Acrylic portrait - Burning out
Title : Burning out
Size : 16 in x 20 in Medium : acrylic paint on wood panel Date : July 2022 Exhibition Text :
In creating this piece, I wanted to show a moment in my life, and how it often consists of overworking and in a very cluttered state, both mentally and physically, was created using acrylic paint on wood. Inspired by Owen Rival, I wanted to replicate his depictions of life, and the basic tasks and activities that often are not thought of, as well as the harsh unnatural lighting he uses. I want it to show the way students often put work before mental health, and how it impacts their surroundings.
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Inspiration :
The inspiration for this piece was an artist named Owen Rival, who creates captivating acrylic paintings to capture everyday moments in life. He utilizes harsh and often unrealistic lighting situations, but does so in a way that does not take away from the candidness of the image. One piece that I find particularly interesting is titled "Groceries," (left). In the painting, Rival shows himself in the car, seemingly about to take a drink. You can see his groceries in the foreground, and there are many hints as to the fact that he's heading home from a grocery run, something that it typically not a romanticized or highlighted part of daily life, especially in art. In addition to the subject matter, the high contrast between the harsh pink and teal lighting gives somewhat of a sense of urgency and excitement. It leaves the viewer wondering if there is more to the painting than what it seems, and if there is something more we should know. That being said, the way I interpret it is just as a dramatized depiction of a boring, but necessary, task. Another huge point that I want to pull from is the high level of detail and the failure to neglect any part of the background. The canvas is completely covered in highly rendered, very detailed objects. From the figure itself, to the grocery back, to the car interior, nearly everything is at an equal weight, similar to the way a photo would be. Although there is a clear focus in the figure and grocery bag, it doesn't take away from the quality of the rest of the piece. As opposed to highlighting the focus through a contrast of details or rendering, it is done so with the bright pink light contrasting against the teal. I would like to apply this attention to detail into my own piece, and create something with a highly detailed background that the figure interacts with and is a part of, instead of being a separate entity from.
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Another piece of Rival's that I really like is titled, "Gap Year." Although the piece as a whole shows a simpler and more peaceful environment, the high level of detail is still there in the woman's face, clothes, and the dogs fur. This painting shows Rival's fiancé napping with their dog, and reminds me a lot of candid photos that you might take of someone you care about in a passing moment. The placement of the figures isn't set in a way to emphasis a certain composition or portray the moment in a glamorous way, but instead captures a peaceful scene of someone the artist cares about resting and taking a break. One aspect that really stood out to me here is the simplicity of the lighting and colors in comparison to many of his other pieces. A lot of Rival's work separates the foreground and background with a high contrast of warm and cool tones, but this one primarily is cast in a cool shadow, with a pop of pink to show the main highlights. I think that because of this choice, the painting can highlight the calmness of the moment, instead of overwhelming the viewer with huge amounts of details in the background and foreground. Though I do want to create a more detailed piece, I really love the blue color palette with hints of warm tones, and I want this to reflect in my own painting.
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Planning :
To begin planning for this piece, I knew I was going to need to set up and take a reference photo that would be as close as possible to the idea I had in my head. My plan was to create a painting that reflected the way my brain feels when I'm putting work into things that I don't really feel passionate about. Even when I work in spaces clear of any clutter or mess, I find it difficult to focus and my mind often wonders. To show this, I took a lot of random objects and clutter that I had laying around and posed them in place so that they would be in frame when I took the photo. This included things like paint brushes, my laptop, a planner, my calculator, ect. Though my work space is never 100% clear of mess, I wanted to exaggerate it to portray a feeling of disarray and make it difficult to focus on any one spot. I also planned to add more to the final sketch after taking the picture. After setting up my desk, I made sure the clothes I was wearing would be something that I would study in, and ended with a plain, oversized t shirt, with my hair down and headphones on. I didn't want it to look "formal" or posed, but more so like a snapshot into my work time. I also wanted to make the lighting more interesting, similar to many of Rival's works, so I turned on blue LED lights that surround my room. For my first couple of attempts at taking the image, I tried using the self timer and posing each time, but this made it look static and stiff. Instead, I switched to taking a video and then taking a screenshot of different parts that would work for what I needed. I did this a couple of times and eventually narrowed it down to one final image. In this picture, I am writing on a piece of paper with my laptop facing me, along with the same various objects I had placed when setting up. After picking out this picture, I got to working on the sketch. I imported the photo into Procreate, and digitally traced over the photo until I had a sketch that I could understand without the photo underneath. I also added a couple more details, primarily the photos/paper on the wall behind me. I planned on covering these with lists, photos that I have, postcards, etc. Once I had the final sketch fully planned, I was ready to move onto the painting process.
