Dry Point
Title: Delicacy
Size: 15cm x 20cm Medium: Dry point on watercolor Completion: November 2018 Exhibition Text:
“Delicacy was made in order to express a feeling of being happy within yourself. I got inspired by Lucian Freud to create this piece. This piece was made to show love and appreciation for one’s self. Lucian Freud was my inspiration for this piece as he centered most of his first art on his wife Kitty Garman in order to let her know how much he lives and appreciates her. |
Planning Sketches:
Sketch 1: As soon as I decided that I wanted to move on with Lucian Freud’s pieces “Girl with a Fig Leaf” and “Ill in Paris” as my inspiration, I decided to create this sketch in order to try to integrate the texture and depth that he integrated into both of his pieces. This piece was meant to symbolize that difference doesn’t define someone. When I looked back on Freud’s pieces, I decided that this wouldn’t be the perfect piece to go forward with since I would find it very hard to integrate Freud’s etching techniques into it. I wanted to create something with more shadows in order to integrate some of his etching techniques and kind of replicate the texture he integrated into both pieces.
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Sketch 2: When I decided that I wanted to use Lucian Freud as my main source of inspiration for this piece, I decided to sketch this piece. This piece was meant to symbolize the beauty in being different and accepting it. Similar to Freud’s pieces, I integrated his early etching techniques and I decided to add depth into the face by etching out features that stood out to me such as the eyebrows, cheeks, and the surroundings of the eye. This was meant to emphasize texture and create depth. I decided not to move forward with this sketch as I believed that it didn’t do a great job of getting my point across, I felt as if people would have a hard time trying to find meaning in this piece unless I explained it to them.
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Sketch 3: I decided to sketch this piece when I decided that I wanted to use Lucian Freud’s “Girl with a Fig Leaf” and “Ill in Paris” as my main sources of inspiration. I knew I wanted to integrate Freud’s etching techniques and depth into my piece, therefore, I decided to create this piece in which light seems to be reflecting onto the face and creating a shadow. I believed it was a good idea to integrate light and shadow into my face in order to be able to integrate Freud’s etching which had a light to dark contrast. This piece was made to spread a message of love and embracing yourself. I decided to move forward with this design since I believe that it did a great job at getting my point across and I also got to integrate some of Freud’s techniques into this piece.
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Inspiration:
Tate. “'Girl with a Fig Leaf', Lucian Freud, 1947.” Tate, Tate, www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/freud-girl-with-a-fig-leaf-p77265.
Freud, Lucian. “Ill in Paris by LucianFreud.” Claudio Bravo Biography – Claudio Bravo on Artnet, Pace Gallery, www.artnet.com/artists/lucian-freud/ill-in-paris-tOAiby0mk7oTu_TNbQP3PA2.
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I took inspiration from Lucian Freud in order to create my artwork. I specifically chose “Girl with a Fig Leaf” and “Ill in Paris” in order to create my artwork since I wanted to integrate his etching techniques in to my work. Lucian Freud was a brutish painter who mainly specialized in figurative art. Each one of his pieces had a meaning story behind it since he mainly used art as a way to express himself. Freud created both of these pieces in 1947 when he got married to his wife Kitty Garman in order to symbolize the love and affection he felt towards her. Through this piece, I wanted to symbolize that self-love is very important to one’s happiness. When I started creating my work, I already had an idea of what I wanted to do and I felt that “Girl with a Fig Leaf” and “Ill in Paris” did a great job in representing that. Looking at Freud’s pieces I can see that both his pieces include lots of etching techniques in order to create depth. He also uses line in order to emphasize the texture of his piece. I decided to use his line and etching techniques into my piece in order to create depth. When creating my piece, I was thinking of ways I could integrate Freud’s techniques into my piece, I finally decided that adding shadows to my piece would give me the perfect light to dark contrast with etching. Adding shadows also allowed me to add depth and definition into my piece. I also decided to ass line into the hair of my piece in order to emphasize its texture.
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Materials Used:
The Akua Printmaking Plates were used as the base in order to etch and create your design.
The Squeegee was used in order to spread the ink onto the whole plate and to also remove any excess ink.
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The Scraper was primarily used to any marks into a plate and to leave a trace of the plate of your design.
