Artwork: Digital Illustration
Inspiration
This piece was inspired very heavily by "Starry Night" by Vincent van Gogh. The subject matter is the comet Neowise, from the view of a park in Greenfield, WI. The reason I chose this subject is because it was visible to the naked eye in August, and I went out to the park with someone I love dearly to see it. We caught fireflies, laid in the parking lot, watched a raccoon hang upside down in a garbage can in order to get into the trash. We had to wait for it to get dark, which took until about 10 pm.
There is a reason this experience was so significant to me. Throughout the summer, I was very depressed, but seeing my best friend honestly helped me more than I'd care to admit. I felt comfortable and completely safe for the first time in several months, laying on the concrete and getting bit by mosquitos. Because of this experience meaning so much to me, I decided to paint it completely from memory. I remembered some of the things she pointed out to me, like the direction of the comet and the way the trees looked like "a bear with its paws in the air." I opted out of painting the fireflies into the trees, but I did paint some of the stars. |
Experimentation
I mostly experimented with different sketches for this piece, trying out different proportions and different perspectives, as well as different subjects in the piece. I originally wanted to add fireflies, but I felt like they'd be confused with the stars, since my plan was to paint them the same way. I wrote down some of the basic descriptors of each sketch I did. Out of all the sketches, I liked the first two the most, so I decided to somewhat combine them. In the final piece, I used the larger trees and larger comet to exaggerate the more important parts of the painting. I opted out of fireflies, and also attached the notes I made about each sketch.
Planning
This happened to be one of the occasions where my experimentation came before my actual, solid planning. After choosing the sketches I liked the most, I combined them into one much bigger sketch, which I would then transfer onto the canvas later. Along with this final sketch, I decided on what colors to use as bases, and made myself a palette of swatches. The colors were largely inspired by the blues in "Starry Night," especially with the way that I laid them later on. To set up, I set out parchment paper, water, my paints and my palette, though my setup was rather scuffed. I don't own an easel or anything to prop the canvas up on, so I sat in my chair and painted it on my lap. After I had everything set up around me, I got to working.
Process
The first thing I did was mix the main colors I figured I'd need, which mostly came out to be shades of blue. I started by mixing the blues with either black or other shades of blue, in order to give myself some variation. I did not mix the colors with straight black, though. I added white in afterwards to make a grey-tinted blue color. These were the colors I was going to use for the night sky. After I mixed my colors, I transferred the sketch onto my canvas, albeit very lightly in order to cover up the pencil better. I started painting over the sketch almost immediately, just so that my paint would not dry out. I started with the darker shades of blue, alternating between them periodically. I didn't really care if the colors blended together a bit, as I felt it gave it a better look than it would have had if they were completely separated. After finishing up the darker shades, I went over it by adding strokes of lighter blues. I didn't think this looked very good, however, because the light colors stuck out a lot more, so I went over those with a medium shade of blue in order to blend it into the background better. When it came to the trees, I mixed all of my primary blue colors with blacks, browns, and dark greens. I did this to make sure that the colors would still match the sky despite being completely different base colors. I then painted the tree area vertically, and decided to add a few strokes of white paint in it so that it didn't look muddy. To paint the comet, I mixed my blue colors with white and light yellow, again so that they would match the background despite being brighter. I also mixed white and yellow together in order to create the color I needed for the stars, though I also ended up using that color for parts of the comet, as well.
Reflection + Compare/Contrast
I'm pretty satisfied with how this piece came out, though I feel that it could have been a lot better had I changed up my painting style a bit. I used mainly short, broad strokes, while van Gogh used longer, thin ones, and I feel that I could have done with using lighter colors in the background. I also think that more attention to detail would make my piece a lot better, but for what it is, I'm alright with it. It's not my favorite, but definitely not the worst thing I've ever done. Next time, I think I'll mix more colors as well.
Compare and Contrast
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ACT Responses
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork:
For this piece, I think it's easy to see the connection between my work and the work of Vincent van Gogh, with the usage of colors and the general style of each piece.
What is the overall approach (pov) the author (from research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The research was incredibly biased, considering the majority of it came from my own experiences - any research done about van Gogh was objective, though.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I have made the generalization that sharing an experience with someone can make that experience incredibly meaningful.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme/idea was an experience I shared with my best friend, as well as the works of van Gogh.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I think I made a lot of inferences about how van Gogh painted "Starry Night," and tried to apply that to my own technique later.
For this piece, I think it's easy to see the connection between my work and the work of Vincent van Gogh, with the usage of colors and the general style of each piece.
What is the overall approach (pov) the author (from research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The research was incredibly biased, considering the majority of it came from my own experiences - any research done about van Gogh was objective, though.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I have made the generalization that sharing an experience with someone can make that experience incredibly meaningful.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme/idea was an experience I shared with my best friend, as well as the works of van Gogh.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I think I made a lot of inferences about how van Gogh painted "Starry Night," and tried to apply that to my own technique later.
Bibliography
- Gohd, Chelsea. “Comet NEOWISE: 10 Big Questions (and Answers) about the Icy Wanderer.” Space.com, Space, 19 July 2020, www.space.com/comet-neowise-strange-facts.html.
- “MoMA Learning.” MoMA, MoMA, www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/vincent-van-gogh-the-starry-night-1889/.
- “Van Gogh Starry Night: Van Gogh Gallery.” Van Gogh Starry Night - The Painting and The Story, www.vangoghgallery.com/painting/starry-night.html.