Choice Piece
The Life of Venus Size: 16x12in Medium: Mixed Media Date: April, 2017 This piece is inspired by Botticelli's The Birth of Venus, and the Feminist art movement. It is meant to show the progression of the meaning of beauty, and show that you don't have to be born with a uterus to be a woman and to be beautiful. My piece is meant to show that anyone can be beautiful, regardless of origin, sex, sexual orientation, body type, etc. The flowers symbolize growth, which in my piece, focuses on time. |
Artistic Inspiration
My artistic inspiration is The Birth of Venus, by Sandro Botticelli. I also took inspiration from the feminist art movement and Greek mythology. I chose Botticelli's painting because it is a well-known, and universal image of the Greek Goddess, Venus. This painting was painting between 1482 and 1485. The time period is important because I wanted to show acceptance through time.
Sandro Botticelli was a Renaissance-time Florentine painter and draughtsman. He was trained a Goldsmith before entering an artists studio, and then later painting fresco's for churches and cathedrals. Fresco's are paintings done quickly in watercolor paint on wet plaster so that the watercolors penetrate and become fixed in the plaster when it dries. Although many artists we now admire around the world were not recognized during their lifetime, Botticelli was well known around Europe while he was alive. Sandro Botticelli is well known for the period in which he painted many scenes inspired by Greek mythology. During this period, he used decorative line and elements of classical tradition seen in his composition and contour of figures. His later work was harsh and took on concepts of morals and religion.
In contrast, the feminist art movement started in the late 1960s. This art movement was created to create dialogue between the art and viewer through the perspective of a woman. During this time and before, many woman were denied space in galleries just due to the fact that they were women, and this movement helped to bring feminist artists together to create their own gallery space. Feminist art is also known for incorporating alternative mediums. Men throughout history are most known for paintings and sculpture. The feminist art movement brought the use of fabric, body art, performance, and video to the forefront of fine art.
Sandro Botticelli was a Renaissance-time Florentine painter and draughtsman. He was trained a Goldsmith before entering an artists studio, and then later painting fresco's for churches and cathedrals. Fresco's are paintings done quickly in watercolor paint on wet plaster so that the watercolors penetrate and become fixed in the plaster when it dries. Although many artists we now admire around the world were not recognized during their lifetime, Botticelli was well known around Europe while he was alive. Sandro Botticelli is well known for the period in which he painted many scenes inspired by Greek mythology. During this period, he used decorative line and elements of classical tradition seen in his composition and contour of figures. His later work was harsh and took on concepts of morals and religion.
In contrast, the feminist art movement started in the late 1960s. This art movement was created to create dialogue between the art and viewer through the perspective of a woman. During this time and before, many woman were denied space in galleries just due to the fact that they were women, and this movement helped to bring feminist artists together to create their own gallery space. Feminist art is also known for incorporating alternative mediums. Men throughout history are most known for paintings and sculpture. The feminist art movement brought the use of fabric, body art, performance, and video to the forefront of fine art.
Planning
I'm always inspired to create art that represents women and their struggles. For my choice piece, I thought of creating a spin on a classic painting that showed progression of time. To the left is my sketch of Botticelli's Birth of Venus. I wanted to focus solely on the main character, Venus, because I wanted to highlight her role as a woman. I drew my figure to look pretty similar to the original painting because I wanted it to be recognizable. This is why I drew the figure of Venus in the same pose Botticelli has. I plan to paint the figure in the background with darker hues , so that the colorful areas would pop out against the background. In order to send my message of progression of body shaming and hiding, I plan to put glitter on the areas by Venus's hands. I want this area to stand out against the background. This will show how it is more acceptable now, at least I feel, to express yourself freely than it was in the time that The Birth of Venus was painted.
I will try to paint the body with a similar style as Botticelli. I think that I will enlarge the body onto the canvas because I don't feel that the bottom half of the legs are as important to the meaning as the areas that I will cover with glitter. I want to use gray-washes hues in the background. I will do this because when you think of old or "outdated", you think of black and and white. I am also using the feminist art movement as inspiration. I was inspired by this art movement because it brought new ideas about gender stereotypes and equality to the forefront of media. Lots of feminist art also revolves around the same concept of censorship and the female body. |
Process
The first thing that I did was paint the background a white color. I left it a little patchy because I felt that it went along with the theme, and that I would paint over it with a different color later. I free-hand traced the body while looking at my planning sketch. Then, after I had drawn all of the areas where different colors would be painted. After this was done, I started to mix paint to fill in the contours of the body. I mixed in red, yellow, and blue into some areas, because I wanted specific undertones. I tried to paint the shadows using a more grayed-out skin tone, and painted the highlights using a white or off-white. At first, I just put the dark and lights in the areas of highlights and shadows before carefully blending the two together. I tried to paint in the style that Botticelli had originally painted his The Birth of Venus.
