(SW12)+Freedom

Studio Work # 12 **Freedom** **Media:** Oil Paint on Canvas, **Size:**40 x50 cm, **Month of completion:** November 2012

**Description:** This is an oil painting that symbolizes the Egyptian freedom. Egyptian's believe that they have received their freedom when protesting in Al Tahrir Square. As you can see in the background, there is the actual buildings in the Tahrir Square. I have related this piece to my culture and how they received their freedom. The people in the background are the Egyptian citizens that protested for receiving human rights that were taken from them.I have painted a blue sky that set a mood of freedom. The color blue is calm a relaxing color that affects the viewer's understanding of the final piece. Finally, the silhouette of the lady in the middle is one out of the Egyptian citizens that received their freedom during the Egyptian Revolution.

**Analysis:** **What were the artistic and/or cultural influences for this project?** **Who/what influenced either the composition and/or the style.** I was being influenced by Alice Neel. This artist have used oil paint for almost every single painting she has done. Her paintings were all including people that each was in a different body position with a different hand gestures. The body position and the hand gestures in her pieces were what sent the viewer the artist's message to the people.

**What materials/media/processes did you use and or experiment with, and how?** I used oil paint as my media for this project. I used Linseed oil to make the paint softer and then i used the Turpentine to clean the brushes with. It was the first time to this media in my whole entire life. I found this media so smooth and it is easy to blend any two colors successfully. Personally i liked using oil paint but the fact that it doesn't dry so quickly is confusing. I always messed parts in the painting and redid again because colors used to blend unintentional.

**How do you think you have responded to advice and criticism during this project (and during the term), both from fellow students and the teacher. Did you actively seek advice? If so, was it useful?** My teacher, Mrs King helped to figure out how to paint a crowd of a lot of people behind the silhouette in my piece. She told me i should draw the heads and then ad bodies which was a successful way of showing the crowd of people in the background. I thought they would never look like people but when I did the trial, it was a really good way to draw a crowd of people without concentrating on their faces.

**Clearly explain the weaknesses/areas for improvement -** I feel like the crowd on the very right part of the canvas isn't well proportioned. I think they should of been more smaller and more messy. The silhouette in the middle of the canvas doesn't look strait and i feel like her legs are a bit thin, same as the hands.

**Clearly explain the strengths of the piece –** What I really like about that piece is that the blue and white in the sky are blended in a very good way that it looks very realistic. I really like how the sky is affecting the mood of the viewer when he sees the whole piece. A bright sky symbolizes freedom and it helps the idea of my painting to be well known. I also like how the building at the right was painted. It looks realistic too and it shows how that protest was at the Tahrir Square. The last thing that was successful in this painting is the final look of the crowd in the background. Drawing so many circles and small bodies created a good appearance of a lot of people.

**What could you take through to the next project and develop further? This could be anything, from a technique to an idea, not necessarily just the theme.** Since i have created a painting that relates to freedom, I am willing to create a painting that symbolizes the opposite freedom which is imprisonment. The next project will be painted in oil or drawn in charcoal. I still don't know what media to use but i am thinking to create a piece of a a bottom half of a face and put a lock on the mouth.