Process :
SKETCH
Before I start painting, I had to transfer the sketch onto the wood panel I was painting on. First I wanted to tone the wood to something more similar to the overall painting, so I gave it a wash of a lighter blue. The painting was too small to conveniently project onto, so I ended up using a grid method. Doing this also allowed me to be more precise with details. I overlayed a grid onto my digital sketch, and then drew one of the same size onto the panel. I also made sure to use a blue pencil for this, so the lines would be more easily hidden as the painting process began. From here, I transferred the sketch from digital to the panel, matching each square from the sketch onto the corresponding square on the panel, paying attention to details and making sure it would be as accurate as possible.
Before I start painting, I had to transfer the sketch onto the wood panel I was painting on. First I wanted to tone the wood to something more similar to the overall painting, so I gave it a wash of a lighter blue. The painting was too small to conveniently project onto, so I ended up using a grid method. Doing this also allowed me to be more precise with details. I overlayed a grid onto my digital sketch, and then drew one of the same size onto the panel. I also made sure to use a blue pencil for this, so the lines would be more easily hidden as the painting process began. From here, I transferred the sketch from digital to the panel, matching each square from the sketch onto the corresponding square on the panel, paying attention to details and making sure it would be as accurate as possible.
FIGURE
The first part of the painting that I worked on was myself. This was definitely what I was most comfortable with in comparison to much of the other subject matter, but I still faced a lot of challenges, especially in the color matching. That being said, I did my best to match the colors to different parts of my face and started with the large sections of values, mostly grouping it into light, medium, or dark. From here, I eventually worked into more details and paying more attention to specific hues, such as slight red tones in my cheeks or harsher blues in the highlights. I tried to think of it more as sculpting with values, trying my best to make my features as accurate as possible to capture the likeness. |
While working on the face, I also began to work on my hair, clothes, and headphones. I found the hair to be surprisingly easy, and mostly consisting of blocking in values and then adding strands as detail. I did find that I needed to focus on hues a lot here as well, as the bottom half of my hair is pink and this showed through a lot, even with the blue lights. I had to make sure that I could communicate the difference in color, but still make it cohesive with the lighting. To do this, I often added a bit of the original hair color to a tiny bit of red or pink, until I came up with colors that worked well. This also helped me with matching values, as I had to make the hair flow together without looking like two separate entities. For the headphones, I kind of just blocked them in as I was working on the hair, especially since many of the values were similar to each other. Again, once I had the main values blocked in, I went in with further details, adding deeper shadows and highlights. Since these are primarily metal, this was the first part of the painting where I had to make an effort to portray a certain texture and material. I wanted to show the smoothness and reflectiveness, and did this by studying the way light reflected off of the headphones and did my best to replicate this with paint.
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One part I struggled with a little bit was the clothes, as it is something that I've never been super comfortable with. Since the shirt is one solid color, I didn't have to worry about any patterns or dramatic hue shifts, but it did have many very obvious folds and creases that I wanted to show as best as possible. I mixed a shadow, mid-tone, and highlight color, and slowly blocked in the values. The grid proved to be very helpful in this case, as I was able to reference exactly where different values should be placed. I also payed a lot of attention to the difference between hard and soft lines. This helped me to better communicate the form of the fabric, making it appear more 3 dimensional, as opposed to a flat object. I tried my best to show the way it would be wrapping around and falling on my arm, curving the lines and values to go along that form. I found that hard lines/shadows helped to portray more dramatic folds, whereas soft lines/shadows showed a more gentle shift in value and form. I continued to work on adding shadows and highlights until I eventually got to a point where I was happy with it and was able to move on.
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BACKGROUND
After mostly finishing painting myself, I jumped around a lot, and focused on a lot of different things at once. For the desk, I started by painting a flat color to serve as the backdrop for everything that would eventually be placed on top. For the most part I painted around the sketches of the objects I would paint in, which helped me in the long run to not get lost in the empty, white space. Although there would eventually be many smaller shadows from various objects, I wanted to wait to add these until the objects were actually there. Instead, I added some larger washes of shadow, such as the ones cast from me of just general shifts in value. I did this with a mix of techniques, first mixing a base color and a shadow color, blending them on the wood to get the outcome I wanted. For more precise shadows, I used a thin wash of blue paint, and used this to go over the base color. Since it was sheer, anything that was underneath would still show through, just tinted and darkened by the new blue color layer overtop.
