Project 2: Compare and Contrast

A dancer deals with many pressures to be this perfect image and sometimes it weighs down on the dancer. Ballet dancers in particular need perfect pointed toes, slim long limbs, slicked back hair, pretty outfits, graceful mannerisms, and the list goes on. Sometimes this is too much for the dancer, but they have to fight past this dark patch and let their love for dance overcome it. I choose to represent this in my next art piece.

Even though I didn't know what I wanted my piece to look like in the beginning, I knew I was going to be drawing a dancer. I practiced by sketching out images of dancers in pen. This was to work on proportions of a dancer and understand how the body works together. Once I felt confident in this, it was time to start my final draft.

I found this image of a dancer that I thought was gorgeous and would be my inspiration for my painting. I sketched it out in pencil on a sheet of watercolor paper. I put the dancer on a music box and put it in the corner of a room. This gave it some dimension. I choose to use mixed media. I started with ink for the music box and it fades up into the leg. I then used water color for the dancer and fading that into the ink on the base of the leg. The bottom right side of the painting I continued to use ink for the background. The top left side I used yellowish acrylic paints. This helped clean my lines in my watercolor. Next I added a shadow in ink to the music box and dancer. The shadow has a different shape then the actual dancer to add meaning. The top left corner has glitter and this also adds meaning. I added some finishing touches and then matted my art piece. Below my process is captured in a few pictures. 

I keep saying how this adds meaning, so now lets explain the meaning to this piece. The dancer is on a music box to symbolize that she is stuck. She is stuck in this battle of loving dance, but there are struggles that come with it. The left top corner represents her love for dance. It is brightly colored and the glitter is shining down on her. She has her arms open to this top corner because she loves dance and how it makes her feel, but then there is the bottom right corner. This bottom corner is darkly colored and she can't get away from it because she is stuck to the music box. Her shadow is more closed off compared to her actual pose. This shows the standards of dance and there affect of her and how it makes her feel insecure. This painting shows the fight between the light and dark of a situation. You have to find the balance of both to be happy and content. 

"Sometimes I hurt because I dance, other times I dance because I am hurt. Either way dance fixes it all."