Color takes Flight
Metamorphosis Project
Collage on canvas
board
16x20
This piece
is a metamorphosis project. It is meant
to show an inorganic object transitioning to an organic or living object. Since butterflies go through a process of
metamorphosis when changing from a caterpillar to a butterfly, I knew they
would be the perfect subject of this piece.
In this piece I had paint splotches on a palette transitioning to living
butterflies, getting more and more realistic the further they flew from the
paint they originated from. I choose
paint as my inorganic object because I felt that it represented the overall theme;
just as paint colors a canvas, butterflies add color and beauty to nature. What many people may not realize is that some
butterflies are in danger of becoming extinct.
The Monarch for example suffered a huge drop when 1 billion
vanished. Monarch butterflies use
milkweed as a home, nursery and food source.
Many view milkweed as a weed that needs to be extinguished, but in doing
so they are also destroying a necessary habitat for the Monarchs. While many federal agencies have stepped up
to address this problem, it may be too little too late. It would be hard to imagine a world without
the beauty and grace of the Monarch butterfly; their fiery orange wings lighting
on nearby flowers is an image that most have enjoyed at one point in their life.
For this reason, I left my background white to represent a world without color
and a world without butterflies, because without butterflies adding their color
the world would seem a little less colorful.
In creating this project,
I also had to use 36 colors, which only helped to emphasize how much color
butterflies bring to our world. Color is
often used in art to portray a variety of emotions. By using a variety of different
colors and different shades, I wanted to portray that at any given time, we may
feel many different things, because life is full of emotions. I used shape to
demonstrate the butterflies changing from unrecognizable splotches of paint to
the familiar shape of a butterfly that we all have come to recognize. The textures in this piece are also
diverse. The paint is bumpy and rough,
the watercolor paper used to create the butterfly shapes is slightly smoother
than the paint but still textured, while the digital butterflies are smooth and
delicate. The texture in this work
progresses to go along with the progression of the butterflies. I tried to create the illusion of movement
and rhythm by allowing the butterflies to become larger and more detailed as
they moved farther from the paint pallet.
The hope was that this would add a realistic feel to my work. Finally,
by repeating the shapes of the watercolor butterflies, but also using different
digital butterflies I was trying to add a sense of both unity and variety to my
piece.
This project is
meant to communicate the importance of both art and nature and how each is dependent
on each other. As an artist, I use the
beauty that nature so willingly provides as inspiration in many of my pieces. In this instance I am using my art to try to
bring an awareness to the problems facing the monarch butterfly population and
hoping that anyone viewing this may become more educated on the value that
milkweed plays in keeping these beautiful creatures alive. I hope when this is viewed it brings both a
sense of wonder in seeing the colors and shapes take form but also a sense of
sadness that without color our life would be very bland just like a world in
which the monarch butterfly ceases to exist.
The value of this
piece is meant to evoke, wonder, happiness, sadness, beauty and educate those
who take the time to read this statement.
I feel this piece is very relevant to the plight of the monarch butterfly
and its existence in our world, country, state, and community. I feel that it
has a strong value and is relevant to a very real situation facing the butterfly
population. It is my hope as an artist that the message I meant to convey comes
across to all who view my work.
