+ enlargeThis was a labor of love. I haven’t measured it but i would guess the final dimensions are around 40” x 30″. In the process, I was awakened to the biggest advancements of project35 so far: embellishment, adaptation and abstraction. Meaning, the organic nature of this piece (grass, cows, sky, flowers etc.) almost commanded me to take my own stab at reality. Don’t draw exactly what you see– create the scene as it should come across given the materials you’re working with.
While drawing in such contrasting shades, the blacks begin to confuse themselves with the white, creating discord between positive and negative. As the artist, i was forced to let go of the “literal” translation of the original image, and as a result I was pushed into a realm of interpretation. I was finally free to inject myself into the piece by abstracting certain big picture, thematic concepts: earth, nourishment, vitality, growth. By pulling back from the piece on a literal level, and approaching it from an interpretive standpoint, I began to let my pen lead me into unplanned places.
Compositionally, there is a clear diagonal extending from bottom-left to upper-right that creates a natural flow, introducing the main subject (the largest cow). From the bottom-right corner, you get a sense of the underground; a rooted flower, rising up through hooves and legs, organically climbing through the cows and their shadows. The flow continues into the the upper-right portion, terminating where the distant cow grazes slightly below the horizon (signifying its ties to the earth as food, shelter and vitality), and finally into the all-providing heavens (sun, rain), perpetuating the life cycle.
Cheers, and thanks for reading.
