This is a painting I did a few months ago for my high school. Part of the tradition there was that any art student who took an art class all four years of high school was allowed to paint a mural on the school wall, kind of cool. I did this piece on the left. One thing I like to do is give plant-life human characteristics. If plants and such were able to interact with us more, I think people would think twice before cutting down forests or throwing their garbage carelessly on the ground. The human limbs replacing the tree limbs give a sense of feeling to the tree. It is able to feel when someone is cutting it or setting fire to it, and in theory it would bleed the same way a human arm would bleed. The flowers with eyes at the base of the tree can see what people are doing to their enivironment. I gave them eyes because a lot of emotions can be read from a persons eyes. This is meant to show that plants could possible have emotions and to somehow make people feel guitly for destroying them.
I personally think the concept of this painting is pretty cheesey; although, i did have fun making it. I had a very short time period to work on this so i did not get to put as much thought and detail into the painting. The cliff in the back is actually a painting that i have already done, the original of it was more close-up. I threw it in there just for filler space. That's pretty much it. Let me know what you think. thanx for checking out my BLOG!
6 comments:
I like the concept that you were getting at with the plants. It is interesting to think that plants are living organisms, but we don't think about it that way too much. Nice job on the hands too, hands are so hard to draw!
About the crosses in the bg: It was an earlier piece of yours? What was the meaning of it?
Thanks checkmark. The painting of the cliff and crosses has no meaning to it. One night during the winter i was riding in the back seat of my mom's car. I had my head up against the frost covered window. When the light shined on the window i saw something that looked like a cliff with tons of crosses so i decided to paint it.
Nice work Michael, and I appreciate your explanation. Subjects can be cheesy, its true, but if you do it right, anything can work. I like how the hands turned out.
Do you plan on making a series dealing with plants with human characteristics?
Is the landscape empty to express an environmental concept of vegetation being destroyed, eroded?
Plants are more animal-like than we sometimes give them credit for. Anyone who owns plants can attest that plants are moving constantly throughout the day, based on light, based on wind, based on growth. It happens slower than we can see, but often if you come back later in the day, there can be dramatic changes. Coiling around other forms, sprouting, bending, wilting, petals turning up or down, pods opening, flowers shutting. A lot of fun behaviors to try out with plants.
Thanks for sharing.
P.S.
The mountain in the background was a nice touch.
Thanks miles. i really would have liked to do a series, and i have in a way. Most of what i did with this concept has been put into scetches and nothing more. Sadly, i don't really have time for painting, which would be the way i would go through with this series if i did have the time. Lack of time is one of the reasons i am looking forward to have a hands-on art class in the future.
The empty land scape is a result of two thing: a very restricted time frame and my inability to properly fill a landscape. That's something i need to work on. i did want to put chopped up pieces of hand and eyeballs strewn across the the background, but i had neither the time nor the "ok" to do that on the school wall. So, it was best to keep it simple.
I do enjoy watching time elapse videos of plants growing, then flowering, then moving, and then withering away. i think those are pretty neat.
Michael, dealing with deep space is always a complicated matter for artists, however the good news is you KNOW that already; and that is half the battle. Addressing these concepts will lead to better and better designs, and lead to more interesting and relating subject matter. Painting may be ideal, but explore the potential of these sketches in the more immediate drawing format. Drawing is a great way to work through ideas quickly and creatively.
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