Exhibition Text
This diptych was inspired by how something grows within their life until death. I was inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe’s painting “Petunia No. 2” with her technique of the flowers she painted. These paintings were also inspired by Ambrosius Bosschaert and the piece “Bouquet of Flowers on a Ledge”. Using acrylic paint I combined both of the artist styles into my piece, which included baroque and american modernism. With the contrast in colors in both paintings I wanted to create a meaningful piece.
This diptych was inspired by how something grows within their life until death. I was inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe’s painting “Petunia No. 2” with her technique of the flowers she painted. These paintings were also inspired by Ambrosius Bosschaert and the piece “Bouquet of Flowers on a Ledge”. Using acrylic paint I combined both of the artist styles into my piece, which included baroque and american modernism. With the contrast in colors in both paintings I wanted to create a meaningful piece.
Inspiration
For my Diptych I was inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe and Ambrosius Bosschaert. Georgia O’Keeffe is an American modernist artist. She was known for her paintings of enlarged flowers, New York skyscrapers, and New Mexico landscapes. She is known as the "Mother of American modernism". When I figured out I wanted to do a flower scene I knew I wanted my flowers to look like Georgia O’Keeffe’s. Her painting “Petunia No. 2” was what I was aiming for. I also liked the way american modernism looked and thought that mixed with the baroque style would look nice. |
Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder was a Dutch still life painter and art dealer. He is recognized as one of the earliest painters who created floral still life's as an independent genre. I liked the way his flower looked so real. In the painting “Bouquet of Flowers on a Ledge” the contrast from the blue and the other flower colors really made my eyes pop and I knew that I wanted one of my paintings to have that. I knew I wanted to have my flowers look real but still fit into American modernism. “Bouquet of Flowers on a Ledge” was the painting that I liked the most and wanted to make a few of my flowers similar to them. Overall I wanted to combine both these artist painting styles into my diptychs with a few of their techniques for painting flowers.
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Planning
This first thing that I wanted to do was figure out what theme I was going to base my painting’s on. This took me a long time to figure out just because I had no ideas. After much thinking I came to the idea of growth and life. I wanted to show growth through a growing flower, but after looking for inspiration and thinking about it I felt like painting an unbloomed flower wouldn’t be my best choice and that I could do better. I came up with the idea of showing a flower all bloomed and in a garden with a butterfly around it, and in my second painting I would have a dying flower with the butterfly flying away.
This first thing that I wanted to do was figure out what theme I was going to base my painting’s on. This took me a long time to figure out just because I had no ideas. After much thinking I came to the idea of growth and life. I wanted to show growth through a growing flower, but after looking for inspiration and thinking about it I felt like painting an unbloomed flower wouldn’t be my best choice and that I could do better. I came up with the idea of showing a flower all bloomed and in a garden with a butterfly around it, and in my second painting I would have a dying flower with the butterfly flying away.
Process
Once I had my idea I knew I wanted to use the grid method. I drew 1x1 inch squares to create a grid on both of my canvases. After this I started to sketch my ideas onto the grid. I was drawing the stem of my main flower when I had another idea pop into my idea. I wanted there to be a family of butterflies. I wanted to show a family of butterflies all happy but in my second canvas with the dying flower I only wanted to have 3 butterflies and not the whole family of butterflies to fly away. My thinking behind this was that with life comes death and with losing someone close to you can be hard but you have to move on with your life. Now I wasn't going to paint a dead butterfly so I was thinking just to paint the butterfly on the stem of the dying looking and let the viewer decide what was happening in the picture for themselves. |
Experiment
For this I gessoed scrap pieces of canvas to create mini canvas's for my experiment. For my first one I sketched out a butterfly just to test my color palette. I wanted to make sure all the colors stood out and that it would tell the story I wanted it to tell. After my first one I wasn't in love with it and wanted to try other colors. In my second one I just started to swatch multiple colors to see which ones I liked the most. I also used this extra canvas to test my watered-down paint that I would use for the background. I sketched on my canvas first so I wanted to make sure that my pencil marks would still be there after this process. I just drew random shapes and tested out which colors would look the best and still let me see my pencil markings.
For this I gessoed scrap pieces of canvas to create mini canvas's for my experiment. For my first one I sketched out a butterfly just to test my color palette. I wanted to make sure all the colors stood out and that it would tell the story I wanted it to tell. After my first one I wasn't in love with it and wanted to try other colors. In my second one I just started to swatch multiple colors to see which ones I liked the most. I also used this extra canvas to test my watered-down paint that I would use for the background. I sketched on my canvas first so I wanted to make sure that my pencil marks would still be there after this process. I just drew random shapes and tested out which colors would look the best and still let me see my pencil markings.
Process
I started with the painting with the whole family of butterflies. I first painted the whole canvas with pale watered down blue all over the canvas to get a base. I next painted the butterflies, I painted them a burnt orange color because I thought it would look the best with the blue that I was going to be using and also I wanted them to look like monarch butterflies. I took the burnt orange color and painted the wings, once it was about to completely dry I added the littlest bit of mustard yellow to the center of the wings just for dimension. I wanted to make the body of the butterflies jet black so I did that once everything was dry, also to unsure that I would have cleaner lines. Once I finished my butterflies I started to paint the sky at the bottom of the canvas. |
This was a zoomed in picture of my main flower piece. I painted the outer part dark blue to really contrast against the light blue. In the middle of my colors I added a purple because that was the color palette I was going for and that where I thought it would look the best. I wanted to add a lighter purple to the center because I thought it would look good but after doing that to the first few flowers I released I wanted something brighter. That's when I found a creamy pink that I thought would match the color palette, and i think it went well with the colors already in the flowers.
