This was seriously my favorite project of the entire semester. I've always wanted to draw on someone in such a large scale like this. I think the main reason I have such a fascination with tattoos and body art is because I fell in love with the idea of the body as a canvas at a small age. Every chance I got I would be drawing on myself; pen, marker, paint, highlighter, anything I could get my hands on. Every time my dad would get mad and yell, and I'd run and hide in my art closet and draw more; sometimes I think he just made me want to do it more, almost like reverse psychology. Anyways maybe that's why I want to be a tattoo artist, I love to draw on people. There's something so freeing about just giving in and letting the inspiration take over and guide your hand across the surface, never stopping, just a constant stream of consciousness all put into motion through you. That's why it was so enjoyable to do this project. It all had to be done in one day, or else it would just rub off overnight, so I was forced to tap into that constant flow in order to keep the art going. Granted it was a little frustrating with the materials rubbing off at the slightest brush against something else. Maybe that's why tattoos are so appealing, all that work stays with you.
The concept behind this was loosely based on dreams, lucid dreams and daydreams alike. The two boards are the connection and similarities every person has with dreaming, the energy flow and centers of energy (chakras), but then those dream templates flow and adapt to each individual dreaming, becoming apart of their person. I illustrated the basics coming off the known board and transferring to the ever-fluid, living, breathing self, mingling with their energy and thoughts and exploding all over. The constant stream of consciousness was important to this. I had to let my mind wander into a half-awake, dreamlike state, almost like a trance to keep drawing.
My most favorite in this collection is either my ink on wood drawing or the mounted head. The ink because painting on fresh woodgrain has now become a new obsession. The mounted deer head was probably the most fun to make. Since I've worked at a lot of major corporation stores, I wanted to demonstrate how I feel their companies view shoppers, as nothing more than a prize, a number or figure, something to hang on their wall. They work to get you to buy from them and keep spending. That's all they care about is being able to keep you loyal so you'll keep coming back and giving them you're money. I made the deer head out of shopping bags from some of the different stores I've worked at like this. I just loved the feeling of working with wood, cutting planks of it and working with it in it's natural state. Making use of the transparent layers and incorporating it into wood was exciting to do and a nice challenge.
