Now that "Summer" is over...

I finished this new drawing "Vanitas 34 (Summer)" a couple of weeks ago. I really didn't realize how fast I was able to finish this one until I checked the dates of my Instagram posts showing some WIP shots. It did not take a whole month for me to finish it. So I figured it was roughly 100 hours or maybe even a little less. Of course the fact that I was on my sabbatical greatly helped me work faster on this drawing in a more focused manner.

Now that I was able to spend a little time to think about this piece, I can say a couple of things that are happening in my art at this moment. I feel my art is taking a slightly new direction. All the elements that were staples in my Vanitas series are still there but there is something else that's new. In the previous Vanitas pieces, my main concern was to portray the physical and emotional states of female subjects by showing both their vulnerability and strength, but more emphasis on the former. With this new drawing "Summer", the emphasis has shifted more to the latter. It probably has something to do with the fact that my model was not in the nude, but also the background with its dynamic summer clouds in the sky added a sense of power to my subject. I can also say her pose of standing against a chaos in the background and the overall triangular composition did something to the piece and amplified its strength. And one other thing that was no less significant. My model being an African American was also an important factor that played out in a positive way in the current cultural climate. All those things were not what I had fully anticipated when I started working on this piece. I was made aware of them by a few people who saw this piece and responded to the sense of empowerment in it. Come to think of it, it was kind of happening already back in Vanitas 30 with my model Megan standing strong in the nude and showing her skull and the bee tattoo down her arm, but the sense of strength was not fully realized until I worked with Amber for this drawing "Summer". I do not make any art that has an intended political message simply because that is not what I am interested in. However, what I discovered in this particular piece was an interesting eye-opening experience for me.