|
Elk Silhouette. Oil on canvas. 18x24
People love this painting. Love it, love it, love it. To which I say "that's nice, but it's so simple!" It's a very simple painting. And it was very easy. It's a silhouette. It's two colors. I didn't have to worry about perspective or shading or, ha, colors or anything. It was just getting the shape right. And I love the shapes of deer. And I was copying a photo! It was so easy! And it looks almost exactly like the photo, which bugs me, because I enjoy mixing it up, and I feel like a cheating copycat ripoff. The variation in the orange, with that halo of yellow around the deer and such, was not even intentional (I did add the orange near the horizon though). So I am not a huge fan of this painting. But it's cool that it has fans. I understand why it's so popular. It's such a striking image, so pleasing to the eye. But I look at it and think "that photographer was brilliant, wow, I am so impressed" not "wow, I'm brilliant, I'm so impressed with me." I feel terrible that I can't remember where I got the picture, that I didn't save it somewhere. That I didn't save any of my references pictures. Booo.
I like lines. And this painting was all lines. It was heaven to paint. It was all fun and no stress. I chose to do a silhouette (another silhouette) because I just wanted something easy. I wanted to relax. I agonized over whether to change the colors, decided in the end not to, 'cause I was feelin' the orange (and not feeling the adventurous). The elk was actually purple at first before I painted it black ('cause having the purple underneath makes the black richer), and one of my classmates was really disappointed, said he really liked the purple elk. But black was my plan and I was sticking to it.
It was also hilarious (for me) to observe how no one knew it was an elk. It was called "moose" constantly. Moose, deer, I can't even remember what else, I think someone called it an elk once or something. People often asked (maybe after making a few guesses), and I would say elk, though otherwise I never corrected anyone. As is my policy. Because there's no point, they don't care and they'll never remember. I knew it was an elk always right away because I am the freaky weirdo who knows these things. Ha ha, this is my one skill in life: to be able to identify majorly different types of deer in silhouette! I can't do math but I know the difference between a mule deer, a moose, and an elk, dang it! Also the difference between a tiger, a cheetah, a leopard, a jaguar, and a lion, which is another thing people are quite often confused on. If you're wondering if I look down on such people, the answer is no. I look upon them in a sort of wonder, because they live in a strange and magical world oh so different from mine.
|
-------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------
Additional photos: |
|
