Advanced Life Drawing : Inside/Out Body

For this project, my goal was to make a connection between the outline of a body and the use of the shapes of flowers. I have recently become very infatuated with line drawings and how they connect and move the viewers eye all throughout the piece so I thought that would be a great way to combine the inner and outer body. For my collage aspect of this piece, I decided to use cutouts of flowers found on the internet and outdoors and combine that shape with fabrics from clothing found in magazines. I did not use the form on the girl as a self-portrait, however, the creation of flowers from clothing fabric is something that I am very connected too and found of. The "inner body" part of this piece is supposed to be the flowers that are meant to depict the hair, brain, and a few of the veins. The woman figure is made up of many female photographs in seated positions.

My hope is to have the viewers eye move peacefully throughout my work and notice how one simple line can great something both interesting and beautiful. The work describes both imagination and grounding. With the flowers and lines, I am trying to show the growth that a human goes through, similar to that of a flower. The use of fabric not only adds color and light into the work, but it relates personally to me and my interests nowadays.

For reference, I looked at Orlan's work and the use of layering upon a stable body. The symmetry and use of bold colors is very eye-catching. That is what I was trying to do when choosing what fabric to use to make the flower. I also chose to only use the upper half of a body just as Orlan did in this work. I chose to do this because I wanted to draw more attention to the head and chest space.

I also looked at works by Wangechi Mutu and her beautiful and wild line and brushwork. In the same way that she created her head of snacks and other creatures, I tried to depict a "busy-like" headspace. I have always thought the way she grounded her figures was amazing.

Lastly, I looked at many different continuous line drawings and different techniques to help me successfully convey what I wanted without it looking too messy or busy. I also tried to find ways to connect the flowers and the face without it looking too childish or unintentionally layered.