Over the weekend, I finished the second painting—titled “Unity”—in my series. I feel that it is a step up from the last piece, “The Awakening of Chaos”, in a few ways. First of all, the brainstorming and execution took way quicker than the first time. Of course, some of the experimentation prior to my first piece was necessary as it prepared me for this new drawing method and concept. However, I made “Unity” with much less trepidation. I trusted my intuition more, and flew through the drawing/painting process.

I also improved my value range. In “The Awakening of Chaos”, since the charcoal-watercolor-method was still novel to me, I was not aware of the extent to which layers of watercolor would darken my drawing. I shaded the halftones as I usually would—from 6 to 10 on the value scale—, which caused the piece to look dimmer than expected. Learning from that mistake, I preserved more light than usual in my light regions, allowing me to have a wider value range in the color stage of “Unity”. I also focused on grouping dark and light masses from adjacent elements into broader shapes, which I believe made a stronger composition. 

The composition in “Unity” is also stronger because of its use of the background. In “The Awakening of Chaos”, allowed the background to be an ambiguous tan to create an ethereal space for these allegorous, mythical characters. In “Unity”, I not only used the background to push the theme of nature, but to guide the viewer’s eye towards Gaea in the center. Half of the work was already done for me by Michelangelo, however, as I used the triangular composition of Virgin Mary and Jesus in his sculpture “Piéta” to pose Gaea and Chaos. This genius formation from Michelangelo gives strength—as the triangle is the sturdiest shape—and divinity to the figures. I also improved the gesture in “Unity”. While Gaea is clothed, I tried to use the folds in her dress to illustrate the movement and form of her body. Drawing back to my studies of George B. Bridgman, I twisted and leaned the torso and pelvis to create dynamism in Chaos. I feel that these choices added more emotion to the piece.

My essential question is “How can I respond to a global pandemic through art?”. My approach to this question was to make art that reflects my ideas surrounding this outbreak. I understand that most people probably will not decipher my intended messages from these pieces, and I think that is OK. If this was an illustration project, this would be a problem. But since this is a fine arts project, achieving a sense of mystery and intrigue is ideal. If viewers chose to look at the titles, do some research, and put two and two together they may realize what I’m saying. But my goal is to evoke a certain emotional experience. Now I wonder, how can I push the emotional quality of my pieces?