Sunday, July 26, 2009

Breaking Free

With each trip we take as part of the MFA program, we are required to create an image based on the place we last visited. Our March trip to San Francisco was especially important to me. It inspired me to start this blog, to create and experiment, to develop a new portrait style, and most of all freed me to return to watercolor and graphite.

The first lecture in SF was given by Kazu Sano, an extremely talented and prolific illustrator. When I saw the portrait that is pinned to the wall above the cage in my image, I was inspired and challenged to push my portraiture. He also talked about creating an image a day, which spurred me on to do the same.

The left half of the image is entirely digital. While the likeness of me is accurate, it is stiff and without expression. The chain morphing into butterflies is an obvious metaphor for this newfound, or rather re-found communication. I look forward to what is ahead.

1 comment:

Andrew Springman said...

It's an awesome image...striking.

I like the skin color better on the left and I like how the bust on the left goes down to a point parallel to the bottom of the cage.