Final Piece Evaluation

      My final piece shows a journey of a person, once depressed and trapping their mind in a fantasy in order to escape their reality, challenging themselves to overcoming this step back and using their dreams to inspire ideas that they turn into their reality. The frame acts as a box, trapping the woman inside, but as she begins to fight back eventually she breaks out of this box that was created in her mind. Using a mannequin to represent her creative freedom and grasp of reality, the mannequin bursts through the paper and being a solid 3D object has the ability to step out of the frame. The transition from 2D to 3D shows how her mind has changed from wanting to hide in a fantasy to creating and living a full life in the real world.
    I looked into colour, music and stories throughout my sketchbooks and have used them to develop this piece. Music and books are used to escape and enhance fantasies, i started looking into dreams but then moved away and looked on the outside effects of dreams. I looked into effects of over daydreaming and how badly it affects someone's life and health. With that i looked into the need and struggle to stop daydreaming and to take that energy and turn it into ambition. To finish of this project it made sense to create a piece that showed that change, to show its possible.
  


    For the first frame i did a simple pencil drawing of a nude woman. I included some dark shading but kept the whole piece light as if she has faded, she is weak and empty of creativity. The woman is nude and huddled on the floor to appear vulnerable and bare as if she owns nothing and does not exist in our world. I wanted to draw a woman as i looked into my ability of drawing earlier on and found i enjoy drawing people. The body is something everybody recognizes and can be used to show many different things through body language. Over this drawing i created some line prints on the glass of the frame. I used a clear plastic sheet for the print so i could line it up with the drawing but the rolled ink still made it a little difficult. The black lines disassociate from the actual body like a loose soul. In a way it shows how she is existing in a fantasy in her mind and losing touch with the actual world around her.
     The wooden frame is quite thick and one of the small frames out of the four. It's more claustrophobic and conveys the heavy sadness she feels that traps her there. I made the frame look rough, with a remiss paint work and staples with scratches in the frame. It shows a struggle and a want to heal her mind. I included ripped up pieces of text from a book to show how the fantasy has taken over and is embedded in her mind. Instead of taking in ideas from the stories she just held onto what she knew. She needs to consume the ideas and inspire her own. I painted the frame a deep blue. Colours have been important to me throughout my work, using them to get an emotional connection from the viewer with the art piece. This shade of blue is thick, the heaviness shows the weight of stress and fear to exist in the real world. It also gives a calming effect and is associated with imagination. It conveys how living in her fantasy lets her escape her anxiety for a short period. This could never last as life goes on and will not wait for her, she can not survive in her fantasy. This is why she needs to break out.
    To improve this i would add more rough markings onto the frame like sanding it down and cutting pieces out so it looks pretty torn and broken. The drawing itself still needs improving as some parts still don't look quite right, like the legs i feel are not shaped right and are too thin. I would also add some more shading around the body so it shows she is in a dark place in her mind as well as help make her body stand out amongst the white paper.

    The next frame takes on a stronger blue shade as this frame shows the woman fighting back, trying to break out. I made it a darker blue as this part is the hardest to do and creates the most struggles. To stand up with so little and confront/ battle with everything else is incredibly difficult, especially to do it alone. However, with the blue i did some yellow borders to show that fighting back is an achievement and she will be happier with her life once she breaks through it. The frame is less rough and has no pieces of book on them as she has wiped them from her mind to first focus on becoming herself. She needs a fresh start to ground herself in reality.
   I painted the frame back and used that as the background as it was smooth. Using black fine liner i drew the girl with simple lines so they were bold and clear. She is in control of herself and is one, unlike the disassociated lines in the first frame. I made it look like she was pushing on the frame, her head is still turned away as she is still feeling shy. She is blue as she has embraced the emotions and turning them into her fight back instead of disconnecting herself from the emotions. Used a white chalk marker, i drew some lines next to the black to highlight her amongst the dark colours. It also shows her power returning as she slowly begins to heal.
    To improve this frame, i would need to find a cleaner way to paint the yellow as they look dirty. It was difficult to paint straight lines so the blue didnt go on the yellow as it would never be covered by the lighter colour. Additionally, i need to re scale my drawing of the woman. originally her whole body was suppose to be in the frame but i drew her too big. If i drew her any smaller she wouldn't look right with the scale of other drawings in the frames. I would also need to make the movement of pushing against the frame look more realistic so people could feel the strain as she tries.

