May 5th, 2020

Sofia Sharp 

My essential question: What is the connection between photography and painting? 

I am about five paintings into senior project and have been photographing the entire time. In the beginning I thought the connection between my photography and art was going to be hard to discover. Although I have made some progress into answering my question, it felt like I was stretching the connections.  I wanted to find connections so I did, rather than finding a distinct one. I spend most of my painting alone in my studio. My sister will come down sometimes to help me out and give pointers but most of the time it is just me and my music. I find myself either hating my work or loving in, there is not much in between. My definition of a good artist is misdirected. I think of artists that can accurately draw a picture rather than it being more abstract. This is where I faulted. I was not enjoying art, something that I always have, and began to give up. I do not know how or when it happened but something in my head clicked. My sister calls it “fearless painting.” This is basically when you throw straight paint on the canvass (where it makes sense of course) and work from there. 

For example:   

I did a painting of my two sisters.

Olivia’s face really was not working. At all. I kept going over the paint, trying to lighten her face and defining her features but nothing was working. So, I started from scratch. I painted her face white and redid the proportions of her face completely.   

  

Then I began to carefully place patches of straight blue.  

It finally came together. I did a bit more work on Emily (right) and I fell in love with the painting. 

I really liked this painting for a few reasons. One being that I am very close with my sisters and the other being that I felt my painting told a story that the photograph did not. The painting enhanced how I felt about Olivia and Emily. Using warming colors such as burnt sienna and yellow ochre, Emily is more open with her emotions and cares how her words affect the people around her. Whereas Olivia, is much more blunt and it gives her feelings to you straight up. Not saying that Olivia is not caring, Emily simply thinks about other people more frequently.