The Roller was used in order to transfer the ink from the plate onto the watercolor paper.
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The Akua Intaglio Ink was used in order to ink your plate so that it could transfer into the watercolor paper.
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Process:
Step 4: With some newspaper print paper, start to gently rub away the excess ink in your plate. Make sure to not rub too hard or else you’ll take off more ink than you’re supposed to and your final piece is going to come out looking splotchy.
Step 5: While you are rubbing away the excess ink from your plate, you want to make sure that 8 minutes have passed and then take out the watercolor paper from the water and place it in some shirts so that it can absorb the excess water while still leaving the paper damp.
Step 6: Add some newspaper print on the roller and put your damp watercolor paper on top of it. With the texture faced down, place your plate on the watercolor paper. Start rolling the roller without stopping to that it won’t create any weird lines on your final print.
Step 7: Your print is now finished and you can place it on a rack in order to let it dry. |
Experimentation:
On my first attempt of trying to make this piece I had trouble trying to indicate how much ink was supposed to be on my plate because I felt as if too much ink would smear and too little ink wouldn’t transfer. When I started using my paper to rub off the excess ink, I rubbed too hard and as a result, I rubbed too much ink off of my plate. This was a challenge I faced because I had this issue with my first 3 prints.
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As a result of me having trouble trying to indicate how much ink was supposed to be in my plate, I rubbed too much ink off, therefore, when I started rolling my inked plate onto my damp watercolor paper, it came out very splotchy and there wasn’t enough color on my print. Some areas of my print started to lol darker than others and this made the whole piece look faded. There was also some parts around the mouth where I rubbed nearly all the ink off and you can see that some parts didn’t transfer which made my piece look incomplete as well. With my print looking very splotchy and faded, it was hard to tell where my light to dark contrast was and also the texture wasn’t very visible anymore.
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Critique:
Similarities:
~ All pieces integrate a light to dark contrast created by etching in order to create shadows.
~ All pieces were made in order to symbolize love. ~ All pieces integrate lots of texture and line in order to create depth and make the piece look clean. ~ All pieces contain a woman as the main subject. ~ My piece and “Ill in Paris” by Lucian Freud, both contain roses in order to symbolize beauty and love. |
Differences:
~ Freud’s piece was made in order to express love towards someone, unlike my piece, which was created to symbolize self-love.
~ Freud decided to integrate a light to dark contrast with etching mainly in the leaf, unlike my leaf, which focused more on the depth of the face. ~ Both of Freud’s pieces only show half of the face of a woman, unlike mine, which shows the whole face. |
Reflection:
Overall I am very pleased with my final piece and the way that I got to integrate many techniques that Freud had used for both of his pieces. I am very pleased with the way that I got to integrate line, texture, and contrast into my piece in order to create depth and dimension. I took inspiration from Lucian Freud to create my piece in order to give my piece a meaning self-love while still using the techniques that he had used for his pieces. My piece has some similarities to Freud’s pieces. Feud’s pieces were mainly focused on showing someone how much he cares about them, unlike mine, which is mainly trying to spread a message of self-love. While some differences were present, there were also some similarities between Freud’s pieces and my piece such as our light to dark contrast. Both pieces focused more of the contrast where the light is hitting an creating a shadow. Something I would change within my piece would be the fact that I could’ve added more depth into my flower and not have left it looking so dull. Since I was very focused on the face having lots of dimension, I forgot to add some depth and shadows onto the flower as well.
Overall I am very pleased with my final piece and the way that I got to integrate many techniques that Freud had used for both of his pieces. I am very pleased with the way that I got to integrate line, texture, and contrast into my piece in order to create depth and dimension. I took inspiration from Lucian Freud to create my piece in order to give my piece a meaning self-love while still using the techniques that he had used for his pieces. My piece has some similarities to Freud’s pieces. Feud’s pieces were mainly focused on showing someone how much he cares about them, unlike mine, which is mainly trying to spread a message of self-love. While some differences were present, there were also some similarities between Freud’s pieces and my piece such as our light to dark contrast. Both pieces focused more of the contrast where the light is hitting an creating a shadow. Something I would change within my piece would be the fact that I could’ve added more depth into my flower and not have left it looking so dull. Since I was very focused on the face having lots of dimension, I forgot to add some depth and shadows onto the flower as well.
