Yesterday I had a class critique. The feed back was helpful and I look forward to setting up a critique with someone from outside of the college. I plan on finishing off my 3 paintings that are already started to clear some room for the next three. I have mixed feelings about my project. In some ways I never want to look at another suitcase. But, at the same time, I love it and how it has developed.
The actual result hasn't changed much but the depth and context behind it has grown and progressed quite nicely. Originally my thoughts about suitcases were that they signify travel or moving out or some other obvious action associated with a suitcase. However, I've realized that it signifies all of these things at once. A suitcase signifies both a beginning and an ending simultaneously. My paintings suggest a general feeling as a positive, exciting change or a negative, dreaded change or anything in between, but a lot of the meaning comes from the viewer's own experiences. Suitcases are possibility, uncertainty, and change all rolled into one. It's exciting! I'm toying with the idea of entitling the body of work 'Emotional Baggage'...
-Consider the meaning and concept behind the series.
ReplyDelete-Add more ware-and-tare details to the suitcases to give them character.
-Push the strategy of relating the composition and background of the piece to the era of the suitcase (1930's, 1950's, 1970's, etc.)
-Work to merge the background and suitcase more so the pieces don't appear flat, such as by using a receding pattern to create depth, using the background more like wall paper, or by painting stronger shadows.
-The ambiguity of the pieces can be good, because the viewer him or herself can carry their own "emotional baggage" into the piece.
-Happy painting!