Happy new years. O.O
Hopefully everyone gets a great start to their year and it is full of many successes. The key to that is, work hard. And.. "Photo references, photo references, photo references" E. Fortune/Chris Payne.
For this piece, I've had a bit of a round-about time. Originally, I had wanted to do a quick, simple study in reference to Chinese paintings. As I did the thumbnails, I had wanted to focus on more of the concept and the idea of doing a traditional painting.
The idea behind this piece originally started as someone in a place that does not really exist (limbo, I suppose) while grasping on to the last feeling left . While brainstorming, I realized that it's a difficult task to objectify an emotion to hold on to - so doing what I tend to do... I used dying/growing plants as emotional references. =] The flower being held will be the last living/colorful flower, while the rest will be muted/withering.
While working on the traditional piece though, I had made a few mistakes that I wasn't too fond of and realized that I didn't fully think of everything and had jumped the gun a bit too quickly due to excitement of being able to touch brushes again here in China. (Not showing photos of that..)
Another issue that I tend to run into is, it is hard for me to fully plan a piece. Which is why I think that I work better in photoshop for the time being. I enjoy being able to move small things around, turn and adjust, add and take away as I'm working on it. For this piece in particular, I get to figure out how many flowers/rocks I want as I finish everything as a whole instead of having to plan every rock, which isn't always the most fun. && Along with this, if I do decide to adjust the color back to the typical brown feel of traditional Chinese pieces/make a variant version, photoshop makes it a much easier task until I'm confident enough for those long term traditional commitments.
During the process, I feel that it's nice to step back, turn the painting around (which is done frequently), and figure out what needs to be done. I like to take notes while working so that I'm able to remember/be as nit picky as I need to so I understand how much I have left to do.
Lastly, I think that it's nice to keep a mood board around. It helps me remember that these other people are amazing artists, and my work needs to fit into the mood board and not show a lack of quality.
So, to 2014.. I wish you all the best. To making art /raises glass\.
P.S. -- I agree with Luis, the lack of being around creatives is tough. So, thank you all for this blog & let's make history. I am humbled <3