ACT Questions:
1.) Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork:
After learning about Lucian Freud’s meaning behind his pieces and how he made made them thinking about the love he has for his wife Kitty Garman, I decided to integrate self-love into my piece.
2.) What is the overall approach ( point of view ) the author ( from your research ) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The artists main focus was to center his pieces around the love he feels towards his wife. To do this, he decided to include plants in which he integrated line, light to dark contrast, depth and shadows to his pieces to achieve his outcome. I decided to use this as inspiration in order for the viewer to easily see the message I was trying to portray while also focusing on the nest boss used to achieve the end result.
3.) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I discovered how integrating new methods into your piece could really change the way it will turn out and give it a different meaning. For example, since I used more light to dark contrast, line and depth on the face, that emphasized that section which allows people to understand the meaning better.
4.) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
I wanted to symbolize how self-love is important. Similarly to Lucian Freud’s pieces, I wanted to integrate love and appreciation into my piece. To achieve this, i used some of the techniques he used in his pieces such as etching, depth, light to dark contrast and line.
5.) What kind of inferences ( conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning ) did you make while reading your research?
Reading the meaning behind someone’s piece could really change the way you view it. When I first came across Lucian Freud’s pieces I didn’t really understand what he was trying to portray until I started to read the meaning behind his pieces and I found out that his pieces meant a lot to him. I took this in mind when creating my pieces as I wanted my pieces to have a meaning that easy to understand.
After learning about Lucian Freud’s meaning behind his pieces and how he made made them thinking about the love he has for his wife Kitty Garman, I decided to integrate self-love into my piece.
2.) What is the overall approach ( point of view ) the author ( from your research ) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The artists main focus was to center his pieces around the love he feels towards his wife. To do this, he decided to include plants in which he integrated line, light to dark contrast, depth and shadows to his pieces to achieve his outcome. I decided to use this as inspiration in order for the viewer to easily see the message I was trying to portray while also focusing on the nest boss used to achieve the end result.
3.) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I discovered how integrating new methods into your piece could really change the way it will turn out and give it a different meaning. For example, since I used more light to dark contrast, line and depth on the face, that emphasized that section which allows people to understand the meaning better.
4.) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
I wanted to symbolize how self-love is important. Similarly to Lucian Freud’s pieces, I wanted to integrate love and appreciation into my piece. To achieve this, i used some of the techniques he used in his pieces such as etching, depth, light to dark contrast and line.
5.) What kind of inferences ( conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning ) did you make while reading your research?
Reading the meaning behind someone’s piece could really change the way you view it. When I first came across Lucian Freud’s pieces I didn’t really understand what he was trying to portray until I started to read the meaning behind his pieces and I found out that his pieces meant a lot to him. I took this in mind when creating my pieces as I wanted my pieces to have a meaning that easy to understand.
Bibliography
The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/373822.
Freud, Lucian. “Ill in Paris by LucianFreud.” Claudio Bravo Biography – Claudio Bravo on Artnet, Pace Gallery, www.artnet.com/artists/lucian-freud/ill-in-paris-tOAiby0mk7oTu_TNbQP3PA2.
Tate. “'Girl with a Fig Leaf', Lucian Freud, 1947.” Tate, Tate, www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/freud-girl-with-a-fig-leaf-p77265.
“Kitty Godley.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 14 Feb. 2011, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/art-obituaries/8324288/Kitty-Godley.html.
“Lucian Freud Overview and Analysis.” The Art Story, www.theartstory.org/artist-freud-lucian.htm.
The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/373822.
Freud, Lucian. “Ill in Paris by LucianFreud.” Claudio Bravo Biography – Claudio Bravo on Artnet, Pace Gallery, www.artnet.com/artists/lucian-freud/ill-in-paris-tOAiby0mk7oTu_TNbQP3PA2.
Tate. “'Girl with a Fig Leaf', Lucian Freud, 1947.” Tate, Tate, www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/freud-girl-with-a-fig-leaf-p77265.
“Kitty Godley.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 14 Feb. 2011, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/art-obituaries/8324288/Kitty-Godley.html.
“Lucian Freud Overview and Analysis.” The Art Story, www.theartstory.org/artist-freud-lucian.htm.