During the two weeks of completing my final project, I went through a series of processes that would eventually lead me to a final piece. During my process, I learned a lot about myself and what my flow was. I think that is a valuable realisation and it will be constantly changing over time. Here is a glance into my process:
-Images taken from a Yayoi Kusama book. This was part of my intial research and figuring out what qualities of each artist that I resembled with and that I wanted to emulate. As seen in the images above, the repetition of circles is something I was captivated by and that is evident in my piece.-
-My planning pages and my first sketches. On the left, I was experimenting with the different colors and also the formation of the peace signs. Each of my decisions that show on my final piece are taken from these planning pages. On the right, that was how I originally wanted to put my work together. I planned to layer each of them and cut strips out of them, which would create a layer effect. My professor, Matt, pitched the idea to me of having each sheet stand alone, which I thought was a great idea. I was then introduced to Clyfford Still, and the idea of having each sheet alone was enhanced.-
-Laying out the sheets to see how it would look when the pieces were individual, but yet cohesive as a whole.-
-Planning out which coloured Sharpies would go on each page. At first, I was planning to use vibrant colours over the acrylic paint, but as I was taking to my professor Matt, the idea of each circle on the page being the same colour as the acrylic was interesting. That was an important decision because the whole vibe of the piece would have changed.-
-Work in progress. In the first few stages of completing the piece. As seen in the images above, I completed the work in different stages. I did the smaller, lighter circles first, as it would set the foundation for the piece. I completed my final piece in 4 stages; light circles, dark circles, the vertical line, and the “v” to complete the peace signs.-
-The larger circles were added and this was about 3/5 of the way to completion. As seen in the images above, each piece was already taking its own shape and form. It took a while to get to this point, but when I took a step back and viewed the piece from afar, it was worth every circle.-
-Placing the sheets next to each other. This is when I found my purpose in using Barry McGee as an inspiration. When I put these sheets next to each other, I would see the forms going in different directions and creating their own paths, and that is something I resembled with in some of Barry McGee’s pieces. When I took a step back and looked at the pieces next to each other, I could see parts that incorporated my inspiration’s works.-
-Deciding the final order for the piece. I wanted the order of each sheet to resemble a wave because I think thats how peace should take over the world. The world just needs an overload of peace, more now than ever. Therefore, from left to right, it is a wave formation. The wave has four stages; gathering momentum (accumulation), neutralising (launching), forming, and crashing.-
-75% complete. At to this point, it was about adding the details and completing the final piece. The images above don’t show the smaller peace signs. Closeups of 3 out of 4 pieces.-
