Monster

          Monster was my medical ethics piece, based on The Monster Study. I chose to do the Monster Study because I think people are especially shocked and horrified when experiments are done on children. The experiment began in 1939, and was performed on 22 orphan children. Half of the children were given positive praise for their speech, while the other half was given negative feedback for every imperfection they spoke. The phrase shown on my piece “Don’t ever speak, unless you can do it right” was actually said to these children, some were as young as 5 years old.  While many of the children did not develop a stutter, they did suffer from terrible negative psychological effects; several began to refuse to speak at all in fear of being reprimanded. These speech problems would affect them for the rest of their lives. This experiment did not become publicized until later in the 2000’s. 

In my painting, I chose reds, blacks and oranges to create a grungy-like atmosphere that resembled something like hell—while the child himself was rather gray and colorless. I think most of us can agree that what these children went through was a psychological hell, and I wanted to show how this treatment sapped the color or light from their childhood. I made a makeshift gas-mask to symbolize how many of these children had to filter how they spoke in order to avoid criticism from their doctors. There are other little details I included, such as a faint silhouette of the doctor in the background.

            I think overall the piece is effective in representing what it was based off of; however, there is a lot of room for improvement. If I could re-do it, I’d like to make the text brighter so it’s more easily seen. I also had the end of the top phrase trail off the canvas with the words clumped together—this detail was done on purpose to show that there was no “right” way for these children to speak, as they would be negatively reprimanded no matter what. However, I worry it just came out looking poorly rendered more so than anything.

Overall I like how it looks, and I can always go back and touch up the text! 

Monster, a multimedia painting done with acrylic on a 16x20 Canvas.

Filtered in Photoshop Express: 

Detail Shots:

Don't Ever Speak Unless You Can Do it Right

Trust The Doctor

Conflicting Feelings

     Conflicting Feelings was my first pour I did in class! A pour is typically an organic type painting that you allow to take on its own shapes as you pour it. (Of course it can be manipulated to an extent!) I initially went for warm and or autumn-y colors. 

     After looking at it for a time, I chose the title Conflicting Feelings as it reminded of how someone might feel in a moment of invoked mixed emotions. For example, that feeling one might get riding on their first roller coaster or just trying something new in general: excitement, anxiety, hesitation, happiness, fear. That's my personal interpretation of it, anyway! 

Conflicting Feelings, done with acrylic on a 13x16 canvas.

Purple Street Lights

This is my second analogous painting, using red-violet, violet, and blue-violet, (with a touch of straight blue in the background). This is an organic painting that is asymmetrical, as he is primarily on the right-hand side of the painting.

                I believe the focal point would fall on his face, as it has the most lighting and details on the overall painting. I attempted to capture texture in his hair to make it look as if it were slicked back, using lighter lines.

As I said before this guy was meant to be what I thought a humanoid of my Doberman may look like. Just as the Doberman did, this portrait also came out a bit more cartoon-y than my liking (mainly because of his eyes), since he came out kind of looking like a Disney prince. His neck is also a bit too long and I need to bring his shoulders up to fix that! I also wish I could have captured his more angular features better (since it’s why I picked this model), but it got more smoothed out during blending. Despite its flaws I think I learned what I can do differently when I do my next portrait to make it easier!

Purple Street Lights, done in Acrylic on a 16x20 canvas.

Devil Dog

     This is my complementary analogous, using purple, red-orange and orange, with yellow as my compliment to purple. This painting is asymmetrical, as the Doberman is mainly pointed toward the right-hand side. I definitely think the focal point is drawn in on the bright yellow moon which frames his much darker figure. I tried to emulate the Doberman's shiny fur by emulating a velvety texture. I think the colors may make him look rather intimidating, due the darker contrast against the reds and oranges—as well as the fixated eyes.

     I like this piece though he came out a bit more cartoon-y than I would have liked!  I exaggerated his nose a bit (which reminds me of Scooby-Doo a little bit) and his eyes are very animated. I’d also like to touch up the black background when I get the chance!

Devil Dog, done in acrylics on a 16x20 canvas.