PAINTING |
TITLE: Pray
SIZE: 2ft by 2ft MEDIUM: Acrylic on Canvas COMPLETION: October 2, 2023 EXHIBITION TEXT
The title of this piece is named "Pray", it represents the religion Buddhism. Many people have learned a great deal from Buddhism, including how to be nice and respect others. Buddhism is a significant religion that I practice. Buddhism is the religion of my family, and I have practiced it since I was a young child. In addition to my parents, it has taught me certain etiquette and how to respect others, especially the old. Because it is a part of our culture and how we grew up, creating this piece has a special meaning for my family and me. The religion of the majority of Karen (Kuh-ren) people is Buddhism.
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INSPIRATION
ARTISTS: Dis Art and Albrecht Dürer's
I decided on culture as the theme for this project because I wanted to relate to the earlier artwork. For my inspiring study, I started searching up the many artists who have painted hands, especially the ones who have painted praying hands since that's what I wanted to paint. I've always wanted to try painting a hand that would symbolize my culture and religion. I decided to paint a praying hand to symbolize Buddhism, my religion. Every year, there is a special occasion that attracts a large number of Buddhists who get together to celebrate with a monk. There are prayer sessions during those occasions where everyone is required to assemble and pray with the monk. When we pray with the monk, we must join our hands to form a prayer; failing to do so would not only appear disrespectful, but would also be a show of disrespect. After searching for inspiration, I discovered two distinct artists who used different mediums yet had paintings with similar titles and themes. When I first saw these two works of art, I thought they almost exactly matched how I intended to design the prayer hands for my project. Because I thought these two artists' paintings looked incredibly good and detailed, I ultimately chose them. Both of them utilized color, texture, and the intricacies in the hands really effectively. When viewing the picture, you can notice every component, detail, and how expertly everything fits together. I enjoyed the piece of art by "Dis Art" titled "The Praying Hands" because it was incredibly detailed, the color scheme was well-executed, and it appeared to be a real hand. Because of the way he crafted that sculpture, effectively utilizing both light and dark colors, I was inspired by it. Dis Art did a great job of combining the light and dark colors in harmony. The painting was brilliantly done, and after seeing that piece of motivational art, I thought I might try to recreate it by carefully selecting my colors and combining them together. I also found the "Praying Hands" by "Albrecht Dürer's" to be inspirational. I was very impressed by how skillfully and precisely the oil paint was employed in the artwork. I thought the artist's methods for blending in his work were pretty effectively done. I was motivated by this picture because I liked how the artist was able to depict the various intricacies of the hand, and each element works well with the others without making the painting seem disjointed. The background and the subject of the painting, in my opinion, were extremely nicely balanced and seamlessly merged. This painting served as my inspiration because it provided me ideas for how I would paint my own piece and the particular paint color I would need to utilize while producing the finished artwork. The two paintings I chose as my inspirations both have respectable paintings with good details and well mixed colors that are harmonized. I was able to envision how I wanted to design my piece thanks to the inspiration I selected, and I will now include those elements in my artwork. Painting a praying hand and another topic that would reflect or represent my culture and religion is the inspiration for my artwork.
PLANNING
I sketched up a few ideas that I wanted to include in my artwork during the initial round of planning. I depicted a certain flower that stands for Buddhism in my sketch. Since I didn't want to limit my artwork to simply a painting of the praying hand, I decided to include this in the final product. In order for the painting process to go smoothly and quickly, I also prepared a sketch of how I wanted the background to appear. Additionally, I drew it to just have a general concept of how it would all appear. Once I begin working on my finished product, the first sketch will be a huge help.
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I took approximately three different images for the second phase of planning to determine which praying hand I wanted to use in my artwork. These images will be really helpful to me in determining which one would fit the best and which one would be the simplest to paint. I would evaluate these images to see which had the best lighting, angle, and side. After I took those photos, I made the decision to turn one of the praying hands I was considering painting into the other side to see if it would make a difference.
EXPERIMENTATION
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PROCESS
I made the decision to play around with the various colors I would need to combine to create the ideal paint color for the various parts of my painting. This test was important to me since it would help me identify the colors I need to paint the various subjects and components of the picture. I began painting on my canvas after selecting the appropriate colors.
