Shadow.

So...last night as I was finishing up my self portrait for July I peeked at the CED main page to see what August would have in store.  The theme?  It is shadow.  I went to sleep...thinking about shadows. Woke up and got ready...thinking about shadows.  Went to cheer camp with my new JV team...still thinking about shadows.  Went to Zumba...still thinking about- you guess it...shadows. 

Hmmmm...well, I could do what came to me first- include shadows in my work, I thought. Or... I could work with light and dark. Wait, no, I should work in charcoal all month.  Then... I thought about working with the idea of creatures that might live in the shadows...but, alas, nothing seemed to capture my attention.  


Then I started to think about my 'Inspiration' board on Pinterest. Almost every day I login and look for art and artists that inspire me.  I choose images because I like the colors, or the use of line.  For some it is the subject matter.  Regardless of whether it is a formal quality or a more expressive quality, something about that image struck me, so I pinned it...storing it away like a little art squirrel that one day might need an image to motivate me to create, my own work a shadow of some image I saw some time, somewhere, putting myself into the new creation...one of these days anyway.

Well, today is that day.  This is the month.  My goal for the month is to choose one of the images that I have pinned onto my 'Inspiration' board, to create my own piece based on something from the work and then to write a short reflection on what inspired me about that image.

Now, a few ground rules...because I like structure:

• I want the images that I create to continue with the figurative work that I have been exploring. I like to draw lady faces, so I am going to keep doing that.
  
• I understand that the pieces will be in a variety of media.  There may be glitter.  I ain't afraid to sparkle and shine.
  
• I would like to stay with a consistent size for the works.  I am debating between 8x10 and 11x14 at this time.
  
• For each piece, I will include the image in my art blog and link to the original image so that I can give credit to the artist that inspired me, my 'muse.

My inspiration for today.

Today...I was inspired a piece by Elisa Mazzone, pinned by my friend Laura from art school. The first thing that I saw was the contrast of the positive and negative spaces.  Then, the movement of the hair.  The tight rendering of the eye, nose and mouth...and I guess I don't even have to mention that the fact that it is a picture of a female's face...love.  What an amazing piece of art.  Is the black a cloak?  Is it some weird shadow that will eventually drown out the light and envelope the figure completely?  I don't know.  It is just amazing, haunting even.  


More links to Elisa's work;
Website: http://www.elisamazzone.com.au/
Blog: http://elisamazzone.blogspot.com/ 

---