Still-Life Romance

Still-Life Romance

This is a still-life project done in a high school painting class at York Mills. 

After I finished this painting, I was told that there somehow seem to be a romantic story between the two mannequins. Ha, I guess that is mainly because of the powerfully used colours in this painting. And then somebody suggested names for my painting, "Romance of Mannequins" and "Star-cross'd Dummies".  That's cute, isn't it ;).

Happy Valentine's Day. <3

This assignment was started after a long long lesson on colour theory, and it gave me the opportunity to carry out my understanding of colour theory and put it into practice. I explored various colour combinations, light effects and brush strokes. Lots of fun playing!

Original Size: 40* 28

Time: Nov 2011

For more fun, I'm posting my creating process again: 

Figure 1. Practice still-life paintings on stone-paper:

I actually love the angle on the right, however, that spot had been taken over--- that is a really popular spot in the studio.

Figure 2. The "Palette"

In my class, students are asked to do a "palette" which includes colours they plan to use for the painting before starting on the actual canvas. This palette thing allows students to plan out their paintings before hand, just like an essay outline! 

HOWEVER, it didn't work for me at all because I don't make plans before hands for what I am creating; I paint bravely, fearless about making mistakes, and then I discover my colours in the process. My "REAL palette" was built up gradually throughout the painting process. 

Figure 3: Processing ■■■■□□□

So this is what happens to me most of the time when I do paintings: 

Although I had a big picture in mind before hand such as the composition and a general palette, still, the painting I am  working on is always a mystery to me. Every new discovery of colour and light effect is like a surprise and it delights my process of creating. That's an advantage of not using a "palette", not an excuse for my laziness XD.

If you are interested in my classmates' work, welcome to visit the blog of York Mills Art Council (http://ymartcouncil.blogspot.com/)