Beginnings & Endings
Acrylic on Canvas 2 30.48 cm x 30.48 cm canvases October - November 2016 |
From facial expressions to wrinkles and laugh lines, these features are able to show a person's character. Masks are used to disguise these facial features and to express or hide a certain personality to deceive others. When a mask is put on, that is the end of a personality and the beginning of a new one, and vice versa. This made me think sunsets and sunrises because they show two different sides of the one sky above us.
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Meaning/Description
Masks were always something that interested me because when you have a mask on, you are not yourself anymore. You look and express a different personality. When a mask comes on, a new personality begins and the other one ends. And when the mask comes off, the new personality ends and the old personality comes back. You're primarily the same person, but you're just showing a different side of yourself. There's just a cycle of beginnings and endings and this made me think of sunsets and sunrises. They are a continuous cycle. They make the sky show different versions of itself. The sky is still the same; it just look and feels different. I wanted to show that through this project. So I have two nearly-identical subjects with some sort of mask on. And on the mask you can see which is a beginning or an ending. The mask with the bright colors is a sun rise because that is when the living come awake. I primarily used pink to show the kind and soft colors that can be seen during a sunrise. Concerning the sunset, I used darker colors to represent the cold and stillness of the night. Sunsets are usually as bright as sunrises, but I really wanted to emphasize the night-time so I work primarily with blue and gray. I also feel as if, the viewer would understand the message better if contrasting hues were used. With the landscapes, I show that a mask ends and starts a new personality, for better or for worse.
Inspiration
My main inspiration of this piece came from an electronic dance music artist. He is called Golden Features and while he performs a live set, he wears a mask that's painted to look like sparkling gold. The icon that he uses for his social media is what had the most inspiration for my project. I liked the way the mask is used to create a sense of mysteriousness and shows a different side of the person. The head position and the mask covering the majority of the face were important elements that I incorporated in my piece. Concerning what I wanted to show on the masks, I wanted to paint a landscape since I planned on showing two different versions of the same landscape. The versions would be the landscape at the time during sunset and sunrise. My landscape was inspired by Bob Ross, mainly because I like the elements that are in his landscape paintings. During the time I was in the process of making this project, I was watched and listened to his series. He's very calming, gives lots of good tips, and teaches many basic painting skills that I haven't really paid attention to. The series that I was watching had him painting many landscapes with mountains, and that's why I decided to include mountains in my paintings.
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Process
After seeing an inspiration, I went to my sketch book, and made skecthes of different masks and different head postions. I tried to focus more on what the mask was showing and it's meaning. The head positions were not a prioirty for me. At first, I thought of doing a single cavas, but when I look at what canvases I had available to me, I decided to use two. I had previously bought several canvases that were on sale at Micheals, and since I didn't want them to go to waste, I used them. They came gessoed so that was a bonus.So, I started off by using a photograph as a base to see how I would be able to position my head. This was simple, and afterwards, I used photoshop to paint a mask over my face so I would have an outline. I made one, and just flipped a copy of it. Once I had the outlines, I drew grides on the outlines and on my canvases. I outlined with the grid method and from there I started painting.
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I started with the neck. I used brown, white, and some yellow to create the fleshtone. When mixing the colors, I tried to make enough to cover both areas on the subject, but most of the time, I ran out, and that's why the fleshtones are not the same. I also didn't stay consistent with the way that I was shading. I tried to make them as exact as the other, but I knew that wasn't going to happen, so I had to continue with it. After the neck, I painted the ears, and then the skin that wasn't exposed by the mask. The fleshtones of the face were lighter than those of the neck. Then I painted the hair. The hair was probably the easiest part, but I could of done better with it.
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After the hair, I finally started with the masks. I painted the mountains, the moons, and the grass. The painting where the head is directed at the bottom right corner has more warm and cheerful colors. This represents a sunrise and the start of something new. The other painting represent a sunrise, so the colors are cold and somber. The skies on the masks were the first things that I decided to work on. I just made it a color gradient. Then came the mountains. I started with paint the highlight which were the inner parets of the mountain, and then the outside, which was the shades. Concerning the trees at the bottom, I just help my paintbrush on it's side, and make short upward and downward strokes to show the trees. The mist that is around the trees was just watered down paints. After finishing the masks, I cleaned up the edge of the masks, trying to add some shade, so that it looks like it's wasn't so pressed aginst the skin. From there, I painted the shirt which was just different shades of grey. I cleaned up anything else that didn't seems good enough and then started to repaint the background to cover the gridlines, and add the slight shadow.
Conclusion
To a certain extent. I like this project. I had fun with the plannig and process, and I am somewhat content with the final piece. There are some things that I can improve on and that would to be keep layering because in the picture of the head, you can see the texture of the canvas. However, to get the soft misty look, I had to water it down so it flowed more smoothy. I feel like I could of found ways to make the mask look like more of a mask because to me, it looks like the paitings could be on the face themselves and not on a mask. I tried to create some shadow around the edges to create the appearance of levitation, but it didn't have that much of an effect. A way that I could fix this is by painting but making sure that the viewer is able to see the outlines of facial features such as the cheeks, nose and mouth.
ACT Questions
1) Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.
One can clearly identify the cause-effect relationship between my inspiration and my artwork because I am using many of the same elements such as the use of the mask and the downward head position
2) What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The first inspiration likes to the mask as a way to be mysterious and to cover something that he isn't happy with. The second inspiration uses unconventional ways to paint landscapes and uses the landscape to relax the painter and viewer.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
A conclusion that I have discovered about people while I researched was that masks aren't as seen as symblic than I thought they were. Many different cultures use masks for different reasons, but one of the main reasons is to make the person who is wearing the mask, unknown.
4) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea or theme around my inspirational research revolves around masks and how masks are able to cover something, while showing another thing.
5) What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
Some inferences I made while doing my research was that Golden Feautures used his mask to create a sense of mysteriousness so more people would be more intered in him. Mask are unnatural, but with added with a natural element (landscape) it creates an interesting contrast.
One can clearly identify the cause-effect relationship between my inspiration and my artwork because I am using many of the same elements such as the use of the mask and the downward head position
2) What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The first inspiration likes to the mask as a way to be mysterious and to cover something that he isn't happy with. The second inspiration uses unconventional ways to paint landscapes and uses the landscape to relax the painter and viewer.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
A conclusion that I have discovered about people while I researched was that masks aren't as seen as symblic than I thought they were. Many different cultures use masks for different reasons, but one of the main reasons is to make the person who is wearing the mask, unknown.
4) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea or theme around my inspirational research revolves around masks and how masks are able to cover something, while showing another thing.
5) What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
Some inferences I made while doing my research was that Golden Feautures used his mask to create a sense of mysteriousness so more people would be more intered in him. Mask are unnatural, but with added with a natural element (landscape) it creates an interesting contrast.