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Paintings Collage
WHEN
2023
MATERIALS
Oil paint on stretched canvas
DIMENSIONS
48in by 36in
BACKGROUND
For this painting I created my reference photo from other paintings or pictures I saw throughout the semester. These other pieces ranged from other student’s paintings to my sketches. After spending time deciding which pieces I wanted to use, I created my own piece with them in photoshop to make one complete piece. I decided to keep my design rough and not blend them together too much since I wanted the different styles to contrast.
WHY
Although this was not a requirement, I decided to keep the pieces separate for the style contrast for a few reasons. Throughout the semester I found myself struggling to be looser with my strokes, for this reason I wanted to include pieces that have a more abstract feel. Then, I figured if I also added some realistic elements, it would amplify the difference in styles and make them even more dramatic.
RESEARCH
RESEARCH
First step was to decide what pieces from the semester I wanted to include. Since my goal was to play with different styles, I used a couple abstract paintings as well as some photos. By placing these side by side in my collage, there would be more texture and almost make the final feel like an actual collage.
I ended up using 7 different photos in my final.
REFRENCES
1 Class example
2 Class example
3 Class example
4 Other student
5 Other student
7 My past work
6 My past work
FOCUS
Like I mentioned before, I wanted my main focus of this piece to be the contrast of styles. However, to do so I needed to be very specific with my placement of the different images in my collage. Although I wanted them to come together to form a complete piece, I had to be careful not to have them blend together too much to the point where the styles were indistinguishable.
IDEATION
THUMBNAILS
Once I had all my photos picked out, it was time to figure out how to turn them into one piece. To do this, I added them all to Photoshop and started playing around with different arrangements until I found one I liked. From there, I started sketching it to get a feel for the design before re-sketching onto the final canvas. This is also where I made any notes to keep in mind while creating the final project.
DESIGN
BASE LAYERS
Once I had sketched the final design onto the canvas, it was time to start painting. For my base layer, I decided to go with an orange color. The reason I chose orange was because I wanted the blues in the painting to really pop. Since the main colors were orange and blue, I noticed the blues had more depth so the orange would appear a bit brighter.
Although I know it’s best to paint with a more contrasting color that would help give all of the colors more depth, there was such a large range of them within this painting, I felt this was the best solution.
FINAL PAINTING
From start to end, this piece took about 3 weeks. Once the base painting was done the rest really came to life. Usually, when I work on large pieces such as this, I approach the whole piece in layers. However, because of the different pieces with different colors, I decided to tackle this section by section. I found this better when it came to mixing my colors and really focusing on the different styles of each part. As a result of this approach, I was able to keep my lines clean and make it look almost like the painting itself was an actual collage.
When it comes to the pieces I decided to include in the collage, I felt my selection worked well together and that I was able to create a strange, yet assembled, whole picture. Although I did not stick to one color pallet, I feel that the bright, colorful background contrasts well with the figure, drawing the attention to the body.
LINKS
REFLECTION
I am very proud of this work. Since it was my last painting for the semester, I felt I was really able to showcase all of the skills I had learned throughout the lessons.
Like I mentioned before, my goal with this design was to work on things I had struggled with in my past paintings, such as abstract work. In my past paintings, I had always found myself too focused on the details and hiding every brush stroke. With this painting, I made sure to mix in elements of more abstract work, not only to practice, but also as contrast with some of the more realistic features.
Overall, I am glad I got the opportunity to learn how to oil paint and I look forward to taking more courses in the future to further my knowledge.