After mostly finishing painting myself, I jumped around a lot, and focused on a lot of different things at once. For the desk, I started by painting a flat color to serve as the backdrop for everything that would eventually be placed on top. For the most part I painted around the sketches of the objects I would paint in, which helped me in the long run to not get lost in the empty, white space. Although there would eventually be many smaller shadows from various objects, I wanted to wait to add these until the objects were actually there. Instead, I added some larger washes of shadow, such as the ones cast from me of just general shifts in value. I did this with a mix of techniques, first mixing a base color and a shadow color, blending them on the wood to get the outcome I wanted. For more precise shadows, I used a thin wash of blue paint, and used this to go over the base color. Since it was sheer, anything that was underneath would still show through, just tinted and darkened by the new blue color layer overtop.
LARGE OBJECTS
Though I worked on both at the same time, I found a distinction between larger objects and objects that I just classified as clutter. Some of these included my laptop, calculator, paper, and planner to name a few, mostly just the objects that covered a lot of space and had a lot of detail. It was very important to me that each object would be distinguishable from each other, as well as obvious in terms of subject matter. I worked form the back to the front, beginning with the folders, plant, and laptop. Similar to pretty much everything thus far, I blocked out the values as well as the hues. Differing from the work I'd done previously, though, is that these objects were highly detailed and had lots of components that needed to be accurate in order to see what was going on. Because of this, I was very careful to make lines accurate and sharp, and keep everything within where they were supposed to be. I took a lot of aspects of painting the face, mostly the idea of almost sculpting with the paint, as all of the object were 3D forms, as opposed to flat objects. Thinking about it this way really helps me to paint more accurately and make it look more realistic in general. I also tried to break each object into different pieces, slowly adding details until they came together into one object.
Though I worked on both at the same time, I found a distinction between larger objects and objects that I just classified as clutter. Some of these included my laptop, calculator, paper, and planner to name a few, mostly just the objects that covered a lot of space and had a lot of detail. It was very important to me that each object would be distinguishable from each other, as well as obvious in terms of subject matter. I worked form the back to the front, beginning with the folders, plant, and laptop. Similar to pretty much everything thus far, I blocked out the values as well as the hues. Differing from the work I'd done previously, though, is that these objects were highly detailed and had lots of components that needed to be accurate in order to see what was going on. Because of this, I was very careful to make lines accurate and sharp, and keep everything within where they were supposed to be. I took a lot of aspects of painting the face, mostly the idea of almost sculpting with the paint, as all of the object were 3D forms, as opposed to flat objects. Thinking about it this way really helps me to paint more accurately and make it look more realistic in general. I also tried to break each object into different pieces, slowly adding details until they came together into one object.
Examples of this would be the laptop or calculator. For both of them, there were three main components- the "base" of the object, the screen, and the buttons/keys. I began by blocking in each of them, apart from the buttons, and rendered those until I liked them. I had to keep in mind that although the objects are flat, they still have dimension and are still forms in space, so I had to be careful to add the depth without making it look flat or overdoing it and making it look like something completely different. Instead of thinking of them as flat sheets, I thought of them more as very thin boxes, so they still have sides and volume, even if it is very small. If I hadn't done this, it would've just looked messy and inaccurate. After having these base shapes down, I started with the buttons. At first I wasn't exactly sure how to go about this, but found that giving an impression of the buttons was much more effective then painting and rendering each one individually. Since there was so much going on in the painting all together, it didn't make sense to attempt to make every single detail as realistic as possible, as it would become overwhelming and difficult to focus. Instead, I focused on giving the impression of clutter and detail, which was effective once everything was put in place. After having the buttons roughly in place, I was able to use a very thin paintbrush and a little bit of paint to add text onto each key. I didn't do anything in particular, mostly just small lines, but again, this gave the impression of detail as opposed to fixating on what was or wasn't actually there. For the computer screen, I did something similar since a calendar is what was pictured. The only text that I wrote clearly was the month and year, and everything else I filled out with lines and dots. Close up it might look messy, but in combination with everything else, it is clear what it is and doesn't get in the way of understanding. I repeated this process with all the other larger, more detailed objects until I was eventually happy with the outcome.
