Behind the Scenes: Woman of Conflict

Woman of Conflict, Watercolor and Ink on Watercolor Paper, 15" x 20"

The fireplace radiated warmth as I gathered a blanket around myself and settled onto a pillow in an attempt to stave off the all conquering cold seeping in from the unforgiving winter outside. My paper block lay before me with an assortment of supplies framing the crisp white rectangle in splashes of color. With one hand I flipped idly through my sketchbook deciding what to paint and with the other I fought off the cat eager to drink the water from my mason jar.

My eyes fell on an earlier drawing of Edgar Allan Poe, one that I had wanted to put to paint, though upon sketching directly on my fiber canvas, I didn't feel it was right.

I launched into a portrait focused almost entirely on the expressive quality of eyes and the color scheme grew out of a desire to have the eyes as the center piece. Over several days I laid down countless layers of paint, trucking the poor paper block back and forth to school to work on it during my days in the art room.

Eventually, after consulting with my teacher and other artists, I began working with ink to bring out highlights and push back shadows. Sometimes I think this is my favorite part, using white to create shapes and forms.

More and more often I've noticed pieces connecting with me on a far more intimate level than they used to outside of my photography, and this piece in particular drew out many of my feelings of internal conflict about the future. It is, and probably will be for a while, one of my favorites.