After I had painted the base colors of the body, I mixed the orange-ish colors for the hair. For some areas, I used more brown colors, and for the lighter areas, I used a mix of yellow and red. I started to lay out the highlights and shadows of the hair by following the waves and indents of the hair blowing the the wind. I also thought about how light would hit the object, and about where this light would have been coming from, in order to make my piece. Then, I decided to paint the background a solid pink, because I didn't like the green and blue. I used a big flat brush to paint the majority, and then used a smaller brush to fill in the edges and make some cleaner lines. After I had finished painting my piece, I cut the flowers off of a fabric flower bouquet. I arranged the flowers around and on top of the body. After I was happy with my arrangement, I glued the flowers down with a hot glue gun. I made sure to avoid hot glue strings that would lower the craftsmanship. |
Experimentation
While painting my image, the area that I experimented most with was the hair. I tried using many different colors, and using techniques ranging from small strokes to big, thick strokes. This area hold a large range of hues. I incorporated brown, yellow, red, maroon, orange, tan, black, and white in this area. I used so many colors because I wanted the car to look three-dimensional. I really wanted to make the highlights stand out against the darker colors. I tried to put the hair in the same place as it is in the original painting, but it was pretty hard. I kept thinking that one chunk of hair was around, and so I finally just decided that I wouldn't be so exact, but that I would just place the hair in about the same area, and have about the same shape. One can tell that the body of the figure I painted is a little different than the original body in The Birth of Venus as well. Sisters, not twins, right? I liked that it wasn't perfectly the same, but similar, because after all I am changing the meaning and role of the original work by re-creating it.
I was looking at my piece and realized that I didn't like the blue and green background. It didn't have any meaning and looked too unoriginal. It wasn't exciting. I decided that I would try to paint the background pink. I chose pink because baby girls are often associated with the color pink, and my piece focuses on gender, identity, and beauty. |
Reflection
Overall, I think that the meaning of my piece is pretty thought out. I had to brainstorm for a while before I fine-tuned my ideas down to the idea that is the final product. I brought inspiration from so many different things including greek mythology, Botticelli, and the Feminist Art Movement. I feel as though the amount of inspiration, that contributed to the meaning in the end really strengthened my work.
One thing that I would do better next time is try to stick with the painting style that I had originally planned to do. I think that this may have helped to make the connection to Botticelli's, The Birth of Venus. But either way, I think that one could make the connection to this work of art if they had seen it before, and knew of the context.
One thing that I would do better next time is try to stick with the painting style that I had originally planned to do. I think that this may have helped to make the connection to Botticelli's, The Birth of Venus. But either way, I think that one could make the connection to this work of art if they had seen it before, and knew of the context.
ACT Questions
1) How are you able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork?
Yes, my inspiration IS my piece.
2) What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Botticelli was probably thinking about beauty and about the symbolism behind the greek goddess and of what her birth had meant for the world.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I think that my work is very western-culture based. So I guess it probably wouldn't take on the same meaning in a different culture.
4) What was the central idea for theme around your inspirational research?
Beauty, femininity, appreciation, life, etc.
5) What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
Well I was thinking about how much more scandalous nudity may have been during Botticelli's time.
Yes, my inspiration IS my piece.
2) What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Botticelli was probably thinking about beauty and about the symbolism behind the greek goddess and of what her birth had meant for the world.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I think that my work is very western-culture based. So I guess it probably wouldn't take on the same meaning in a different culture.
4) What was the central idea for theme around your inspirational research?
Beauty, femininity, appreciation, life, etc.
5) What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
Well I was thinking about how much more scandalous nudity may have been during Botticelli's time.
Citations
https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/sandro-botticelli
http://www.theartstory.org/movement-feminist-art.htm
http://www.theartstory.org/movement-feminist-art.htm