Painting
Title: The Weeping
Size: 60.96 cm c 60.96 cm (2ft x 2ft) Medium: Acrylic on canvas Completion: July 2019 Exhibition TextThe Weaping is inspired by Edvard Munch's The Scream. It is a expressionist style painting depicting the sadness that people feel about the amount of pollution that has been happening lately. The darker, murkier hues represent the damage we are doing to our planet, along with the factories in the background polluting the water, hence the figure in the foreground crying.
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Planning
Inspiration
“The Scream, 1893 by Edvard Munch.” Edvard Munch, 2011, www.edvardmunch.org/the-scream.jsp.
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"One evening I was walking along a path, the city was on one side and the fjord below. I felt tired and ill. I stopped and looked out over the fjord—the sun was setting, and the clouds turning blood red. I sensed a scream passing through nature; it seemed to me that I heard the scream. I painted this picture, painted the clouds as actual blood. The color shrieked. This became The Scream" -Edvard Munch.
Edvard Munch was a Norwegian painter most well known for his works in expressionism and German expressionism. The Scream was one of his most recognized pieces, depicting a man in the foreground with a blood red sky in the background. His inspiration for The Scream was said to be from the volcanic eruption of Krakatoa that made the sky turn that red orange color. People also say that his inspiration was from his sister, who, at the time, was in a mental hospital around the area where the scene takes place. I wanted to use this painting as an inspiration because I really wanted to experiment with his style of art. I really like the smooth colors in the sky and water, and I wanted to incorporate some of the problems of today into a classic piece. |
Sketches
These were my sketches that I created before beginning my painting. I wanted to make sure I knew the techniques I was going to use, as well as the information about my artist. My first idea was to do a spin off of Van Gogh's Starry Night, but then I decided to do Munch's The Scream because it could carry my message further.
Experimentation
One thing that I really had to work on was making sure all of my colors were really blended together. It was very important for the style of painting that I was doing that all the colors blended together seamlessly, so that's something I had to experiment with.
I also had to work on getting the colors just right. I wanted them to resemble Munch's original colors, but I tinted them all a little darker and murkier to better fit the meaning of the piece. |
Process
1. After creating the canvas, and covering it with gesso, I took brush #1 with the maroon and grey colors, I made whispy, wavy brushstrokes to create the style sky like The Scream The colors in my inspiration piece are a lot brighter and lighter, but for the meaning behind my piece, I wanted to make my colors darker and murkier. |
3. Then, I began working on the person in the foreground. I used the smaller brushes (#4 and #6) because I had to get more detail. I used the skin colors and the light grey for shadows. I used black, dark blue and a little bit of the light blue to make the jacket part. To emulate my inspiration photo, I used a similar technique to painting the sky to make it look textured |
5. Then I started working on the sand and the factory in the background. I used the same yellow-orange color for this as I did in the sky and used brush #2 to put down the base color. I began painting the factory silhouette using brush #5 because it was an angled brush and I could get a precise line with it. |
6. Next, I worked on the pathway on the bridge. To create the stripey design like in my inspiration, I took brush #1 first and made light movements in the direction toward the vantage point. Then, I went in with a smaller brush (brush #6) add more detailed, skinnier lines to blend everything together. |
Reflection
Critique
In the end, I like how this piece turned out. I think the style of the painting played into my talents, and the style is one that I will look to continue to do in the future. Through doing this piece, I think I found the style of art that I like to do the best. I really like how the sky turned out, and I think the whole piece really mirrors my inspiration. One issue I had with the sky was sometimes I didn't have enough paint on my brush, so some of the colors from underneath are still able to be seen, which was annoying. The other thing I struggled with was getting straight lines for the factory silhouette in the background.
Compare and Contrast
Similarities
Differences
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“The Scream, 1893 by Edvard Munch.” Edvard Munch, 2011, www.edvardmunch.org/the-scream.jsp.
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ACT Responses
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork.
Similar techniques with the brushstrokes were used in my piece compared to my inspiration photo, The Scream by Edvard Munch. The piece also inspired me to use a similar mood in my piece.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
In my inspiration, Edvard Munch, wanted to portray the horror in his painting, using the facial expressions in the figure and the bold colors in the background.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I can generalize that Munch uses his color choices to get the feeling he wants to the audience.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The theme of The Scream is shock and horror. As I read articles about what the scream could be alluding to, I found that it was created after a volcanic eruption, so it could be representing that. It could also be a reaction to his sister, who had recently been put in a mental hospital.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I could infer that Munch had a very strong feeling of tension or anger while painting this piece.
Similar techniques with the brushstrokes were used in my piece compared to my inspiration photo, The Scream by Edvard Munch. The piece also inspired me to use a similar mood in my piece.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
In my inspiration, Edvard Munch, wanted to portray the horror in his painting, using the facial expressions in the figure and the bold colors in the background.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I can generalize that Munch uses his color choices to get the feeling he wants to the audience.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The theme of The Scream is shock and horror. As I read articles about what the scream could be alluding to, I found that it was created after a volcanic eruption, so it could be representing that. It could also be a reaction to his sister, who had recently been put in a mental hospital.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I could infer that Munch had a very strong feeling of tension or anger while painting this piece.
Bibliography
“The Scream, 1893 by Edvard Munch.” Edvard Munch, 2011, www.edvardmunch.org/the-scream.jsp.