Metamorphosis

 

Metamorphosis

Mix Media on A2 Canvas

This final piece is in response to the current climate crisis. The dragonfly was a major inspiration in creating this painting. I was really fascinated in the process of metamorphosis and how insects morph into different forms of itself. I felt that the dragonfly and other insects ability to morph and adapt was something that is crucial ability that we need in combating climate change.

Early Developments

These pictures are some of the iterations, primary sketches and experimentations before arriving to my final iteration. In developing my initial idea, I started by experimenting with different compositional ideas, colours, media and techniques. To demonstrate my metamorphosis in my work, I had used squiggly lines; changing forms between the power plant and the windmills. I also experimented with various image transfers to transfer the image of a new paper about climate change. In addition to that, I had experimented with other media and colours such as using white ink on black paper instead of black ink on white paper, however, I did not like the contrast and the way the ink tended to pool making it difficult to create clear forms of the power plant and windmills.

In the later development of my project, I decided to experiment with 3-dimensional forms for the wings. I experimented with various shapes and materials before settling with silk screens and a more geometric shape for the wings. This is because I feel that the geometric shape and the texture of the silk screen demonstrates the breaking down process involved in metamorphosis as they are simple shapes and silk screens had a translucent quality to it. Lastly, I studied different ways on drawing the windmills as I felt that the squiggly lines in the earlier attempts where messy which did not suit my intentions. I then came to the idea of using perspective drawings of windmills on a blue background similar to blueprints which was symbolic for planning.