Assignment 2 Progress

I choose to do an untitled work by artist Kerry James Marshall. What caught me about this piece is the darker colors, and lighter colors having a harmonious mix between each other. It's a very pleasing piece of art. 

This artwork was hard to replicate, and I made many mistakes. I gave up on the canvas part of the painting because I didn't know really how to replicate it too so I splashed some colors together. Also I made the back ground brighter than it originally was. 

When researching Kerry James Marshall I learned that he used painting, sculptural installations, collage, video, and photography to comment on the history of black identity in both the US and in Western Art. In the two works by Kerry James Marshall on the google slides he is using the color to show off that history. In the second image it's in a hair Salon with children dancing with a woman maybe while their mothers are getting their haircut. It creates a sense of culture and liveliness. The color of the image just makes me calm and more relaxed, giving it a relaxing atmosphere that people are just chilling in the hair salon and gossiping or having a good time. In the first image on the google slides reminds me of the paintings I see of old America, but with white people. This color scheme gives me a sense of being home, and no it's not because of the "our town" slogan on the top of the picture. He uses brighter colors to make it seem that the town is a bright place to be. 

He uses blackness as a subtle contrast that correlates with telling the history of black identity. It's the main theme in many of his paintings. It tells the story of so many people that often have their story untold. It gives a voice and shows a different story that isn't told in history books of black Americans. We barely learn about the culture, songs, and style that black Americans have created and formed, but these images, especially the second, give that sense of culture that we barely see in the history books. 

I knew that this would be a challenge for me, because I don't do well with skin tone or color in general. I haven't practiced enough with it to be confident in my ability. The blending of the colors was something that I needed to practice. I go in too fast and mess up on some things. The method of using a grid is interesting and useful, not as useful as the carbon paper in my opinion. I have ADHD so focusing on one square at a time was hard, and I often had to stop myself from going 'off path.' The darker parts of the piece were hard to replicate and so was the canvas. I didn't really know how to combine the colors on the canvas to make it look like the original painting. The shirt was hard too, because the color was a mixture and trying to get the right color was a challenge. So in the end it ended up a bit of a mess, but I wasn't going to redo it. 

The ending product wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, and I don't love it, but it's similar to the original that I'm happy with it at least. I didn't want to mess up on this piece of work, because of the artist trying to tell history through the paintings and art pieces he created.