Release” is, in essence, a self-portrait. It showcases a female figure in a somewhat vulnerable pose. Her eyes are closed and her posture gives the impression that she is “giving” herself to someone or something. There are three main colors present within this painting, white, peach, and black. When you look at this painting, the main point of interest is the woman, but then the direction of her face and the blending of the peach and white lead your eye to the edge of the paper.
This painting was done with oil paints on canvas. During the creation of this artwork, I used an impasto painting style to create thick applications of color. I created this artwork to document my emotions, or more specifically my emotions connected to a recurring dream. Although this dream was recurring, it was slightly different each time I had it. But one thing stayed the same each time I had it, and that was who was in it. This person had once been a major part of my life, but that was YEARS ago, so I couldn’t understand why I kept having these dreams and why they were effecting me so much emotionally. So, I decided to recognize and document how these dreams were making me feel within this painting. The main emotion connected to this painting is vulnerability. This painting depicts my most vulnerable self. It depicts the vulnerability I gave to this person, which they took advantage of. I am releasing the emotions that tied me to this dream, and taking back what I once gave away too easily. My main goal for this painting was to regain my peace of mind, and to stop these dreams from happening again. As an artist, my goal for this painting was to be able to successfully document my emotions. In the end, this painting did exactly what I wanted it to do. It stopped the dreams from occurring. It gave me peace of mind. Overall, I would call this painting successful. I was able to successfully recognize and document my emotions. I never would have thought that connecting these emotions to a visual painting would help to stop the dreams from occurring. This painting was the my first step into creating conceptual art. |