       This frame shows the beginning of her creative side beginning to bloom and excel out of the frame. I glued down more pieces of text from a book to use as the background. This time instead of holding onto the story in her mind she's letting it inspire her. Therefore she has a healthy balance of using fantasy to dream and turn that into her reality. She consumes the story to generate her own ideas. That's why i used it as a background so the text is on her skin, part of her instead of trapping her. I drew the woman with a mixture of pencil shading and fine liner. I combined the two techniques i used earlier to show how she has grown and became her full self.
     Then in the top corner i had the mannequin burn through the page. I made it burn to show how the new energy is so overwhelming, like it can't be touched its so powerful. I originally painted the mannequin gold so it looked strong like a statue but i went over some, not all, areas with other colours so it looked colourful. Again i wanted bright colours to show happiness but also a mixture of different emotions as it is unhealthy to not experience them all. They also represent creative ideas and overall fulfillment of life. I stuck the mannequin in so it looked as if it was coming from behind the page and pulling itself out. I liked the position of the left arm reaching outside of the frame showing how it is unlimited. I also splatted some paint on the page as if the colour was beginning to spread and is beginning to burst out.
     The frame itself was painted red but the sides were painted yellow to show a connection t the previous frame. The yellow turns into red, a stronger, brighter colour that opposes the blue colour from before as they are complete opposites. It shows how she has begun to turn her life around. On the frame i wrote lyrics from ABBA song "I Have A Dream". The lysics detail the need to dream but also sound hopeful for the future, touching on the inspiring need to dream as well as live. This song is also well known so the viewer may recognise it and have their own personal connection/memory with the lyrics. I wrote them randomly on the frame, making specific words bolder so people picked up on the message clearly with words like "Future" and "Believe". I used lyrics and pieces from a book in this piece as i have explored their uses throughout my work. Creating pieces inspired by the lyrics, melody or what i personally imagined in my mind. I hold music and stories very close to me and always like to find, or create, a deeper meaning.
    To reform this frame i would possibly gloss the frame colour so it looks clean and refreshed. Also maybe write the lyrics in a neater manner so they are bolder, although i like the personal touch as if they were written by the woman to remind herself. Additionally, the yellow paint round the side i thought of a bit too late and i had already painted some red which the yellow wouldn't cover, therefore looks a little messy and i would prefer it to be just yellow. Furthemore, im not sure if i should paint one of the ridges in the frame, in the middle, yellow as many people wouldn't notice the sides and wouldn't see the connection.  Last of all i'm not fond of the outcome drawing of the woman. She needs to look more real and present on the page as she is growing, i needed to do stronger shading and details so she stands out on the page. Additionally some body proportions are off and look unnatural, like her hands/arms and hair. Overall her body language was meant to be more closed up and not just folded arms. I wanted them wrapped around her body so she looked shy still and slowly progressing into the mannequin.

      The final frame i left bare so the focus was on the mannequin. I also had it bare so i could pour paint on it, i wanted it to look like the mannequin had absorbed the colour from the frame, with the lyrics. The mannequin stands solely on the frame as if it was ready to step out. I painted the mannequin gold again but this time poured the paint on. It was difficult to get the right consistency for the paint. I then let the paint pour onto the bottom of the frame. The colours unfortunately mixed and turned grey when i wanted them to be all bright. However, i like the difference between the colours as it looks like the colours are washing away the dark as the creative juices flow over. I splatted some paint around the edges as well to show how the mannequin burst with creativity.
    I burnt some pages and stuck them around them edge to show how the mannequin has burnt through the page that was previously there. It shows how the mannequin is the woman, much more powerful and complete. She is burning up the ideas that inspired her from the book and fulfilling her life with a healthy balance of dreaming. Furthermore, the mannequin itself is real and touchable unlike a 2D drawing, therefore more present in our reality. However, the mannequin does not look like the woman as it represents her soul and mind which is not trapped inside her body. Her ideas radiant off her. Additionally, i want any viewer to be able to see themself in that place, anybody can become the mannequin.
    I wanted to have the paint drip off the frame and dry in the dripping motion. However, i didn't have the right materials to make the paint thick to do so but i think it would have helped exaggerate the power and creativity pouring off the mannequin and how it has the freedom to step out and is not limited to a frame. I don't know if i should have some paint splats all around the frame so it looks more like the colour exploded everywhere, but it could distract from the mannequin with the focus being drawn to the frame more. I think i needed to plan a use of a variety of colours to pour as i didn't bother too much with mixing more. I want it more colourful and overwhelming.
   
     When hanging the frames on the wall, i hung them at different levels as if they were a ladder of different successes, she moved from the bottom to the top. I put them very close together so its like following a map of her journey, the viewers eyes zig zag to follow the frame sin order which is more effort than just looking at it in a straight line. This continuous the idea of how it is difficult to heal and become better but it is worth it in the end. I would change the frames slightly so they have a measure gap between them all, equally so it looks more ordered like a step by step plan.

   To develop this entire piece i could of done a smaller sized series but with more canvases. Either more drawings to show the progress of the woman in more detail so its more obvious how hard it is to change. I picture this in my head with using monochrome colours and possibly around an A4 size. Each canvas would have a change of gradient one side black (trapped and depressed) then as she progresses it grows lighter until its white. Watching her body language change would almost be like watching a flip book. A different idea is to do a similar thing but focus on the mannequin. The mannequin would start small, in an open box, and grow bigger then step out of the box and walk away. I could use clay or other molding material to create the mannequin instead of using the actual mannequin.