest of them all. There was a lot about it that I didn't like that made me decide against it. I liked the idea of the woman with her covered face, but I didn't like that it was covered fully. I thought it lacked in so many ways, including showing emotion. I did want it censored a bit due to privacy reasons and I don't want to blame a certain person. What I hated was the basket was empty. I didn't like that one bit. The plague doctor at the bottom tends to be flat and I don't like that so I went back in my second sketch and revised it. There was a lot of empty space for a piece I want to have such heavy meaning and metaphor. Therefore, that is why I decided against it to make this my final.
My second sketch was the best overall and my final for the painting. I loved the composition since I sketched it. On the far left there are birds fighting, a dove (commonly symbolizes peace) and a crow (commonly represents death). I think it makes this piece pop and relate back to the first Ashes to Ashes. The feathers and flying objects are a reoccurring subject in these paintings. Then I took into consideration the face and I wanted it showing. I changed the arm placement for composition purposes. It also looks like she's pushing down the plague doctor which I enjoy very much. It shows womanly power and strength. Lastly, I made the basket filled with different flowers that represent different flowers that represent different things and have different meanings, but apply to the lady that is carrying them.
My third sketch was the first thing I thought about in my head and what I decided on when I first was starting out months ago. However, I've come to decide that I don't like it because it's not appealing at all or complementary to the first piece it's suppose to be paired with. The scenery isn't the best and my strengths don' lie in that type of art. So I totally trashed the idea of this sketch for obvious reason. Plus, if I painted this scenery I would have not been able to add as much clear meaning and metaphor and I think it would get lost in all the things occurring in the painting.
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The first thing I did in the painting was the basket. I knew I wanted to copy the basket from Bougeureau so I got a book with all his paintings in it and directly reproduced it from his painting. I did some research on the meaning of flowers in paintings so from there I painted the flowers that seemed suiting to the meaning. Starting off with the base colors, then bringing in the values on the flowers and such.
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Then I started painting one of the scenes of the birds fighting. There is a famous picture of a dove being attacked by a crow after the pope released it. It caused a lot of controversy since it seemed evil. I thought it was great to add to my painting because it has juxtaposing meanings in regards to the people standing right next to it. I painted a lot of blues and emerald greens into the crow to make it glisten and create a evil undertone. I love the red eye I gave the bird. The dove used a lot of browns but a lot of lavenders too. This was it provided the reflection effect like the crow. I did a lot of blending and layering to get this effect.
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For the robe all I wanted was this mesmerizing silk appearance that was super iridescent. Therefore I used about 5 colors to make the shading seem like it's reflecting light and color like white silk would. I really liked using so many colors in the sleeves to see how they would reflect.
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You can see a clear relationship between Bougeureau's work and mine. The basket is super similar to the painting I made. the way she holds the basket in my painting is very similar in the painting for my inspiration. The painting style is very similar too. They have similar layouts too. The plague doctor is positioned pretty similarly to the original painting. However, my painting is not rectangular, therefore it cuts off way before the girls feet or lower half of her body show
Ariana's work is very different from mine in terms of color, style and technique. The thing that inspired this piece is the composition and layout. I liked the three people and the way they are the focal point of the painting, however they have three different areas to look at with different scenes and occurrences in the painting. I tried to copy that to my best in my work. |