Studio 2
OverviewTitle: Mother Nature
Size: Medium: Watercolor Paint Completion: September 2023 Exhibition TextMy artwork, titled "Mother Nature," is a piece made on a paperboard and painted with watercolor. I was primarily influenced by Maryah Irwins, an Instagram artist and illustrator. Her works of nature-bound women inspired me to create this project. This piece was meant to prove the beauty and femininity that Earth holds. With 3-dimensional features, I have attempted to make a visual representation of how I view nature through its feminine qualities of flowers, butterflies, and overall womanhood.
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inspiration
planning
![Picture](/uploads/1/4/2/8/142850208/editor/p46.png?250)
- For my planning, I made three sketches focused around an earth-bought woman, signifying a mother nature-type presence. All three of the sketches I made were drawn out in pencil and then colored in with alcohol markers to mimic the manner in which watercolor paints move and work. The first sketch I made was just the face of the woman that I wanted to create in my project. I wanted the woman to have thick curly hair and be made up of nature-bound components. The woman's skin and hair are green, like grass. The woman has butterflies around her and flowers growing from her hair. The second sketch is of the same woman. The woman is kneeling in this picture. She has more components of earth though, as she has many different skin shades of green. The woman is pregnant with planet Earth itself, making her stomach two different colors, green and blue, which then lead to the rest of her body. Her curly hair is longer than the first sketch and has multiple tones, unlike the first sketch. This woman holds her stomach and has flowers growing from her skin. The final sketch that I created demonstrates a mother nature-type presence lying on top of Earth itself. The most natural form of a human would be nakedness, which is why she is unclothed. She lies sprawled out on the planet, over both the oceans and the lands. The lands have flowers growing from them rather than flowers growing from the woman herself as perceived in previous sketches.
The theme for this project is nature and the femininity and beauty that comes with it. After creating my three sketches, I used an Instagram poll to decide whether I wanted to go through with the second or third planning sketch. Once the poll was finished after 24 hours, the decision was made to do the third sketch. For my final project, I plan on using watercolor on an artboard.
process
The process for my art piece began by sketching the outline of the third planning sketch. First, I decided on a base shade of green to paint the mother nature-like woman. Next, with a thin paintbrush, I painted what would be crevices and shadows a darker shade of green. Using a watercolor pen with a thin tip, I used a darker tone of green to paint the eyebrow hairs, eyelashes, and the outline of the woman's lips. Then, with a light green, I painted in the base color of the lands on the Earth planet that the woman laid on. I used multiple different tones of green to add dimension to the areas. I also used a darker green tone around the borders of the lands and created a rigid outline to create a feeling of depth. Similar to the creation of the lands, I used many different colors on the woman's hair. To emphasize the look of the woman's curly hair, I first added a base of light green watercolor and then used a thin paintbrush to make curly and wavy strands of hair using many colors. Then, I painted the oceans using a bright blue and later added details with a darker hue once the first layer was dry. My original idea for the project was a plain sky. After completing the first half of the painting, I decided that a plain sky would not suit the aesthetic of my idea. I then sketched out four different types of stars across the top half. I painted them a bright yellow and painted a bright blue border around each one. I then blended the borders of the stars with the original dark blue background. I then painted flowers and butterflies on a separate sheet of sketchbook paper. I cut them out and glued each individual piece onto the artboard. I folded the wings of the butterflies and the petals of the flowers upward to complete the project.
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experimentation
Prior to creating my piece or even putting any color on the artboard, I decided to swatch the colors I planned on using on a sheet of sketchbook paper. This helped me visualize what the colors would look like on the board while also helping me decide what colors to use on my final art piece. I also utilized this sheet to help differentiate the colors from the ones on the board because the colors on the palette did not accurately represent what they looked like on paper. I used the same sheet of swatches to also test what other colors would look like on top of the greens I used throughout the piece. After much consideration, I decided that it would be best if I scratched that idea of layering colors on top of the green, but rather take sketchbook paper, paint the objects on that, and cut them out to place on the board, on top of the watercolor. To place said objects on the paper, I wasn't sure if I would use hot glue or something else. Ultimately, I decided that nail glue/super glue would work best. Through many failed attempts, I realized that I could use UV nail glue and a light. This worked better than the regular glue. First I would layer the UV nail glue on the board, then use tweezers to place each individual flower and butterfly on top. Then I would cure the glue for up to 1 minute under the UV lamp. I needed to fold up the petals and wings of each piece to allow the lamp to cure the glue from underneath. This ended up helping to create 3-Dimensional features on my final art piece. Lastly, I wanted the stars above the Earth to give off the impression that they are giving off light. To do this, I painted a lighter color around the stars and then blending them with the rest of the background.
