In the past eighteen weeks of school, I have made many art pieces that I am really happy about, but there is one specific piece that is my favorite. That one piece that I love so much is my dark shading of a crow sitting on a branch. I spent a lot of time and heart into this piece, plus it has a lot of influences from my past put into it. To some, the picture may seem dark, eerie or depressing but to me it has many emotions in it. Most people can't find all the emotions in my pieces of work, but I know this one is extra tricky because it has depth to it.
A big influence for me to use a crow in my piece for starters is that it is my favorite bird. For a bird they have a very unique personality and are very smart. I have always liked them since a child even though people call them pest or think they are evil by associating them with death. To me crows are a joy to have a round because they are funny to watch, so it just had to be in my piece of work. Next I had to decide what material I was going to use as my canvas. I didn't want a plain white piece of paper because it was to bright and it didn't allow the black to have the grainy texture that I wanted. So I went with one of my favorite materials, the light brown, rough paper. It gave the picture a warm background which helps throw off the darkness of the black.
Now I didn't get this piece right the first time I attempted it because I just couldn't get the tree to look the way I wanted. I also had the hardest time trying to evenly balance the crows body with the tree and the size of the paper. I am not used to drawing birds in the first place, but especially one on a large scale. Finally after getting everything sketched out correctly on the second try, it was time to color. I used a black pastel for the whole picture and the technique I used for light shading is quite unusual. I would break a piece off the pastel and ground it down into dust. Then I would rub my finger in it and use my finger like a brush adding accents to the picture to give it depth.
The shading also gave it the emotional depth I wanted. I have already talked about the happiness in the picture but there is a sad side too. This piece is a representation of me, and my anxiety that I live with. Birds at any point can fly away when they are scared, where with me I have to stay where I am. When my anxiety hits, it feel like a a numb, emptiness inside, like the dead tree in the piece. The is not flying in the piece but instead is holding onto this branch of a dead tree. There is a warm light in the background but is slowly being covered with darkness from the tree. But it doesn't consume everything because I am able to cope with it with happiness. Hence the bird in the picture being my favorite bird.
This piece has many emotions, thoughts, and planning in it, giving it a special connection for me. This is not a sad piece, it is not a happy piece, but a part of my life on paper. A visual casing of what goes on in my mind that a lot of people have never dealt. I have made many pieces of my past, but never a piece about me. Everything I have made shows my interests, passions, hobbies, but never me. These are the reasons that make this art piece my favorite.
A big influence for me to use a crow in my piece for starters is that it is my favorite bird. For a bird they have a very unique personality and are very smart. I have always liked them since a child even though people call them pest or think they are evil by associating them with death. To me crows are a joy to have a round because they are funny to watch, so it just had to be in my piece of work. Next I had to decide what material I was going to use as my canvas. I didn't want a plain white piece of paper because it was to bright and it didn't allow the black to have the grainy texture that I wanted. So I went with one of my favorite materials, the light brown, rough paper. It gave the picture a warm background which helps throw off the darkness of the black.
Now I didn't get this piece right the first time I attempted it because I just couldn't get the tree to look the way I wanted. I also had the hardest time trying to evenly balance the crows body with the tree and the size of the paper. I am not used to drawing birds in the first place, but especially one on a large scale. Finally after getting everything sketched out correctly on the second try, it was time to color. I used a black pastel for the whole picture and the technique I used for light shading is quite unusual. I would break a piece off the pastel and ground it down into dust. Then I would rub my finger in it and use my finger like a brush adding accents to the picture to give it depth.
The shading also gave it the emotional depth I wanted. I have already talked about the happiness in the picture but there is a sad side too. This piece is a representation of me, and my anxiety that I live with. Birds at any point can fly away when they are scared, where with me I have to stay where I am. When my anxiety hits, it feel like a a numb, emptiness inside, like the dead tree in the piece. The is not flying in the piece but instead is holding onto this branch of a dead tree. There is a warm light in the background but is slowly being covered with darkness from the tree. But it doesn't consume everything because I am able to cope with it with happiness. Hence the bird in the picture being my favorite bird.
This piece has many emotions, thoughts, and planning in it, giving it a special connection for me. This is not a sad piece, it is not a happy piece, but a part of my life on paper. A visual casing of what goes on in my mind that a lot of people have never dealt. I have made many pieces of my past, but never a piece about me. Everything I have made shows my interests, passions, hobbies, but never me. These are the reasons that make this art piece my favorite.