Aptitude
"It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do."
-Jerome K. Jerome
Mr. Jerome's wisdom, so venerable as to have graced the paper tab on my Celestial Seasonings green tea at dinner, is perfectly apt to describe me today. In that I am idle. I haven't accomplished much at all, by way of either responsibilities nor even hobby-like distractions. And that's okay. Making me feel a bit more sane. I got a little less than 6 hours of sleep last night, which is an improvement, and I've completely ignored my homework for the most part.
Except that, naturally, I've finally had an idea for my second painting. It's along the lines of a few others I'd been trying to work, but they were too empty before. And I don't mean the picture plane. I really like to have symbols and subtle references in my more serious art. Mostly because of the art I've studied in art history. It's fascinating to be able to really analyse the different elements of a piece of artwork. Anyway, as I've mentioned before, I'm illustrating from the Greek myth/fable Eros & Psyche in Painting this semester. The first painting depicts Eros' first sighting of Psyche and pricking himself with one of his golden arrows. The second painting I'd intended to depict Psyche's second (?) meeting with her sisters, when they give her the dagger and the ominous warnings about her "beastly" husband. I was having a lot of trouble getting all three characters into the composition without diminishing the emotive and despairing/divided quality I want to generate in Psyche. So, I've cut the two sisters out and it's now just Psyche, waiting in the dark for her husband to come home and she has to kill him. My canvas will be nearly square, so that was another difficulty before, but I think I can use it to my advantage now. She'll be sitting on the floor, hunched over the knife with her head bowed. I want the impression that she's sort of boxed in, trapped by circumstances and apprehension. That's where the square-ish canvas comes in handy. She'll be mostly in shadow, but illuminated by three lamps on the floor around her. The lamp itself serves somewhat as foreshadowing (I'm too lazy to explain though, read the story and figure it out). There will be three of them because, uh, it's aesthetically pleasing? Three's a good number and it'll help balance and direct the composition. There will be three butterflies (or maybe one butterfly and two moths?) around one of the lamps. These will signify Psyche and her sisters, since a white butterfly is often used to signify Psyche (her purity and innocent, etc.). The other two moths/butterflies will be darker colors, signifying corruption and the jealousy that incites them to bring their sister a knife and encourage her to kill her husband.
That's all I've got so far. Feel free to comment with questions/suggestions.
And now it is time for homework.
-Jerome K. Jerome
Mr. Jerome's wisdom, so venerable as to have graced the paper tab on my Celestial Seasonings green tea at dinner, is perfectly apt to describe me today. In that I am idle. I haven't accomplished much at all, by way of either responsibilities nor even hobby-like distractions. And that's okay. Making me feel a bit more sane. I got a little less than 6 hours of sleep last night, which is an improvement, and I've completely ignored my homework for the most part.
Except that, naturally, I've finally had an idea for my second painting. It's along the lines of a few others I'd been trying to work, but they were too empty before. And I don't mean the picture plane. I really like to have symbols and subtle references in my more serious art. Mostly because of the art I've studied in art history. It's fascinating to be able to really analyse the different elements of a piece of artwork. Anyway, as I've mentioned before, I'm illustrating from the Greek myth/fable Eros & Psyche in Painting this semester. The first painting depicts Eros' first sighting of Psyche and pricking himself with one of his golden arrows. The second painting I'd intended to depict Psyche's second (?) meeting with her sisters, when they give her the dagger and the ominous warnings about her "beastly" husband. I was having a lot of trouble getting all three characters into the composition without diminishing the emotive and despairing/divided quality I want to generate in Psyche. So, I've cut the two sisters out and it's now just Psyche, waiting in the dark for her husband to come home and she has to kill him. My canvas will be nearly square, so that was another difficulty before, but I think I can use it to my advantage now. She'll be sitting on the floor, hunched over the knife with her head bowed. I want the impression that she's sort of boxed in, trapped by circumstances and apprehension. That's where the square-ish canvas comes in handy. She'll be mostly in shadow, but illuminated by three lamps on the floor around her. The lamp itself serves somewhat as foreshadowing (I'm too lazy to explain though, read the story and figure it out). There will be three of them because, uh, it's aesthetically pleasing? Three's a good number and it'll help balance and direct the composition. There will be three butterflies (or maybe one butterfly and two moths?) around one of the lamps. These will signify Psyche and her sisters, since a white butterfly is often used to signify Psyche (her purity and innocent, etc.). The other two moths/butterflies will be darker colors, signifying corruption and the jealousy that incites them to bring their sister a knife and encourage her to kill her husband.
That's all I've got so far. Feel free to comment with questions/suggestions.
And now it is time for homework.