" In the City"
Medium: Oil and Acrylic on Canvas Size: 60.96 cm x 60.96 cm Date: September 22nd, 2017 Exhibition Text:
Assimilation is something can be seen all around the world, especially in the United States, a country considered a melting pot of different cultures and ethnicities. My own family migrated from Mexico to the U.S. in search of a better future for their children. Although it was very difficult for them to assimilate to a different language and a different culture it is even more difficult for their children to assimilate to one culture that we begin creating our own standards of living. That is why for this piece of art, I decided to use one Mexican icon, Frida Kahlo, to symbolize the Mexican heritage and a city background to represent living in the United States. |
I created three different sketches that represent the different ideas that I had to portray one theme, assimilation. For this first project I wanted to take a personal situation that most of my family has gone through, which is why this piece of is so special for me. To the right are the three sketches along an explanation of the meaning of each symbols, and a template that I would eventually follow explaining the colors and techniques that would be used. I decide to use my first sketch because it was the most aesthetically pleasing as well as it has the more straightforward meaning for the viewer to understand. I also decided to use one common artistic inspiration and that was Frida Kahlo. Frida Kahlo is an icon of the Mexican community which is why there was no one better to use as inspiration for this piece.
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I first began with painting the background. For painting the background I used acrylic to paint because acrylic paint dries a lot faster than oil paint. In the image the background appears as yellow background, but in reality there's a touch of green to it. I wanted to paint the background a bright green because Frida Kahlo used bright hues in her painting. Next I used the graphite transfer method to transfer my initial image onto the canvas. I printed the image that I wanted in order to keep the proportion accurate. When using this method, the limitation is that it takes much longer to transfer the image compared to using a projector and projecting it onto the canvas. This is because there is a lot more steps to it than if I were to project it. But the main idea of transferring the image is to create a template so that I can apply the paint and from there add dimension.
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When beginning to add paint I decided to start with the components that would be done in acrylic paint first. I decided to do this because of the time it takes for acrylic paint to dry, and I figured that doing this would prevent me from being messy in case I accidently painted acrylic paint near oil paint that was still not completely dry. I began painting the flowers that and then moving on to eyebrows and eyes so that when I started painting with oil paints the pencil would not disappear therefore I had an outline to follow.
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In the image to the right, I began adding contours as well as the middle tone to add a transition from the highlight onto the shadows. I outline each of the contours to add some more dimension into the face as well as some color so that the face wasn't so white. The contours are placed around the perimeter of the forehead an onto the cheeks to create cheek bones. Also brought down to the jawline to differentiate from the face to the neck.
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In the picture to the left you can see the how the colors are being blended. You can no longer see the different lines of colors that were seen in the image above. You are able to see the dimensions of the facial features. One thing that I disliked about this product was the face was a lot darker than what I wanted which made me go in again with more highlights. I also decided to not bring the contour of cheekbones so far out, and just kept it for approximately an inch from the perimeter of face into the cheeks.
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Before starting this project I worked with both mediums of oil and acrylic. I decided to use the oil paint in this case because of the completely different results that oil paint allows me to create. In the picture to the right you can observe a smooth blending that is coming together after a few layers of colors. I also added some color to the cheeks which is one of Frida Kahlo's iconic look. Although the blending is starting to come together, the forehead is still not blended enough because you can distinguish the breakage between the highlight and the contour.
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To the left are some images of how I began blending to create some texture on the "reboso" I began with a coat layer of red paint. Then I added black acrylic paint to add the creases and blended that with the red paint. When I did this I realized that the creases were to defined which is why I added watered down red paint and layered on top which still allowed me to see the crevices and folds of the reboso but they were not so defined.
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At the beginning of the process I wanted to experiment with the different mediums which is why I testes blending with acrylic and oil paints. I thought that the blending was facilitated with the oil paints, but drying time took days which would cause a problem. If I painted the background with oil paint then it would take a longer time for me to start the actual figure which is why I went with the acrylic paint. At the beginning I only painted four flower on her head. I thought that it was missing some more flowers to complete the look which is why I added more flowers to her hear. The addition of these added more vibrancy because there was more contrast between the lime green color and the red flowers, as well as the black silhouettes of the buildings in the background.
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There is a lot of differences between the two paintings. The first difference between the painting is the background. Frida Kahlo has a very urban, natural, background. On the other hand, I have a city background to represent the city, and how the Mexican culture in now living in huge cities which is really different to the small town that my parents were used to. Also the Frida figure that I was inspire by is a lot more "modern" notice how the eyebrow of the painting to the right are much more defined and shaped. This represent the American culture and how at such a young age females being plucking their eyebrows and wearing makeup.
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I am really happy with the final results. I believe that the meaning that I wanted to get across was really done in an effective way. I think that I also did a good job making the connections between Frida Kahlo and myself. There's an obvious resemblance between the two paintings in the way that it is set up and the way that person in my painting is has certain characteristics that symbolize Frida Kahlo. For example the flowers in her head and the bright cheeks that characterize Kahlo. One thing that I will change is the background. I will add more building and I won't make them similar because it really does not look right. I will also do some of the building in different shades as well as add a sunset of something to resemble the city of Milwaukee as seen to the right.
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(n.d.). Retrieved September 22, 2017, from https://www.google.com/search?safe=strict&tbm=isch&q=city%2Bof%2Bmilwaukee%2Bsilhouette&spell
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