The piece Serene Waters aims to represent the balance within my family. It also aims to represent my childhood, as I wanted to become a geologist because my mother and father used to help me collect rocks along the beach. It aims to incorporate the influences that Jason Bradley creates with his seascape photographs. It also aims to incorporate the mood and color scheme of 'Monk by the Sea'.
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Serene Waters
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Planning
During my planning I knew that I wanted to incorporate the ocean or the lake. The beach is always my happy place the place where my family feels whole. I also knew that I wanted to corporate rocks into my piece to represent my childhood. When I was younger I used to collect rocks. While everyone else was swimming at the beach I would be wandering along the shore looking for rocks to take home. This is important to incorporate into my piece because with every wave crashing at shore, and rolling back into the ocean it takes my anxiety and worries with it. I want to represent the peace and serenity I feel while at the beach. At first I wanted to do the ying yang out of rocks but as I consulted with artist Jason Yi from the Milwaukee institute of Art and Design, we came to the conclusion that the ying yang was a little redundant because there's clearly a balance between the waves and the rocks thus showing my family's balance and serenity also.
Investigation
I wanted to incorporate the classic piece of Monk by the Sea and a modern influence of a photographer. Jason Bradley, a photographer, perfectly captures the serenity of being at the beach. Whether it's a lake or an ocean there's still that sense of tranquility and stillness yet with constant movement of the waters. Jason Bradley focuses on many different weathers and times of day in his photos which I also experimented with during my process. I took early morning pictures before any light came through and then I took mid morning pictures, as well as late morning pictures. I made sure that my color scheme and mood of my photo matched the mood and color theme of 'Monk by the Sea'. I wanted to capture the nostalgia of my childhood family and then the way my family is now by incorporating the colors from this piece.
Experimentation
While creating this piece, there was a lot of experimenting with the metaphor and the meaning of my piece. As I first began to formulate my aim for the project, I wanted to do a piece that represent me and my anxiety, I wanted to include what makes my anxiety go away. As I continued the project however and began to talk about my metaphor with classmates, I began to realize that it better represented my childhood and the nostalgia of being a happy family again. After my parents got divorced it was very hard for me to connect with my mother the same way. The process of crating this piece was also very nostalgic, I went to the beach with my dad and we picked out rocks together just as we had done as a family when I was younger. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day but this actually was more of a me as it gave more clear and indirect lighting. Although I did not get the silhouette piece I was going for I was more satisfied with the clarity of all the elements in the picture. I had to experiment with different sized rocks and shapes to get a structure that was aesthetically pleasing but also structurally sound. Originally I was going to have two layers to my structure to represent my mom and my dad but then I decided against so because I wanted to rock connecting the two towers to represent me and the two stacks to represent my mom and my dad.
Process
The process for this project was very nostalgic, because I took my dad to go to the beach with me and he helped me collect rocks just as he used to when I was young. The process was fairly simple but was time consuming to try to find rocks that were able to be stacked and smooth. I had to search for bottom rocks that were stable as a base and then i had to find gradually smaller rocks for the rocks above the base. I also searched for a rock that was long enough to reach both stacks. Then there was the wait for the sun to come up. I had no supports so getting the rocks to stand up was quite a struggle. I waited many hours for the sunrise to begin and to see which lighting created the best picture.
Evaluation
I feel my metaphor worked fairly well. People got a sense of serenity and soft mood because of the color scheme. I also created a piece that would be calming as well as a bit sad. I feel this was successful because when I asked my fellow classmates what they felt, many said "peaceful" while others said, "longing", and a couple people said, "sadness". I feel my piece was also successful in the sense of incorporating both artists. I successfully created a mood that was also captured in Monk by the Sea by Casper David Fredreich and I successfully shot a beautifully picture of a seascape just as Jason Bradley does with his photography.
Critique
The color scheme of my piece works very well in comparison to 'Monk by the Sea'. It gives the same longing feeling of wanting that family back as 'Monk by the Sea'. I feel my angle of the picture taken directly relates to Jason Bradley's composition of a lot of his seascape photos.
ACT Reflections
1) I can clearly identify the color scheme from Monk by the Sea and the same medium and subject matter as Jason Bradley's photography is seen in my artwork.
2) My artist's point of view is to give off a peaceful and almost longing feeling.
3) I discovered that many other people could easily relate to my main theme of my piece. Many people wish they could go back to their childhood, often times before their parents were divorced also.
4) Longing and nostalgia were the themes around my research.
5) I realized that people all over experience nostalgia in some form or another.
2) My artist's point of view is to give off a peaceful and almost longing feeling.
3) I discovered that many other people could easily relate to my main theme of my piece. Many people wish they could go back to their childhood, often times before their parents were divorced also.
4) Longing and nostalgia were the themes around my research.
5) I realized that people all over experience nostalgia in some form or another.