For my fifth concentration, I realized that I had not done a piece inspired by my visit to Spain yet. I also had not done a piece focused on something close up; I had only done landscapes and sceneries. I decided to look for pictures when I went to a food market in Barcelona. Everything in there smelt so good and was so colorful, I knew I wanted to try to capture that in my piece. I found this photo of a fruit display in the market that really caught my attention.
After painting the base a bright salmon color, I blocked out where each section of the fruit stand would be. It was definitely a challenge getting the proportions correct and the lines straight with various papers. I wanted this part to be exact because I knew I wanted the rest to not be. I also blocked out some of the shapes of fruits.
After I had the base layer complete, I struggled to make this piece not boring because honestly, the photo is not of the most interesting of all subject matters; it's just fruit. I knew I didn't want to just paint the fruits individually even though I could get some strong highlights and bold colors. I didn't really know what to do, so I just started layering, layering and more layering. I have really learned from my past pieces that the most successful mixed media pieces are built up from the bottom and have as many layers as possible. I used a lot of scraps in this piece as opposed to larger pieces of paper as well as layers of acrylic paint. It was a lot of fun coming up with ways to make each fruit different from the last and I think I did a good job of making it interesting.
I think what makes this piece the most successful is the composition. It is something so different than any of my other pieces so far and it really makes the piece stand out. I also really like the texture that I incorporated as it adds a lot of interest. I added in some burlap and fabric to make certain areas pop out more than others. I had a lot of fun with this piece also because of the bright color palette I chose. It really adds to the tropical theme of the piece that I was after. The piece really captures the feel of the market in Barcelona and it takes me back to being there. The piece was a lot of fun to complete and I am excited for the next one!