3D Painting
OverviewTitle: A Story Told From Different Sides
Size: 1 x 2 ft Medium: Acrylic Paint & Filler on Canvas Completion: August 2023 Exhibition TextA Story Told From Different Sides is a two-foot by one-foot 3-dimensional painting on canvas, which was created utilizing acrylic paint, lightweight wall filler, and cake decorating tools such as various piping tips and scrapers. The art piece is supposed to convey the story of a toxic relationship. Whichever way the canvas is hung, the order of the flowers tells two different sides of a heartbreaking connection; one ending in contentment, the other ending in attachment, doomed to repeat it.
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inspiration
![Picture](/uploads/1/4/2/8/142850208/published/screenshot-2023-08-12-at-10-09-31-pm.png?1692105692)
My inspiration for my 3-Dimensional was primarily Herman Aguirre Martinez. Ramirez is a modern-day Mexican-American artist from Chicago, Illinois. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2014 as well as a Master of Fine Arts degree in 2017 from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he currently teaches. His art is exhibited in multiple museums, art fairs, and galleries across the United States of America. I discovered Herman Aguirre Martinez while walking through art galleries in the Historic Third Ward in Milwaukee, Wisconsin during Gallery Night in May of 2023. His work was showcased alongside the work of Rafael Francisco Salas in the duo-artist exhibition called, "Cruces/Crossroads," which conveys the crossroad at which the identities and experiences of the two artists intersect. While the two artists grew up in different areas, the Crossroads exhibits the ways in which their distinct lives connect through building an American life while rooting from immigration. Herman Aguirre Martinez's work stood out to me, literally. His 3-dimensional artworks, alongside those of Rafael Francisco Salas, inspired me to create something that I can look at from many angles and directions.
planning
To plan for my 3D painting, I already understood that I wanted to make flowers or a bouquet. I, of course, wanted the flowers I chose to put on my canvas to have meaning, so I decided to go online and search for flowers with powerful backgrounds. As I searched and found flowers to incorporate into my piece, I decided that I wanted to create a story out of the flowers. The five flowers I chose to include were a daisy, a black dahlia, an orange lily, a purple petunia, and a yellow rose. The daisy represents attachment, the black dahlia represents betrayal, the orange lily symbolizes hatred, the purple petunia conveys resentment, and lastly, the yellow rose is supposed to signify contentment.
I decided to use a 2-foot by 1-foot canvas for this art piece. Since I made the canvas by hand, I had to take two 2-foot wood pieces for the sides and two 1-foot wood pieces for the top and bottom. I put the woood pieces together, making sure that the framing was straight. I stapled the four wood pieces together to make sure they stood in place as I wrapped the canvas on it. After measuring the fabric to fit the frame, I stapled it to the frame and gessoed twice. On Amazon.com, I bought a lightweight wall filler and a cake piping kit. I also utilized the pack of palette knives I had used for a previous project. Before doing anything on my canvas, I took thick sketchbook paper to test out each piping tip to observe how each one would come out, how each one worked, and how I could potentially make the outcome better using other tools such as cake smoothers or palette knives. After testing out all of the 12 piping tips I bought, I primarily used six as well as three of the palette knives. |
process
The process of making my art piece began by mapping out where the five flowers would lay. After mapping the flower spaces, I looked at tutorials on how to make flowers with piping tips. So, to begin creating them, I made a base of filler for each one, making sure that they match each flower's pistil. I decided that I did not want to add leaves to the flowers to ensure that they were the focal point. Instead, I used one of the cake-decorating tools to make arches around the canvas and flowers. After letting the bases and arches dry for 24 hours, I used acrylic paint to paint the bases in their respective colors. I painted the pistil of the daisy a unique green-yellow, similar to its real-life counterpart. I painted the pistil of the black dahlia a dark red-purple. And lastly, since the pistils of the orange lily, purple petunia, and yellow rose are not as noticeable, I painted them a similar color to what the petals would soon be. And because the arches were a substitute for leaves, I decided to paint them in yellow and green tones. Once the paint was done drying, I piped out the petals of each flower. I used a different piping tip for each flower. The petals of the purple petunia, though, had to be created using a palette knife and precision. Then, I painted the petals as one single color. I left the daisy alone for this step as the petals were already white. The black dahlia was painted a dark purple, the orange lily was painted a deep orange, the purple petunia a bright purple, and the yellow rose was painted a pure yellow. Once the petals were dry, I went back in with darker hues of each color for definition and added veins to the petunia. After the petals of the orange lily were dry, I piped out some filaments to stick out and painted them as well.
