Art After a Year

I hadn't done any art in a year - a frustrating side effect of depression - and then, around Christmas, I was given a few new sketchbooks.  So, one night, I started sketching again.  It was so much fun.  Between Christmas and New Years (around there anyways) I did the following:

It felt great to finally do some art again!!! <3

Not Waving but Drowning

For those of you who don't know, "Not Waving but Drowning" is a famous poem by Stevie Smith.  If you're interested, you can view the poem here.  To me, the poem represents not only death, but depression, misery, pain, etc.  The last stanza of the poem says,
 "Oh, no no no, it was too cold always   

(Still the dead one lay moaning)   

I was much too far out all my life   

And not waving but drowning." ©1972 by Stevie Smith

This stanza really inspired me to create a piece of artwork (alright, if I'm being honest, I'm also doing is as a "nonpaper" instead of a paper for my Brit Lit II class...).  

This is the result: 

The figure is a woman because the sketch that Smith drew alongside the poem was of a girl in the water, so that's what inspired me to paint a woman, standing in water, with the water reaching up to grab her.  Inside the water you'll see a figure bent over with words all around saying, "I hate my life," "Why?" "I don't care," etc.  This deeply depressing image, along with the image on her body and by her head, represent the depression that's inside of her and always attacking her.   It also represents the darker message of the poem.  The area surrounding the woman is bright, colorful, and filled with words and designs.  This is meant to illustrate Smith's playful rhythm and tone.  The background also serves to distract the viewer from the depressing images, illustrating how society likes to forget about the negative and focus more on the positive.  I got some of these ideas from three criticisms about the poem: 

• Not Waving but Drowning

          Poetry for Students

            Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski and Mary Ruby. Vol. 3. Detroit: Gale, 1998. p214-226. COPYRIGHT 1998 Gale Research,                    COPYRIGHT 2007 Gale

•  Autonomy and Commitment in Twentieth-Century British Literature. Eds. Christine Reynier, Jean-MichelGanteau. Montpellier: Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée. 2010. 145-161.

• Anderson, Linda: Gender, feminism and poetry

           The Cambridge Companion to Twentieth-Century English Poetry. Corcoran, Neil   (ed.)Cambridge; New York173-186

Nov. 16, 2014

This is what I decided to try to draw at around 12 am last night:

I followed a tutorial that I found on Youtube.  You can find it here.

An Oil Portrait...with FUN colors

As of now, this is my most recent work of art.  I was inspired by the same photo that I based my last post (Watercolor Self-Portrait) on.  Only this time, instead of using black and white watercolor, I decided to go in the completely opposite direction.  I opted for oils, which incidentally, take a LONG time to dry (especially if you use linseed oil with them, like I did).  I also opted for... (drumroll please)... 
...
...
...
...
(oh, that's enough drum roll?  Okay then...)

COLOR!

I decided that I didn't really want this face to look traditional, that is with flesh tones, etc.  I wanted this face to be a kaleidoscope of color!  So that's what I did.  I used brighter colors for the parts of the face that would be lighter, and darker colors for areas that would be darker or in shadow.  Then I created the hair with some black "highlights" (or lowlights, as it is).  A what could be more beautiful than a bright, green lip?

A Watercolor Self-Portrait

You know, I've put several self-portraits on this blog already.  None of them really look like me.  So far, this is the closest I've come; it's from a picture from 3 years ago (my Sophomore year of college) and so, in reality, it really doesn't look like me now.  I did have a really fun time painting this though, especially with all the shading.  If you haven't guessed already, yes, this is another watercolor piece.  I tend to go through phases of art, where I focus more specifically on one thing for a period of time.  At the beginning of my art "career" it was sketching and drawing.  Then it was acrylic paints.  Next it was Sharpies, then a little bit of oils, and now watercolor (with the occasional other medium thrown in).  There's something so beautiful to me about watercolors.  Maybe it's the subtlety, or the transparency, or the way it just seems to flow.  I'm not entirely sure.  What I am sure of though, is that watercolors (I use watercolors from little tubes) are incredibly fun, and I encourage you to go and try them out.  You might just be surprised.  

Watercolor with a black gouache border.