CLUTTER
Having a lot of small objects and clutter to paint helped me a lot to work fast, as I always had something to work on, regardless of if one part was drying or getting boring. I was also able to very easily add things that might not have been in the original sketches, such as pins or sticky notes. I pretty repeated the same steps from the larger objects, just on a much small scale. That being said, I didn't want any part of the painting to look like it was done lazily, so I still made sure to pay attention to details and the things that stood out to me the most about each object. This included things like distinct highlights or text. For example, I made sure that the clear pen looked see through and that you could tell it was made of plastic as opposed to any other materials. I did this by paying attention to the way light hit the sides and how they interacted with the form as a whole. I also tried my best to not overdo the rendering, as I found that it becomes overwhelming when even the smallest objects are rendered to their fullest extent. As I did with the larger objects, I focused on the most distinct forms and details until everything was eventually carved out and in place. I repeated this process many times, continuing to add clutter until it felt full, but not to the point where it was unnecessary or just difficult to tell what was going on.
Having a lot of small objects and clutter to paint helped me a lot to work fast, as I always had something to work on, regardless of if one part was drying or getting boring. I was also able to very easily add things that might not have been in the original sketches, such as pins or sticky notes. I pretty repeated the same steps from the larger objects, just on a much small scale. That being said, I didn't want any part of the painting to look like it was done lazily, so I still made sure to pay attention to details and the things that stood out to me the most about each object. This included things like distinct highlights or text. For example, I made sure that the clear pen looked see through and that you could tell it was made of plastic as opposed to any other materials. I did this by paying attention to the way light hit the sides and how they interacted with the form as a whole. I also tried my best to not overdo the rendering, as I found that it becomes overwhelming when even the smallest objects are rendered to their fullest extent. As I did with the larger objects, I focused on the most distinct forms and details until everything was eventually carved out and in place. I repeated this process many times, continuing to add clutter until it felt full, but not to the point where it was unnecessary or just difficult to tell what was going on.
WALL HANGINGS
One of the last things that I had to complete in this painting was the papers hanging on the wall behind me. In the original reference picture, these papers aren't actually there, and I added them in the final sketching process. Though I do have a physical copy of most of them, they are hung up in many different spots, and I wanted to put them all together on the wall behind me so it wouldn't look blank in contrast to the rest of the painting being busy and cluttered. I had already come up with a composition that was sketched out, and all I had to do was fill them in. I didn't want to take an easy route and just do solid colors, so I ended up collecting a lot of the physical photos that I wanted to include and using them as reference for the painting. The main challenge with this that I ran into was the change in color, as I didn't have any reference of these pictures under the blue LED lighting. That being said, this was one of the last components that I was finishing in the painting as a whole, so I had a pretty good idea of how the colors would translate. I found that pretty much anything, apart from very warm/red colors, were just different hues and values of a blue color. The undertones varied depending on the actual color, but I was able to pretty accurately match the colors in the physical photos to be cohesive with those in the picture. Since many of the things I was painting onto these papers were originally photos, I wanted to make sure I didn't take away from the rest of the painting by making highly detailed, more realistic portraits or landscape. To counter this, I ended up blocking in the main colors and values, but leaving out any heavy shading or detail work. Instead, I focused on rendering the actual piece of paper. I wanted to make sure they looked like they were hanging on the wall, and not just a part of it as a whole. In order to achieve this, I first gave each paper a means of attachment, whether that was a pin or a piece of tape. I mainly just wanted to avoid it looking like it was sticking from the back, as it could run the risk of looking like it was painted directly onto the wall. From here, I added folds and creases to each one, and made some appear to be falling off. After each picture was added to the papers, I also took a wash of blue and added overall shading to the paper and wall behind, just so that they would be obviously a separate entity. Similar to how I painted the laptop and calculator, it was important to me that they looked like their own forms, and not just a flat sheet of paper directly on top of the wall.