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The next thing I did was the stem of the flowers. I knew I couldn't just paint it green and move on. I wanted to give it detail and dimension. I painted the stems a base coat of green. After that I went in and just added a different shade of green to give it that detail. Once it was dry enough I added a brownish green to the shadows I wanted to create. At this point it looked good but I felt like it was missing something so I made a lighter green to add in just a few places to add more shadows. After I was done with the stems I finished the other flowers in the top corner. I wanted these ones to look like unbosomed flowers to show the growth in my piece. Then I did touch up on the sky to have the piece completed. |
When I started the second painting I knew I wanted the background to be darker than the sky blue I did in my first piece. After I got my watered-down blue on the canvas I started to paint the butterfly wanted to do the same colors but make them a shade darker because I thought it would show the death theme a little better. After this I did the same thing to the flowers I just made the brown with tints of blue to show that they were dead. I also made them smaller to show that when flowers die the shriveled up. For the other flowers I made them upside down to also show that they had died, for these I added petals leaving to really add onto the idea of death. Then I just added to the dull parts of the sky and was done.
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Reflection
Compare and Contrast
Similarities
Compare and Contrast
Similarities
- I felt that my flowers had a representation of how Georgia O’Keeffe would paint her paintings. I really liked the way american modernism looked with flowers so I thought it would be interesting to try it for my piece.
- I also think that my background in my happy piece matches how Ambrosius Bosschaert made his flowers stand out. The way that the blue is, it really helps pop the colors of the flowers and making it present to the eyes of the viewers.
- My pieces are different because Georgia O’Keeffe would paint her flowers up close compared to mine where they are just in the top corner of the piece.
- In my piece I tried to stick with american modernism over the baroque style that Ambrosius Bosschaert used, I tried to add a few details that could fit into the baroque style but I wanted to stay in the american modernism realm.
Critique
Overall I liked both of my paintings. I think my favorite part on both of them is the main flower part. I was surprised I got it to turn out looking this way. I also liked how clean my butterflies looked. I think if I were to change anything it would be the little flowers on the other corner on the canvas. I feel like something is just missing from them. I also think that at the bottom it could of used more greener like grass or more leaves. In my sadder canvas I liked the way the main flowers turned out but I would use a different blue for the background. I feel like this one was very dull making it hard to get an even background. I also would say next time I want to try oil paint because the acrylic dried to quick making it hard to blend colors.
Overall I liked both of my paintings. I think my favorite part on both of them is the main flower part. I was surprised I got it to turn out looking this way. I also liked how clean my butterflies looked. I think if I were to change anything it would be the little flowers on the other corner on the canvas. I feel like something is just missing from them. I also think that at the bottom it could of used more greener like grass or more leaves. In my sadder canvas I liked the way the main flowers turned out but I would use a different blue for the background. I feel like this one was very dull making it hard to get an even background. I also would say next time I want to try oil paint because the acrylic dried to quick making it hard to blend colors.
ACT Questions
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
When I first started this project I had no idea what I wanted my them to be I didn't even know what i wanted to paint. After figuring out the I wanted to paint a flower I just looked up flower painters and went form there.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
When I went to find websites for inspiration to learn more about the artist most of them came up trying to sell me pieces. The other website I used gave me lots of information about different artists that painting flowers or garden scenes. Once I found an artist that i liked there style of flowers or paintings I started to research them more.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I had come to the conclusion that there are many different types of flower styles that you can paint. This piece also brought back memories with losing someone you still have to go on with life which I wanted to have in my piece.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
The main theme around my diptych is growth. I wanted to show the growth of your life up until death. This was shown in the first painting with the happy growing family of butterflies compared to my second piece where there was only one left to stay back and die with the flowers.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
When I was trying to find an artist I found it harder to find artist that would paint in the specific theme growth so I looked up artist that paint flowers in the styles of art I wanted to use.
Bibliography
https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.18262.html
https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/petunia-no-2-georgia-o-keeffe/IgGHCUrvVYjLbA
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
When I first started this project I had no idea what I wanted my them to be I didn't even know what i wanted to paint. After figuring out the I wanted to paint a flower I just looked up flower painters and went form there.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
When I went to find websites for inspiration to learn more about the artist most of them came up trying to sell me pieces. The other website I used gave me lots of information about different artists that painting flowers or garden scenes. Once I found an artist that i liked there style of flowers or paintings I started to research them more.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I had come to the conclusion that there are many different types of flower styles that you can paint. This piece also brought back memories with losing someone you still have to go on with life which I wanted to have in my piece.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
The main theme around my diptych is growth. I wanted to show the growth of your life up until death. This was shown in the first painting with the happy growing family of butterflies compared to my second piece where there was only one left to stay back and die with the flowers.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
When I was trying to find an artist I found it harder to find artist that would paint in the specific theme growth so I looked up artist that paint flowers in the styles of art I wanted to use.
Bibliography
https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.18262.html
https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/petunia-no-2-georgia-o-keeffe/IgGHCUrvVYjLbA