I went back to review the several photos I had taken of the prayer hands before I started the process. I finally decided on the second image with its original side and viewpoint. After deciding on that image, I went ahead and ran it through a grid creator to make the drawing and painting process go more smoothly. I choose to have a 5 by 5 grid after running it through the grid creator. Once that was finished, I began sketching the hand onto my painting, but not before first sketching the grid and then the hands. Since it was easier for me to sketch the hand box by box, I started there.
After I finished painting the praying hand, I continued by drawing the flowers (which are lotus flowers) onto the canvas. I didn't really need to use the grid system for this step. I had to think a little when I sketched the flower in the center because I wasn't sure where I wanted to put it. After finishing the flower in the center, I moved on to sketching the rest of the flowers corner by corner. In the end, I decided to design the flowers close to the praying hand.
Once I was done drawing every component of the artwork I then decided to draw a rectangle between each flower to add more to the painting and because it still looked a little plain to me. After I was done with that the drawing portion of the process was complete and all I had to do was to start painting.
The first thing I did was painting the praying hand. I started painting box by box as it was helpful for me. I kept doing the same method until I finished painting the hand. While I was painting the hand I was also referencing the photo I took of my hand since it was helpful for me. I used that picture in order to figure what color I needed to use to paint the hand.
Once I was done painting the hand I then moved on and painted every flower that I drew on the canvas. The first flower that I painted was in the middle since it had more pedals compared to the other flowers. Once I was done with painting the flower in the middle, I then moved onto painting the other flowers from the different corners.
After I was done painting the flowers, I then started to paint the rectangle and the color I decided to paint it was red. I thought that red was a nice color which is why I wanted to use it to paint the four rectangles. Once I was done painting the rectangles I started to paint the background. The color of the background was a mixture of red, orange, and yellow paint. Once I finished painting the background, I thought it didn’t look good. The red rectangle box looked too similar to the background and I didn’t like it. Since I didn’t like it I decided to paint the rectangle box white and once it dried up I then fixed the edge of each box because I didn’t want it to look messy.
Once I was done fixing every component of my painting, I was then done with the painting. Below is the picture of the final product of the painting named “Pray”
REFLECTION
I was pleased with how my artwork turned out and thought it looked fairly well in the end. The only aspect of this painting that I would change is the background color because I still like the red I used to paint the rectangle. Although that was one reason I would change the painting's appearance, I thought it looked respectable and that the praying hand did a good job of conveying Buddhism. The hand was properly painted, in my opinion. Because I had already made a mistake and had learnt from it, it was incredibly beneficial, the painting process didn't take me as long as I had anticipated. Overall, I felt that creating this work of art was quite meaningful since I had the opportunity to work on something that represented a facet of my life and culture. I also thought the painting was quite attractive.
CRITIQUE
DIFFERENCES:
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SIMILARITIES:
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CONNECTION TO ACT QUESTION
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
The cause of my inspirations was the way the hands were painted and also how detailed it was painted. The effect it had on my artwork was the subject which was the hand since I had also wanted to paint the praying hand and I also wanted to have it very detailed just like my inspirations.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The overall approach the author had on the topic of my inspiration was culture and the religion Buddhism.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I discovered that there are a diverse range of people who have different beliefs and different cultures, but share similar qualities and express it through emotions or in art.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea and theme surrounding the topic of my inspirational research is culture and religion.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
The inferences I made while reading my inspirational research is what is the meaning of religion, what is the meaning of Buddhism and culture and this helped me out a lot with how I was going to create my artwork.
The cause of my inspirations was the way the hands were painted and also how detailed it was painted. The effect it had on my artwork was the subject which was the hand since I had also wanted to paint the praying hand and I also wanted to have it very detailed just like my inspirations.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The overall approach the author had on the topic of my inspiration was culture and the religion Buddhism.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I discovered that there are a diverse range of people who have different beliefs and different cultures, but share similar qualities and express it through emotions or in art.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea and theme surrounding the topic of my inspirational research is culture and religion.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
The inferences I made while reading my inspirational research is what is the meaning of religion, what is the meaning of Buddhism and culture and this helped me out a lot with how I was going to create my artwork.
CITATION
MLA FORMAT
- “The Praying Hands Art Print by Dis Art.” Fine Art America, fineartamerica.com/featured/the-praying-hands-dis-art.html?product=art-print. Accessed 2 Oct. 2023.
- “Visa.” Saatchiart.com, 2023, www.saatchiart.com/paintings/praying-hands/feature. Accessed 2 Oct. 2023.