One of the last things that I had to complete in this painting was the papers hanging on the wall behind me. In the original reference picture, these papers aren't actually there, and I added them in the final sketching process. Though I do have a physical copy of most of them, they are hung up in many different spots, and I wanted to put them all together on the wall behind me so it wouldn't look blank in contrast to the rest of the painting being busy and cluttered. I had already come up with a composition that was sketched out, and all I had to do was fill them in. I didn't want to take an easy route and just do solid colors, so I ended up collecting a lot of the physical photos that I wanted to include and using them as reference for the painting. The main challenge with this that I ran into was the change in color, as I didn't have any reference of these pictures under the blue LED lighting. That being said, this was one of the last components that I was finishing in the painting as a whole, so I had a pretty good idea of how the colors would translate. I found that pretty much anything, apart from very warm/red colors, were just different hues and values of a blue color. The undertones varied depending on the actual color, but I was able to pretty accurately match the colors in the physical photos to be cohesive with those in the picture. Since many of the things I was painting onto these papers were originally photos, I wanted to make sure I didn't take away from the rest of the painting by making highly detailed, more realistic portraits or landscape. To counter this, I ended up blocking in the main colors and values, but leaving out any heavy shading or detail work. Instead, I focused on rendering the actual piece of paper. I wanted to make sure they looked like they were hanging on the wall, and not just a part of it as a whole. In order to achieve this, I first gave each paper a means of attachment, whether that was a pin or a piece of tape. I mainly just wanted to avoid it looking like it was sticking from the back, as it could run the risk of looking like it was painted directly onto the wall. From here, I added folds and creases to each one, and made some appear to be falling off. After each picture was added to the papers, I also took a wash of blue and added overall shading to the paper and wall behind, just so that they would be obviously a separate entity. Similar to how I painted the laptop and calculator, it was important to me that they looked like their own forms, and not just a flat sheet of paper directly on top of the wall.
FINAL DETAILS
After finishing with all of the main components and making sure the entire panel was covered in paint, I was pretty much finished. I made sure to take a really close look at everything that I had painted and took the time to fill in any missing space and add details were they might have been lacking. Since I had painted each object individually, pretty much everything was the way it needed to be, but I double checked so that nothing would be missing in the end. This process consisted mostly of straightening out lines and adding finishing highlights, but I definitely think it made a positive impact. That being said, I made sure to stop before overdoing anything, and was finally finished.
After finishing with all of the main components and making sure the entire panel was covered in paint, I was pretty much finished. I made sure to take a really close look at everything that I had painted and took the time to fill in any missing space and add details were they might have been lacking. Since I had painted each object individually, pretty much everything was the way it needed to be, but I double checked so that nothing would be missing in the end. This process consisted mostly of straightening out lines and adding finishing highlights, but I definitely think it made a positive impact. That being said, I made sure to stop before overdoing anything, and was finally finished.
Experimentation :
One of the main things I needed to experiment with in this piece was the color mixing, which I struggled a lot with in the beginning. Since the colors were very unnatural due to the harsh blue lighting, all the hues and values were different from what they might typically be had the photo been taken in natural light. That being said, just looking at the photo didn't make the colors look super far off from what my brain assumed they should be. For example, my hair looked pink and brown, even though they were various shades of purples and blues. Since every color was surrounded by an entire scene of the same lighting, the colors appeared more natural then they actually were. I struggled with color matching specific shades pulled from the photo, and they would always look "wrong" when I painted them onto the wood, as that was also a much lighter color. One thing that did help a lot with this was giving the wood a wash of blue, which helped me see the color in context with the rest of the painting, even if it wasn't finished. That being said, this didn't really help me when mixing the colors on a white palette. What ended up being pretty helpful, especially in the beginning, was using a color picker on the photo from a mid tone of whatever it was I was painting, and then looking at that color with a white background, so I was able to mix it more accurately. Once I was seeing the color more accurately to the surface I was mixing on, it became a lot easier to pick out and get a color that would work well. Once I was here, I could see the shifts in tone a value a lot easier, especially once it was on the painting, as I had the base color already down. I was then able to shift that color to make the shadows and highlights in a way that was much more accurate. I found that in the beginning, I was making the colors way too light and not blue enough, but using this method ended up being extremely helpful to creating a painting I'm happy with.
Critique :
This critique will be comparing my work with the work of Owen Rival.
Similarities May Include :
- In my work as well as Rival's, the picture highlights a candid moment in time. As opposed to making every detail of the composition "perfect" and fitting a certain standard, the works are a snapshot into an everyday task, such as working, sleeping, or grocery shopping.
