Art by R.Cooper

The inspiration for the work is digital identity. When I think of digital identity I immediately think of my art page on Facebook. I typically use social media for my art work not only to show to the world, but to also sell and get commissions. In this painting to show my true digital identity I choose this path of simplicity by painting simple icons and apps that I use. To tie in this sense of personality I decided to add my favorite colors and to also create the piece in a flowing, more artistic way as art is very important to me both digitally and in the real world. For my face and facial features, I decided to create it with a grayscale sort of tone. As my piece is thought out to be, my whole idea behind the grayscale was to sort of push away from the “selfie” lifestyle and think about the personality of the person, rather than the looks. This brings the viewer to look at the apps and icons in which my artistic hair contains and to think about their own personal digital identity and others digital identities versus the way they or someone else may be in person. To get into this painting more I researched this topic by really just digging into my own digital profiles and looking deeper into what I post. I looked at pictures and reflected on myself and created this piece that really shows who I am on Facebook, Instagram, and even when I am e-mailing someone. When I started the piece I really wasn’t confident and didn’t think it would turn out but in the end I am very happy with this idea and how it turned out as I think it created this balance and unity, as well as contrast to the piece.

For the assignment of Large Work out of Smaller Parts, I decided to create a large scale watercolor piece. With the interests I have gotten from my pets, more specifically my geckos, I wanted to continue down this road of painting them but at a larger, more impacting scale. I took a creature the size of my hand and enlarge it to an 11 foot piece of art.

 

In this process, like I said, I used watercolor. This was something that I wanted to do for two reasons. One was to get this sort of multicolored, flowing effect that watercolor is able to achieve. Secondly I wanted to create something that you don’t usually see in art, a watercolor piece at such a large scale. I was very pleased with the look that the watercolor gave this piece and as I went along I wanted that flowing, sort of chaotic look to be more prominent as it shows a side of the geckos that exists. To show that I did a sort of scribbled technique along the head and body. Also incorporated in the process is some acrylic paint. I used this to give the background of each separate piece a solid black color to contrast the chaotic emotion and color of the gecko.

Leopard geckos are very interesting creatures and are very unique in a variety of ways. No two geckos are alike and every time one sheds, its pattern looks a little bit different then it did before. There are endless patterns, color pallets, designs, shapes, and sizes and as I have been experimenting with painting these geckos, I have opened up to more and more mediums and styles of work. My goal is to really continue to create art by making leopard geckos and even continue into using my other pets for inspiration. I really feel that this piece has opened my mind and started a new style for me.

Intermediate Painting Assignment 1: Digital Identity

Here is an in-progress photo of my personal digital identity interpretation. I will be continuing to add more color and app icons and such to my hair as well as add slight more detail just to touch up the face.