Thursday, July 9, 2015


A throwback of a huge piece I did in my Senior Year of high school! The size I am not too sure of, but man it's big. 

This was my somewhat Abstract Japanese Geisha that as fought so many battles, and is a type of woman that isn't afraid to get blood on her face of her enemies. 

This was on display at Hastings High School in my Senior Year for some conference/art viewing...I believe? 
It was displayed the whole 2013 year in the art room. It was supposed to be on displayed in the art room "forever "but I loved it so much I took it when I graduated.


---The story behind this painting: ----- Long read but I guarantee it will help you get a better understanding in this piece & me as an artist! 
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I was assigned a huge board of wood to paint on. I was in Independent Studies at the time (due to having TOO many art credits). I had some crazy number due to going to another high school that was just for Art Majors (Creative Arts in St. Paul).

Anyways, this piece of wood is extremely thin and had already pre-made edges so it can be placed nicely. I sadly, had to gesso over someone else work (from so many years ago-extremely outdated) --due to be instructed by my teacher. Which is my favorite high school teacher (one of the few people who made me want to become a teacher in life).

----The Thought Process: ----

I paint women due to their beauty and purity. I wanted to portray a women who is not afraid "to get a little blood & guts on her face". I wanted her to express herself highly through makeup and have a Japanese Geisha vibe / style. 

The background was how I developed my "signature style". I accidentally spilled black paint on this painting, I wanted to cry (probably did haha) after making the background a perfect wash with my acrylics. But, when I make mistakes artistically I always seem to find a WAY better solution than my original plan. So what I did was I spilt some more on the canvas, stepped back, flicked some with my wet brush, and saw the hair dryer in the art room. I then directed where the paint would go by the heat of the hair dryer and also by me blowing on it aggressively with my breath. This process to me is quite more aesthetically pleasing to me visually than any other "drip-like effect" I have done due to the Movement and Flow.

Every black line in the background is used by acrylic, water, a hair dryer, and brush. 
I loved the flow of it dearly, and still do. I spiced up my version of Japanese styled work and added some Golden & Redish-Bronze acrylic Flowers with simple dots in the center. I didn't want them to be a main focus, so I made them simple. (Which is funny because I don't like to paint flowers personally- too over done. But I guess I wanted to!) The golden & bronze paint is also very textured. Texture is like my best friend! You'll always see texture in my paintings. 

Finally, the hand print. The hand print is my own, I felt like it added a lot to the painting personally and to the story behind the woman and what she's fighting for. Kinda like what you see in a horror movie, the classic--hand blood splatter on the white wall...dragging down before the death of the "survivor." 

----The Story Behind: ----

In my paintings I like to have a "story to tell", sometimes it's not easy to decode and sometimes it is. I really believe the goal of creating art is to express & to show emotion or feeling or whatever it may be. The story behind this woman is kinda like the story of Disney's, Mulan. 

This woman doesn't have a name, but she is a fighter. She has a unique looking sword, which I tried to do a gradient type technique with the acrylic paint I used. The wounds all over her show what's she's been through. These wounds visually are textured and stippled. The wounds I spent probably 1 week total. She has abstract stitches that has a self explanatory message of it's own.

If you noticed, she doesn't have a body and she isn't realistic. I did this because I wanted the focal point to just be her face and her weapon of choice. And this time in my life I didn't want my art to be realistic, but my own. This is when I started to develop my artistic style of painting expressive women. 




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