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experimentation
Throughout my 3D painting project, I primarily experimented with color and design. The five acrylic paints that I utilized in the art piece were red, yellow, blue, white, and black. For the pistil of the daisy, I used mainly yellow and a small drop of blue paint. For the pistil of the black dahlia, I used one part black, two parts red, and one part blue. For the base of the orange lily, I used one part black, one part red, and two parts yellow. For the base of the petunia, I used one part black, one part red, and one part blue. And lastly, for the base of the yellow rose, I used pure yellow. The arches around the canvas are made up of a variety of different mixtures of yellow, blue, white, and black to create forest tones. I also experimented with the cake decorating scrapers. I chose to utilize the small scraper with a zig-zagged pattern to build the 3-dimensional arches around the canvas. For the bases and pistils of the flowers, I used two different cake piping tips. The daisy and black dahlia pistils were made using the same piping tip, the small round tip. For each of the flower's petals, I used a different piping tip, or in reference to the purple petunia, I used just palette knives and filler without any piping tips. And most importantly, I experimented with the use of lightweight wall filler. I have never used this material in my art prior to this art piece.
critique
Reflection
Overall, I am moderately satisfied with my 3-D art piece. A couple of parts of my project that I was satisfied with were the arches around the canvas. I believe they did a good job in being a replacement for leaves on the flowers and added definition to the bordering canvas. I'm also very satisfied with the colors I used throughout the piece. I really like the paint job on the arches as well. I feel that they give off an old "used" look which helps convey the story of the flowers. And while most people who just look at my piece won't know the full story and symbolization behind each flower, I hope that the bold colors of the flowers, and lack thereof on the arches, show the femininity behind the entire canvas. Some things that I wasn't so happy with were the cracks that came as the filler dried. While it helped with the purple petunia, on other flowers, it did not work so well. The filler was also very delicate after drying, so even when painting, I needed to paint gently to ensure that nothing cracked. I think if I were to create this project again, I would mix the paint with the filler for each flower to ensure that there were no white spaces underneath each flower that was unable to be filled. Next time, I will also either pay attention to the piping tips I buy or simply buy more. The piping tips I utilized didn't completely work in my favor and resulted in the flowers on my canvas not looking as much like their real-life counterpart. The piping tips mainly affected the yellow rose and the orange lily.
AcT connection
1.) Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork:
Visually, the 3-dimensional theme of natural objects is identifiable between my work and Herman Aguirre Martinez's works.
2.) What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Herman Aguirre Martinez's work primarily bases in the challenges of constructing a life in America while coming from immigrants roots.
3.) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
The expression of nature can produce a variety of different stories and can convey things such as one's background, love, or lack thereof.
4.) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea around my research was 3-dimensional art pieces that surround nature, or more specifically, flowers.
5.) What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
3-dimensional art gives the viewer a better visual experience as it can be perceived from all angles.
Visually, the 3-dimensional theme of natural objects is identifiable between my work and Herman Aguirre Martinez's works.
2.) What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Herman Aguirre Martinez's work primarily bases in the challenges of constructing a life in America while coming from immigrants roots.
3.) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
The expression of nature can produce a variety of different stories and can convey things such as one's background, love, or lack thereof.
4.) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea around my research was 3-dimensional art pieces that surround nature, or more specifically, flowers.
5.) What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
3-dimensional art gives the viewer a better visual experience as it can be perceived from all angles.
Citations
- Aguirre, Herman. “Current Events: Herman Aguirre Martinez.” Hermanaguirre.Org, 2022, www.hermanaguirre.org/.
- Faculty, Fine Arts. “Rafael Francisco Salas Included in Milwaukee Exhibit Featuring Two Latinx Artists.” Ripon College, 2023, ripon.edu/2023/03/03/rafael-francisco-salas-featured-in-milwaukee-exhibit-featuring-two-latinx-artists/.
- McAdams, Shane. “Finding the ‘crossroads’ at Portrait Society.” Shepherd Express, 9 May 2023, shepherdexpress.com/culture/visual-art/finding-the-crossroads-at-portrait-society/.