Seasons of Change
Influences
I was influenced by an artist named Mark Rios who goes by the name Mr. Dripping on his Instagram and personal website. He takes big canvases and uses a palet knife to drip designs onto the canvas. He often uses live models to create his pieces.
Artist Statement
1. What is the main idea behind this artwork, in its final form?
The goal behind this artwork is to tell a story. It's up to the viewer what story it is telling. I wanted this piece to be about change and growth. While I painted the flowers I made it so that each one got a little more detailed than the last. This demonstrates growth over a period of time. That's why I called this piece Seasons on Change. I wanted the story to be made up by the viewer and I like that this piece can be personalized to every individual who sees it.
2. What do you believe your next step should be, following this project?
I am very inspired by the work of Mark Rios and love the way my piece turned out so following this project I would like to create more pieces like this. I like the abstract component of these dripping painting and I would love to do some pieces where I'm working just from my imagination and not a sketch or model.
3. Did you achieve your goals in the completion of this artwork?
My goal was to try a new style of painting and use the techniques that Mark uses when he creates his pieces. I definitely did achieve my goal and I love the way that it turned out.
4. How did the idea/project evolve over the course of its completion?
In the beginning stages of creating this piece, I didn't really know what I wanted the meaning to be. I knew I wanted flowers but I didn't know what I wanted them to symbolize. At first, I didn't think of having different size flowers but after thinking about the meaning I thought it would add to the storytelling.
5. What did you learn from this artwork that you could apply to future projects?
I learned that it's important to practice before you start your real piece, especially with a technique that is new to you. On this piece, I spent around 20 minutes practicing the dripping technique. I think it would have paid off if I had practiced for longer. Yes, I love the way the piece turned out but I could have spent more time making the lines crisper and cleaner.
Steps to Completion
The creation of this piece took littler time than I was expecting. The longest stage was applying gesso to the board, waiting for it to dry and then painting it red. After this, I projected images of flowers onto the board and roughly sketched them onto the painted board. After these steps were completed all I had to do was take my black paint and drip it onto my board which was a very quick process.
Materials
For this art piece, I used:
1. A masonite board instead of a canvas for size purposes.
2. Gesso
3. Black and red paint
4. Paintbrushes