Differences May Include :
- Rival's work shows a high contrast between cool and warm lighting, whereas I primarily stuck with the cooler tones. Although there are hints of red or pink in my painting, this is just the color of the object showing through the blue lighting, not because there is any warm toned lights. I wanted my piece to be more unified in a sense, and not have any one object or figure stand out more than the rest. Rival, on the other hand, highlights his main focuses with the high contrast of colors.
Reflection :
This piece is one of my favorite things I've made so far for a number of reasons, but much of it has to do with the process of creating it. In comparison to many of my other pieces, this one is very involved and has lots of details that could make or break the painting depending on the quality. Instead of really only being a background, main figure, and a couple of interactions between the two, there were objects covering almost the entire panel, even if they didn't have any direct connection to the main figure. While working on this piece, I developed new ways to manage my time spent on each section. As opposed to focusing the majority of my time on the figure, which is what I would normally do, I had to make sure the entire painting was equally detailed and high quality. The figure wasn't the main focus, so I had to learn to give everything the same weight. My inspiration was Owen Rival, who creates heavily detailed paintings of every day activities. I wanted to reflect this same feeling of a candid moment, and achieved this by taking a video where I was moving and adjusting my pose, instead of having a very stiffly posed photo. Rival also uses harsh and colorful lighting that might not be typical of everyday life, which I also tried to show with cool toned blue lights. The biggest challenge I faced in this piece was the color palette, which was really far out of my comfort zone. Although things like the skin looked "skin colored" in the reference image, this was because it was surrounded by similar colors and tones to make it appear more cohesive. Especially in the beginning, it was difficult to color match to specific points of the painting. I was able to gt around this a little bit by selecting the color on my phone and seeing it by itself, but this wasn't something I would've been able to do throughout the entire process. After having most of the color blocking down, it became a lot easier to see the true values and hues, but it took a really long time to get to that point. This piece somewhat tied into the self portrait I had made, as it is one of the first paintings I had created that included a lot of interaction between the subject and the environment. I was able to transfer a lot of techniques from that work into this painting, and having that experience helped me to figure out the order in which I should paint everything a lot easier, as well as what details would stand out the most and be the most important in a final piece. I think my favorite part was painting all of the clutter I have in my room. Although it was the most challenging, I had a lot of fun rearranging and adding in objects that I interact with in my real life. Instead of inserting myself into a scene that I've never actually experienced, I was surrounded by things in my everyday life, and that familiarity made it really exciting to see the final product. My least favorite part of the process was probably painting the face and arm, as it was a high contrast from the more "solid" surfaces, such as my desk or laptop. I struggled a lot with painting the skin with an accurate texture instead of making it appear smooth and like a flat object. I still don't think I was 100% successful, especially in the arm, but I was able to work it to a point where it looked okay. Although it took me a really long time to get to this point, I'm super happy with the way this painting turned out. It was a very new experience, and I hope viewers can see it as a candid moment in my life, while also understanding the significance of the high detail and extreme clutter throughout the painting.
ACT Questions :
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
Using Owen Rival as my inspiration, I focused on his use of vivid and bright hues to create an unnaturally lit scene, while portraying candid moments in his life.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Focusing on individual moments and experiences in life can help to make an end goal less daunting, and make the monotonous tasks more appealing.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I have found that it is important to focus on the moment, even if what is happening is boring and repetitive. Though there is an end goal in mind, all the small tasks need to be complete to get to that point.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
Rival creates work with the intention of capturing mundane moments in life and to show the beauty of everyday tasks and activities.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
Using unnatural, often contrasting colors help to highlight, physically and metaphorically, candid and typically non-noteworthy moments in life.
Using Owen Rival as my inspiration, I focused on his use of vivid and bright hues to create an unnaturally lit scene, while portraying candid moments in his life.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Focusing on individual moments and experiences in life can help to make an end goal less daunting, and make the monotonous tasks more appealing.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I have found that it is important to focus on the moment, even if what is happening is boring and repetitive. Though there is an end goal in mind, all the small tasks need to be complete to get to that point.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
Rival creates work with the intention of capturing mundane moments in life and to show the beauty of everyday tasks and activities.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
Using unnatural, often contrasting colors help to highlight, physically and metaphorically, candid and typically non-noteworthy moments in life.
Citations (in MLA Format)
Owens, Rival. Groceries. 2022. Acrylic on canvas.
Owens, Rival. Gap Year. 2022. Acrylic on canvas.
Owens, Rival. Gap Year. 2022. Acrylic on canvas.