"Water Lilies" 16x20" Acrylic on canvas. 2018
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I tried using a different color palette than what I was comfortable working with. I struggled to make a unique background (incorporating blue, red, umber, and cool red) while still keeping it realistic.
I drew inspiration from Monet's lilies and the sculpture of Bethanne Funk. Funk's sculpture emphasizes curves and softness in her nudes, and I tried to emulate that, using the sweetness of the landscape to emphasize the softness of the nude. The piece began with the red/blue/green/brown/ background, I then added the figure in the left third. I added the lily pads in such a way that the biggest lily pad in the foreground would catch the viewer's eye and the eye would move up towards the figure after being first drawn down to the water. I would not outline the lily pads with a shadow if I could do this piece again. I thought it would make the landscape more realistic but it just made them look separate from the water which was counteractive to the Monet type waterscape I was trying to create. I put another male nude in to my series because I feel that they are underrepresented in art. I also felt a responsibility to make the nude a different shape than what we usually see, because heavy men in art are usually either satirical or used to represent gluttony. My series was about what it means to be a man so this piece is saying is speaking to the sensual and sweet areas of a man's psyche. |