It’s Consumed Me

It’s Consumed Me, was created March 2019. This 60x70” piece depicts the feeling of being consumed by our emotions such as depression, anxiety, and stress. These feelings will often times crash down on you simultaneously which can leave you feeling helpless while you’re caving in on yourself.

While doing this piece, I did run into a couple of problems. Firstly, I was using a canvas that had already been painted on. I had to work with this issue and get it ready to paint with oil by sanding down was there before and re-gesso it. After that was resolved, I discovered that using acrylic sizing and brown paper towel could be difficult to achieve what I was going for which was a scrunched, intense texture. By taking my time and holding each piece down while layering more coats of acrylic sizing on top, I go it to stay and moved along.

While creating It’s Consumed Me, the artistic elements texture, value, line, color, and shape were my main focus as well as the principles emphasis, movement, contrast, and balance. I wanted to incorporate texture by using an acrylic sizing to paste down brown paper towel while scrunching it together. Doing this helps create movement - the lines of the wisps in this piece also create movement toward the focal point. The values around the eye creates a contrast between the background color and skin tone. Shape has been loosely added within the negative spaces which constructs asymmetrical balance. When the elements of line, contrast and value come together, the emphasis of the focal point is strengthened.

It’s Consumed Me is published in Cellar Door, Vol. XVI, Winter 2020 edition on page 94.

This piece was displayed in the Carl Sandburg College Student Art Show in 2019, winning the People’s Choice Award.