What I've Painted Wednesday: Elephant in Stripes

Elephantsssssssssssssssss.  Aren't they just beautiful and majestic?! I Love them.

This piece was done for my Design 1 class a couple years ago.  Obviously, this particular piece is not a painting, but it is a piece I worked on for some time so I've decided to add it to my #whativepaintedwednesday segment, which is probably what I'll be doing.  I really had a lot of fun doing this piece; I felt like there were was no limit to what I could do. 

 I decided to leave a thin line in between the elephant and the background which I think help a lot to really define the subject. This piece is done in sharpie on a 24"x18" sheet of drawing paper.

 

Looking at him makes me happy.  

 

 

♥Angie

What I've Painted Wesnesday • Decisions: An Apple

Guess what guys?! It's Wednesday! You know what that means?! Yes! #WhatIvePaintedWednesday! These past couple of weeks I've had some trouble posting, but finally! Here it is....
So for one of my painting 2 class projects, basically the first of that semester, we were to use an apple in our painting.  I really enjoyed this class.  This class consisted of learning how to make your own paint.  This being our first painting, we made acrylic paint. We used the pigment of our choice and mixed it in with an acrylic medium to make a paste. It was totally fun and I enjoyed the challenge.
Not only did we have to make our own paint for this class, but our instructor also gave us a theme or an object that had to be included in the painting. Having it be an apple, I had several ideas in mind.

This painting obviously has many meanings to it. It's a bit personal, (what painting isn't right?) things I've struggled with all my life. And that's why I love to paint and create. It consumes me.

I used a real apple I cut, as my model while I painted.  I obviously had to take pictures of it as well before it turned brown in case I took longer to finish. 
I remember wanting to add more objects to the piece, but also wanted to keep it simple yet complex.   I like to work in odd numbers, hence the apple, ladders, and tree and the three different colors.  For the background, I always tend to keep it like this, just a color.  It's something I do unconsciously.  Maybe its my style, that says something about me. Or maybe I just over-analyze everything a bit too much, haha.

As soon as the apple was done, I still didn't feel too sure about the background as it was originally purple. I have no idea why it was this color in the first place, but I tried using a photo editor to see what color would look best.  Then it clicked. Complimentary colors, duh.  Making it a brighter green only helped it even more. 

This is still one of my favorite pieces. It was actually featured on Artista Social's Latin American Art Facebook Page, Twitter, and Instagram as the Artista Social Art of the Day back in 2012.  You can just imagine how immensely happy I was when I received their email.

Decisions are hard to make, even when you know there's only one way to go.

♥Angie

What I've Painted Wednesday • My Paper Bomb

Hey guys! Here's my first #whativepaintedwednesday! And also my first ever piece for a painting class. I thought that would be appropriate, although the following paintings for sure won't be in order. I promise I'm not that OCD, haha.  So this piece was done for my Painting 1 class, years back. We had to include a paper sack/bag into the painting some way or another.  I always like these kinds of challenges.  They tend to become very personal.  This piece also had to do with us or describe us in some way.  I remember coming up with the idea, but trying to push it to the back of my mind while looking for something else.  That sometimes doesn't work, as once I have an idea, I just have to create it.  It's a need.  But that's just me.

This painting is about me personally keeping it all in, everything.  Every single feeling, emotion, words, anything and everything, until I just can't. That's how I felt, as if I would just explode like a bomb.  That's how I felt back them.  Of course now I've gotten better.  I've learned ways to deal with things and how to take out my stress and frustration, and worries in a healthy way.

The ribbon in this piece is not only there because I'm known for wearing ribbon on my hair, but also to represent or symbolize the real me. That's always there all along and not lost, I decided to use purple for no apparent reason. It once was my favorite color, but while painting this I just identified with the color.  I did this same thing in a self portrait back in a high school project where I sewed purple thread into the black and white painting.
I later found out a purple ribbon is also worn to raise awareness of several causes including epilepsy, of which I suffered from until about the age of 15. Coincidence? I think not.

Through some of my upcoming paintings you'll be able to see that the background of my pieces tends to be one color with no actual background to the picture. It's as if the object is floating in the air and I've thought about this several times.  I  do this without even thinking. I get an idea and think only of that object or scene, but not of what's happening around it.

I really enjoyed this project and will maybe continue with more pieces for some sort of series.


♥Angie 

What I've Painted Wednesday -

I've decided to start a #whativepaintedwednesday segment with some of my past paintings! Each week I'll be posting a new piece up and talking more in depth about it: the process of completing it, the thinking process behind each one, and any other extras I come up with.
Of course, I'll still be adding more DIYs and all sorts of posts during the week, but Wednesdays will most likely be for older painting projects.
Expect it really soon! I can't wait!

♥Angie