Progress Week 5

I have made significant progress on Val. I hope to have her done soon so that I may finish Sarah.

I have also completed work on my third lithography. The edition was printed today.

I began work on the next image.  I am still in the process of determining how to create surreal and humorous narrative images. This next image of my twin sister is especially difficult. I cannot imagine her image without me in it somehow. So, I have drawn my hands reflected in a mirror. The reflection of my left hand will become my sister's hand. The mirror will depict my sister's structured and isolated world.  The space outside of the mirror--my world--will be open and free of any structure at all. 

INSPIRING ARTISTS:

Andrea Bowers is a feminist artist who specializes in drawing. The following are two examples of the type of work she creates. She is very direct in her work but presents her images in a unique fashion. In particular, her colored pencil drawings depicting small women at the bottom of a bare page within a frame. The subject is made to seem insignificant, yet at the same time the focus is solely on her making her very important.

Andrea Bowers, Feminist Health Collective, 2011. Graphite on paper. 30 inches x 22 1/4 inches.

Andrea Bowers, Mother and Daughter (May Day March 2011), 2011. Colored pencil on paper. 30 inches x 22 1/4 inches.

Frida Kahlo

I was not particularly thrilled by the female impressionist painters I researched.  When I think of historical female painters I admire, I tend to stop at Frida Kahlo. I love the personal content of her work and the symbolism. 

Artemisia Gentileschi

 I just discovered this artist so I am in the process of learning more about her. She was an Italian Baroque Artist who was inspired by Michelangelo and employed his painting technique of chiaroscuro. She achieved entry into the painting world--unheard of by women during the 1600s. Despite her talent, she was largely forgotten after her death.  

I enjoy the drama and the grandeur of her women.  Gentileschi - The Image of The Female Hero in Italian Baroque Art. I am interested in this idea of "the female hero" and how it relates to my painting series.