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critique
Between my piece titled Mother Nature and the unnamed artwork displayed above, created by Maryah Irwins, there are many similarities. Both of our pieces display a woman on a large scale compared to the land, or in my case, planet Earth, beneath her. The women are seemingly physically connected to what they both respectively lay on. My artwork, alongside the work of Irwin, has a moderate amount of blues and greens within the piece. Both artworks also contain a lot of organic shapes.
In contrast to Maryah Irwin's work which was painted on a canvas using oil paint, my piece is painted with watercolor on an artboard. the woman portrayed in my piece is laid out on planet earth which is different from Irwin's artwork which displays a woman laid within an area of mountains. The woman in my piece is visually more connected to the Earth as well because she has green, nature-like features, in contrast to the woman portrayed in Irwin's work, who has gold skin and dark hair to contrast the blue-colored mountains in the background behind her. My piece utilizes a majority blue layout with greens spread throughout.
In contrast to Maryah Irwin's work which was painted on a canvas using oil paint, my piece is painted with watercolor on an artboard. the woman portrayed in my piece is laid out on planet earth which is different from Irwin's artwork which displays a woman laid within an area of mountains. The woman in my piece is visually more connected to the Earth as well because she has green, nature-like features, in contrast to the woman portrayed in Irwin's work, who has gold skin and dark hair to contrast the blue-colored mountains in the background behind her. My piece utilizes a majority blue layout with greens spread throughout.
Reflection
Overall, I am very satisfied with the outcome of my project. I have not used watercolor in many years or even as a medium in my portfolio. After not working with the medium for so long, there was definitely difficulty in ensuring a proper outcome for this project, but overall, I think the completion of my project shows decent skill. I also had slight trouble incorporating key components of feminine nature: flowers and butterflies. However, my difficulty eventually led to a nice 3-dimensional result. My overall inspiration for the piece was femininity and its connection to nature, which I think I did well to portray through my final completion of the project. My favorite part of the piece is the incorporation of the 3-dimensional flowers and butterflies. My least favorite part of the piece would probably be the body of the woman shown. At some parts, I feel as though her body is disproportionate. Overall, I hope others view my work with
AcT connection
1.) Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork:
My inspiration, Maryah Irwins uses women as well as bold tones of green in her many works. I incorporated the idea of Mother Nature as well as natural colors of green and blue to portray earth at its natural state.
2.) What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Through the work of Maryah Irwins, I've discovered that, through her consistency with nature and feminine-related topics, she feels strongly about nature and the femininity behind it.
3.) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Through research I've discovered that through many cultures, nature is feminine. Many cultures use the term, "Mother Nature" to describe an entity that controls earth and everything grown from it.
4.) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme around my inspirational research is the femininity that nature holds. I was looking for an inspiration that provided both a woman and natural colors such as greens and browns, preferably a woman physically connected to nature.
5.) What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
I have concluded that nature is often viewed as feminine because of it's everlasting beauty, regardless of how much we as human beings continue to destroy and take advantage of it.
My inspiration, Maryah Irwins uses women as well as bold tones of green in her many works. I incorporated the idea of Mother Nature as well as natural colors of green and blue to portray earth at its natural state.
2.) What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Through the work of Maryah Irwins, I've discovered that, through her consistency with nature and feminine-related topics, she feels strongly about nature and the femininity behind it.
3.) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Through research I've discovered that through many cultures, nature is feminine. Many cultures use the term, "Mother Nature" to describe an entity that controls earth and everything grown from it.
4.) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme around my inspirational research is the femininity that nature holds. I was looking for an inspiration that provided both a woman and natural colors such as greens and browns, preferably a woman physically connected to nature.
5.) What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
I have concluded that nature is often viewed as feminine because of it's everlasting beauty, regardless of how much we as human beings continue to destroy and take advantage of it.
Citations
(MLA Format)