Artist as a Sunflower
Acrylic on Canvas 61cm x 91cm January 2016 In the order of Artist, Artist in the City, and City in the Artist, I used sunflowers to depict the effects of society. The creation of this triptych was inspired by Vincent van Gogh and his series of “Sunflowers.” Some say society helps a growing individual, but my triptych shows otherwise. The individual is beautiful and unique, but as they become engrossed within society, they start to become uniform with the others, repetitive and secondhand |
Meaning
As briefly explained in my exhibition text, my triptych expresses my thoughts on society and how it effects me. The first part of my triptych is showing me as who I originally am. I am bright, static, and unique. I am independent and don't really need the help of others. The green watering can in the upper left corner represents my upbringings. They also represent my parents, who helped my grow up and develop my values. The second shows me, in the lower corner, with the rest of society. They look different, their hues are darker and ugly, and they have this black aura around them, as well as a dark watering can. The dark watering can represents the message that society is built off of negative views and that there is a certain image that is "in." All the other sunflowers are all similar and fit in, but they're ugly and are dependent on each other. While the sunflower in the corner, me, is changing and becoming more like the others. As I become more involved in society, my colors aren't as vibrant, and I'm beginning to lose petals. The last part shows me as a wilted sunflower with the dark watering can above me. The dark aura completely surrounds me and I am dead. I don't have any bright colors, my petals are falling, and I look defeated. This shows that society can turn someone into basically nothing. Society doesn't always have a good impact.
"Sunflowers" by Vincent Van Gogh, 1888
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InspirationI was inspired by Vincent Van Gogh and his series of sunflower paintings. I liked how he painted his sunflowers differently then what I thought sunflowers actually look like. I have always though sunflowers just had a flat black center, and yellow petals on the outside. These paintings show otherwise. The sunflowers also seem to be quite round. He was also consistent with his color choice. They were mainly just different shades of yellow and green, so I did the same with mine.
The paintings that I did consisted of mostly flat-faced sunflowers and the main colors were green and yellow. However, the colors I used were much broader. What I mean by this was that, I added more color and made it much darker or much lighter compared to Van Gogh's pieces. |
Process
First came the brainstorming part, and I didn't know what to paint, so I looked at a lot of different artist and liked Van Gogh's sunflowers, so I created sketches off of that. Than, I created three 61 cm x 30 cm canvases and gessoed them. Next I laid down the two base colors. The upper half was created with a mix of yellow and white with s bit of brown to make the cream color. The lower half was created with green, white, and a bit of brown. I then sketched down the outline of the sunflowers, vases, and watering cans. With a mixture of yellow, some red, and a bit of brown, I painted in the petals. Lighter at the base, and darker as it comes to the tip. The the center which was orange with brown to darken it. The center where it is the darkest just had more brown to it. Next the stem, leaf, vase and watering can. They were all mostly green with either black or white to get the right shade. Lastly was the dirt which was just brown and some white. The next sunflowers were centered around with gray and yellow to create an ugly color. The sunflower in the corner has the same colors, but just some gray incorporated into it. The vases were dark green, and the watering can was made with mostly a light black color. Then the last sunflower was centered with mainly brown and some yellow for the petals. The vase was painted with a light green color and the dirt was made with brown and white. Watering can was made with a light black and the aura in the last two canvases are watered down black. Lastly, was the light green border. I added it to add a sense of unity to the piece.
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Reflection
I enjoyed doing these canvases as I was able to work on shading and experimentation of colors. I enjoyed doing the hues for the first canvas because they were bright and fairly easy to create. Yellow didn't take too much of another color to change and I liked that. After that canvas, I was okay with the other colors. It was hard to create an "ugly" hue because I wanted to paint something that wasn't appealing but not make the whole thing look like a mistake. The last canvas was alright. I like how I was able to narrate a story with the three pieces, but I could work on making better hues and make the triptych look more continuous. I would also fix the border and make it darker, so the watering cans don't show through.
"Sunflowers" Vincent Van Gogh. Web. Jan-May 2016. <https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/vincent-van-gogh-sunflowers>