Project Statement
The emotion I chose to represent in my piece was stress. I thought the best color scheme to achieve would be red. To amplify the theme of stress, I wanted the piece to be disorganized, random, and chaotic which I achieved by throwing shapes on top of one another. I tried to crowd shapes around the brain and mouth because I feel like those are your two hardest parts of my head to use when I’m stressed. After I had found the best place for all of my shapes, I added color to them, so I could evenly disperse hues. I still felt this piece was a bit empty, so added some half-moon-shaped twisting them around to help the piece feel more connected. I also added lime green shapes to contrast the red and play in more to the stressed feel of everything.
Process
View detailed project process at Inventive Portraiture Process Post
Reflection
This was one of my favorite projects all year. I very much enjoyed working with shapes and developing the color pallet to stimulate emotion in the viewer. Taking different figures and applying them symmetrically and asymmetrically brought out creative inspiration. I felt like I excelled at incorporating the shapes independently and bringing them together to create a striking image that would be compelling for viewers. Much like a puzzle proves a conundrum until solving it brings relief, this project challenged my creativity in ways I did not expect and provided fulfillment when I made creative discoveries. Each step of this project brought considerable engagement, from making the shapes to finding a way to arrange them all in compliment and contrast to the supporting element.