Mark Making Grids to Diptych to Triptych

Mark Making Grids

 

Thumbnail Sketches for Diptych

 

Inspiration:

As a girl who is well-protected, I was always fearful to go out alone. I was nervous to chat with strangers, take the train and plane, and stay in a hotel myself in a strange city. However, after graduating from high school, I encouraged myself to travel alone for one time, and I began to be addicted to this feeling. Now, wherever I go, I’m fearless to face all kinds of people and things. I’m truly peaceful and calm now.

I decide to use a cold tone. This is because I think “intensity” is a feeling that is dark, and “calmness” is a feeling that is placid, which are both suitable for the cold tone.

I also decide to use movement. This is because I’m trying to make the viewers view the world from my perspective. They’ll follow in my footsteps to review the outside world.

I’ll use high contrast too to show how different and completely my emotions have changed.

Process

Final Diptych

Triptych Thumbnail Sketches

Inspiration:

After getting rid of intensity, I felt excited about every single fresh thing. I always tried to go visit every landmark attractions, whether they are worthy enough or not. This period had lasted for about two years. However, when lying in a hotel bed after the whole-day long exhausting tour, I began to realize that I could not visit every site in the world. What’s more, there were some places I didn’t like, but I pushed myself to visit them because they were famous local attractions. From then on, I began to make my trip more comfortable—-just go to the places I’m interested in and rest well. That’s when I felt calm.

So I’m going to add “excitement”, an important transition between “intensity” and “calmness”, to my triptych.

Process

Final Triptych

 

Reflection:

In the drawing of Intensity and Calmness, both works used high contrast colors. In Intensity, the inspiration behind this work comes from the fear of traveling alone in an unfamiliar environment, facing the unknown in the past. When I was young, I was afraid of strange things, and I didn’t have the courage to talk to strangers. the first strategy I used is repetition. The repetitive used elements include wheel gears, irregular cubes, ladders, and chains represent my interior emotions when I travel to an unfamiliar place. I used imagery rhetoric to express my resistance to unfamiliar environments. The gears of the clock express my attention to the slow passage of time and show my unsuitability in a strange environment. The gears also represent the rapid development of technology, entering a new age. The acceptance of new technology is also a challenge for me. I used to be very anxious about the rapid development of new technologies. The drooping metal chain expresses the confinement of space and makes me feel unfree. The metal chains and clock gears wrap together to show unity. However, the suspended ladder shows my uncertainty of space, lacks of destination, and sense of direction.
In Calmness, the work uses similar techniques to express emotions. With the passage of time, I have the courage to face new things. Facing an unfamiliar landscape and contacting different people is the expectation brought by the unknown future. This kind of growth made me no longer face unfamiliar things like before, and no longer feel nervous and fearful of unfamiliar environments. As I adapt to new technologies, I see the diversity of the world from a more peaceful perspective. The development of science and technology is also a form of development of nature, and new ways of getting along with nature have been derived from different times. With the new attitude adapted, I am able to enjoy the views along with the travel. The repetitive use of circles shows my active mood. The soft curves show that I am no longer resisting the strange world. My expanded comfort zone has found a balance between nature and the city.

In the work Excitement, I repeated the elements of gears, but they have smoother curves. At the same time, the chessboard contains countless possibilities, implying my many possible expectations for the future. I repeatedly used different structures to form a circle, showing the diversity in my life journey. As I grew up, my fear of unfamiliar environments and unknown futures turned into expectations of the unknown. Every journey makes me grow, and some unfamiliar journeys make me who I am today. Although the colors exhibit high contrast, they are still very vibrant. In contrast, there are more abundant line combinations. The combination of substantial lines and dots shows the inner fullness. Not as rigid and empty as before, but filled with a sense of vitality and expectations. Comparing the previous two works, this work is my growth process, a transition between the two emotional states.

Whether in nature or in the city I live in, there are many sceneries that I have overlooked, or I have not been able to enjoy because of fear. And when I overcome these difficulties, the same scenery has become very colorful and interesting. This shows that I can better deal with the relationship between myself and the surrounding environment, and different moods give me different scenery. Not only is my relationship with the environment, but the change in my attitude has also improved my relationship with the people around me and get along with myself better. As I saw more landscapes, my mood became more peaceful and I transitioned to the next work, Calmness. Along the journey, the main emotion is excitement, but other emotions are also reflected in it. It is fresh to embrace all new things, which at the same time makes me very satisfied. Although there are many difficulties you may meet growing up, being out of the comfort zone is to expand it.