Free

   I got the original idea for this when watching an episode of criminal minds. I began day dreaming which gave me the image of someone holding onto a prison fence and being pulled off; causing some blood from their fingers onto the fence lines. Using pallet knives i roughly spreaded white paint on the page then put two blobs of blue acrylic paint, using the pallet knives to spread it out roughly. I let it mostly dry then used one of the small pallet knives to slice through the thick paint, thus creating a scratchy, rough effect. Almost like a trapped person scratching to try and get out. Then i added some red acrylic and used graphite to draw the lines of the fence from the image i saw.
   I used this particular shade of blue as it reminds me of the Berlin wall art; many artists used this colour to brightly express their freedom. This could easily be viewed as someone breaking free to follow their dreams, or could be someone suffering from a delusions to escape their reality.    
  Following the escaping reality idea, for me it links to my excessive daydreaming problem. A while ago i was unsure if the amount i daydream was normal; once i searched about it i came across maladaptive daydreaming. It hasn't been recognised as an actual disorder yet, but many people have claimed to have it and are trying to get research done. When reading an article about MD i realised how much i identified with it, which scared me slightly. (  https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/d3gpyw/when-does-obsessive-daydreaming-become-a-mental-illness-591ee1167f3107da28bf88f8 ). This was the main reason i took on the reality vs fantasy topic as i use books, tv shows, films and music to fuel my daydreaming.
   To finish this piece i used black biro in a loose scribble technique to draw some sewing scissors i owned. These scissors took my interest as they were designed to look like a bird, which does not particularly show up in the technique i used. but the object made me think of Salvador Dali's style. Especially his own piece "Always Together". The way the scissors are in the middle of the blue paint show how it was used to cut through. Additionally how the scissors were designed to look like a bird adds to the freedom as birds can fly away, anywhere. It reminds me of the Berlin wall art of a bird holding chains from a prison window.
   To improve this piece i would work on building up the drawing of the scissors to a more detailed quality so the bird design would be more visible. Additionally i could change the background either to black, so the white stands out making the whole piece darker and more bold to show how people get lost and shut themselves away by daydreaming. Or use pages that could hold the script from the episode of criminal minds i watched; or lyrics, poetry, etc about freedom.