Watercolor Portrait
Exhibition Text
Multiple Strings attached is a watercolor piece about the loss of people in someone's life. The loss is not permanent, such as death, but as a result there is sadness about the loss of comradery and confusion over miscommunication.
Planning
Cultural Inspiration
Noh is a type of traditional Japanese theatre. The word itself means “skill” and “craft in art performance.” The performances themselves are musicals based off of tales from old literature. The characters in every performance are supernatural beings that have descended to earth in human form in order to tell a story to mankind. These various stories are told through small gestures and movements in addition to the use of masks. Noh masks are carved, typically from a singular piece of wood and then painted with natural earth toned colors. These masks represent various things such as age, gender, social ranking, and human or non-human such as demons, or divine beings. There is a wide range of these masks including sixty characters and over four-hundred masks. A focal of Noh theatre is the use of body movement and ability to manipulate the light to change the appearances of the various characters throughout the play.
The slight tilt of the head can indicate a drastic difference in the emotion being portrayed in a singular character. Masks are reserved for leads of a play, and those who do not wear masks in the performance are expected to maintain over-exaggerated facial expressions as if one was wearing a mask. Each mask has it’s own specific name, and general description of the character. Props are minimalistic, and each character is given a fan that can be used to represent multiple items in different situations, such as a sword. In my own piece, I intend to use various masks such as Kagekiyo, Namanari, and Hannya which are representative of inner demons, evil, and jealousy. There are also certain characters that represent transition phases from man to demon which are usually due to constant emotions such as greed or jealousy. In addition to the characters, I plan on using the traditional color schemes of Japanese watercolor art. |
Planning Sketches
This was my initial idea for the piece. I wanted to do a female figure for sure, and worked with my ideas after. I really enjoyed the Noh masks in the form of balloons. The one area of concern that I have with this piece is the mask that covers her face. I feel that it is slightly out of place, but I know that I do not know what I would use to replace it. I decided on not using a human face, because that would subtract from the purpose of masks.
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This was my second obvious connection to the Noh masks and traditional theatre. The mask is used to defer from the face of this "woman." I used Sharpie to create stark contrast between black and white. I even contemplating using bright pastel watercolors or gouache, but decided on leaving it in this simpler form for the time being. I may decide to come back to this piece for a different piece such as a block print in the future.
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Seeing as I wanted to keep my first sketch for my final piece, I decided on brainstorming for what I could use in place of the blank face mask. I finally decided on the idea of a balloon face. This would be an interesting idea with the masks acting as balloons, and in return the face itself would be a balloon.
Process
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4. I began to create base layers for my main areas of color. This included the sweater that the girl was wearing, skin-tone, skirt, socks, and the bases of the mask.
5. As seen in my experimentation, I attempted to follow a similar color scheme to that of traditional Japanese artwork. Often, this involves lighter more earth-tones or muted colors. There are no real vibrant hues but mellow pinks, greens, gold, and various shades of tan and bronze. Black is reserved for hair and statement patterns or pieces of clothing. 6. Unlike in traditional Japanese paintings, I decided against using a dark outline on my figures. The masks are definitely more defined since that is how they are designed, but for the woman, I wanted to keep the style more realistic and traditional to my own style of art. I felt that the use of black lines would make the piece feel more childish and non-professional. It would also be too loose of a connection to my Japanese painting inspiration for it to cary any cultural significance. |
Experimentation
My main area of experimentation was within the color scheme that I used as well as the blending in the piece. I wanted the subject to look semi realistic, but i also wanted to draw inspiration from traditional Japanese artwork (as seen to the right). It was not possible for me to find a way to age the paper to make it like traditional rice paper that the Japanese used. I stuck to more mellow tones in order to help make connections to the Noh theatre masks as well as the traditional style of Japanese woodcuts.
http://mercury.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/prints/100moonimages.html |
Reflection and Evaluation
Overall, I am content with the way that this piece turned out. I feel that the artistic and cultural connection is quite strong when related back to the meaning of my own piece. In "Multiple Strings Attached", I attempted to relate a real-life situation within the traditional wood-print style with incorporation of Noh Japanese theater,
Connecting to the ACT
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
- Noh masks are the key element in this piece. They are used to convey various emotions in the artwork.
- Noh is the oldest form of theatre that is still performed today. It is an art form that has been carried on for centuries and continues to help educate large gatherings of people about various truths about life. Theatre is often about conveying difficult subjects in various forms.
- Art does not have to have words in order to be felt. Music, paintings, and acting all have a way of communication without direct translation from the artist.
- Communication is key to understanding in any art form, but it is also necessary in life. For my piece, I looked to incorporate symbols that represented communication with others.
- Stories are not always what they are perceived to be. There does not always have to be understanding in order to have appreciation.
Bibliography
http://www.historyofmasks.net/famous-masks/noh-mask/