Process and BrainstormingWhile brainstorming ideas I took into consideration the medium, color, artist, and the objects I wanted to include in my piece. My initial ideas consisted of either making a painting or digital image inspired by Karl Jahnke's paintings. Having picked an artist I began to think of objects and colors my piece would need to display in order to have a clear connection to Jahnke's work. That being said, I decided to create a digital image since I had not worked on photoshop in a long time. I also wanted to challenge myself by working on photoshop because I am so used to working with physical images like paint and pencil which are easier for me to manipulate. Then I began to think of ordinary day objects I see around me and decided to incorporate candles in my piece with the addition of unwanted/unwelcomed animals that are commonly viewed as disgusting like cockroaches, spiders, and rats.
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Planning SketchesThese sketches are ideas of the things I am considering on incorporating onto my piece. These are a combination of ordinary everyday items like candles and bottles in addition to insects which will be added to my piece.
Meaning of the PieceThis piece is meant to represent the reality of life. In life most of us wish to have a happy fairytale story, and unfortunately that is not the reality of most. In life we often face unexpected or unwelcomed situations which we have limited control over. The candles in this piece are meant to symbolize the commonness of routines and everyday life. However, our routines are often disrupted by tragic or unwanted situations, which is represented by the cockroaches. These disruptions are viewed as uncommon and repelling which is what I wanted the audience to experience from this piece. The background was originally blood running down a wall which was purposefully manipulated to represent both a dreamlike appearance and the fact that although we will all have to experience tragic situations in life, it will eventually get better; enough for us to see a brighter day.
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Experimenting/Developing Ideas
While beginning this piece I found myself constantly experimenting with the use of color and application of realistic objects. While adding the objects on to my piece I found myself struggling a lot with adding the insects. I had originally planned to use multiple insects and animals around the candles such as cockroaches, beetles, spiders, and rats. However, when I attempted to add all these animals I found the image to be shifting away from appearing real. After adding and taking away animals, it appeared that the cockroaches were the closest animal to appearing real and so that lead me to duplicating the same image and changing its blending/contrast. The next thing I experimented a lot with was the color range. I wanted my piece to resemble reality in texture and from but represent a dreamlike quality through the manipulation of color. I manipulated the color of the background and in some manipulated the color of the whole image by inverting the color which gave it a nightmarish look.
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ProcessThe first step in creating this piece was opening the Adobe Photoshop CS6 Program and adding a background layer (white 36in. by 24 in.). After doing that I began to open the images I was planning on using. In this case I used the blood dripping layer as the main background and changed the color and value of the background until it appeared the perfect shade of black and white. I did this in order to make the background less obvious and devalue its appearance of blood. Then I opened the picture of the candles and cut the background of that image for it to blend with my initial background. Then I cut a picture of a cockroach and pasted it onto my final image while duplicating its layer in different sized and places to make it appear as multiple cockroaches where surrounding the image in different forms. Once that was completed I adjusted each cockroaches blending for there to be a smooth balance between the candles and the cockroaches. Once that was done I moved on to the background because I did not like how the regular black and white looked and I wanted there to be an nice contrast between the two. This took multiple attempts because I was not sure how to manipulate its color range without changing the color of the whole piece, and I also could not decide on a color. Once I was able to choose a color I saved the image and continued with some minor changes, like blending more of the images and adjusting the brightness of colors.
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My inspiration for this piece is local artist Karl Jahnke. Jahnke has been working professionally as a Chicago born painter and sculptor. Jahnke is most notably known for his oil paintings displayed throughout Wisconsin and Illinois. His work revolves around the Surrealist movement, making them unique through his application of color. As seen in his painting ‘Cupcake', he draws attention through color and form. This piece uses a variety of color which draws in a lot of focus and attention to the piece and particular objects within the piece. The light blue, purple, and red are not colors that are normally seen together but they do work well in order to create a dramatic contrast between the background and the objects within the piece. His work represents the negative experiences that can appear in ordinary life. Jahnke often uses these ordinary objects and adds a grotesque twist by adding animals which are not commonly viewed as sweet or enjoyable to be around.
As my inspiration, I intend to use ordinary objects and add a grotesque look to them. Doing so to add to the uncommon and confusing mood set by Karl Jahnke. The bright colors is also something I want to add to my piece in order to draw attention to particular objects. Like my inspiration I intend to portray a similar emotion to my piece. Karl Jahnke made dramatic changes in what we perceived to be normal, suggesting a fearful mood set on the audience. These uncomfortable feelings mixed with bright colors is something that we are not normally used to seeing, which Jahnke does to create confusion; ideas I hope to incorporate onto my piece as well. Jahnke, Karl. "Karl Jahnke Home." Karl Jahnke. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2017.
"KarlJahnke on DeviantArt." :iconkarljahnke:. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2017. “Karl Jahneke’s Art in Exhibit at Elgin Studio” Daily Hrald.Apr. 2014. Web. 14 Oct. 2017. |
Jahnke Karl. "Cupcake" 2016. Web. 12 Nov. 2017.
Jahnke Karl. "Red lady" 2016. Web. 12 Nov. 2017.
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The outcome of this piece was somewhat successful or as I had envisioned it. Initially my piece was supposed to include multiple animals such as spiders, beetles, and rats; a combination of multiple animals Jahnke used throughout his paintings. However, it became difficult to photoshop these animals and make them look realistic and three dimensional. I did feel successful in my manipulation of color because it clearly connects to my inspirations style of painting (bold and smooth). As Jahnke I used a bright/bold color as my background in order to add its dreamlike appearance. Like my inspiration I used the candles as normal objects that were balanced out by the additional cockroaches placed throughout the piece. Overall the piece could have looked a little more realistic and cleaner, but I do like the way it connects to my artists piece "Cupcake", as they both worked to explain the unexpectedness of life.
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