Blue Thoughts
Watercolor The prompt option I focused on was "collection". Growing up, I was constantly criticized by my grandmother for one reason or another. “Soyeon! Speak louder!” “What on earth on you wearing!” “Sit up straight!” She was and still is especially critical of my appearance: instructing me to dress better and put on makeup. My grandmother enjoys buying expensive clothes and jewelry and invests time and resources on looking good. Those are her priorities while they are not mine. The first response is to the first piece which was done purposefully large to show my grandmother’s strong, domineering personality. I wanted it to be bigger than me to show how I feel when I’m around her; she makes me feel small and intimidated. It is a portrait of her face using chalk pastel and gouache paint which is half portrayed realistically and half portrayed surrealistically with a "collection" of smaller images of her face inside showing expressions that she frequently shows me - angry, serious, and critical. On the right side of her face, there is a collection of patterns, overlapping lines and her expressions. The faces (right) were done on top of Korean traditional paper hanji and there are parts that are collage to emphasize her features; the gouache paint also allowed me to emphasize her features too. The left side is done with chalk pastel using water to blend (to control the dust and powder), to show a softer side to show that she is a woman and she’s had hardships in her life as a woman, as a wife, mother and I, as a woman, can relate to her struggles. This is our collective experience and the collection of my memories of her is what connects us, if only tenuously. |