The theme of my project is what animals, mainly cats mean in different cultures around the world, and how they can be perceived as good luck and bad luck.
In Europe black cats symbolize bad luck and death. I used oil pastels as I like how i can get bold colours i also like how there isn't a lot of details in the drawing. I wanted to plan out my paintings before hand in a quick drawing however i think i like the drawing better.
Materials used are: Oil pastels on paper
Size: A3
Materials: Oil pastels on paper
Size A3
In America black cats symbolize good luck. i used oil pastels to again make a quick drawing to plan out a painting but i like the drawing as it is. i really enjoy making these quick drawings as i like the bold colours and the simple concept.
Materials used : Oil pastels on paper
Size : A3
In Japan cats symbolize good fortune. again I used oil pastels to make a quick drawing. this time instead of using a lighter colour around the subject i decided to use a single bold colour for the background i much prefer this to the two colours.
Materials used : Oil pastels on paper
Size:A3
Europe- black cats = bad luck . acrylic painting
this is the painting version of the first oil pastel drawing i did, I don't like it as much as the drawing i feel as if the concept and feel of the drawing was lost when i transferred it to paint. i very much liked the texture the oil pastels gave the drawings and i think this was lost in the painting.
Materials used: acrylic paint on canvas
In Egypt cats symbolize justice and protection. since I really enjoyed using oil pastels I thought i would produce a series if drawings using oil pastels. i decided to take inspiration from André Derain and Vincent Van Gogh and used colour to help symbolize the meaning such as in the piece blue reparents justice.
Materials used: oil pastels on paper
Size : A3
In Egypt cats symbolize protection. the colour black can represent protection. on my other pieces I've bean drawing objects that symbolise what the cat represents but on this drawing i decided to not do this. i much prefer this as i think previously it made the drawing very busy.
Materials used: oil pastels on paper
Size: A3
In America black cats = good luck. the colour green symbolizes good luck. i really like how the last drawing looked with just the cat and the coloured background so i decided to revisit some of the other drawings and recreate them with this new style and i much prefer how they have come out
Materials used: Oil pastels on paper
Size: A3
In Europe black cats = bad luck. the colour dark green can symbolizes bad luck. Again i wanted to recreate drawings in this new style with just the cat and the colour background i am really enjoying how they are turning out.
Materials used : Oil pastels on paper
Size:A3
In Japan cats = good fortune. I decided to experiment with mixing oil paint and oil pastels together. I did a underpainting of the cat with oil paint and then I went in with oil pastels over the top of the paint once it was dry this way I could incorporate oil paint into my work and make a much more finished piece while still keeping the texture with the oil pastels that i liked so much.
Material: oil paint and oil pastels on paper
Size: A3
In Europe black cats = Bad luck. Here is another drawing i did using the same technique as the previous piece however i started with a much looser and darker underpainting and didn't put much detail into the painting instead the detail is mostly done with the oil pastels, i also used lighter oil pastels for the texture. i like this much better than the first try as i think i have accomplished this technique a lot more and i also like how the texture of the fur stands out a lot more in this piece than it does in the other piece.
Materials: oil paint and oil pastels on paper
Size :A3
In Egypt cats = protection. this is another drawing using the same technique of mixing oil paint and oil pastels together. I really enjoy using this technique and would hopefully like to take this technique further in my work.
Material: oil paint and oil pastels on paper
Size: A3
final outcome
For my final outcome i am planning to create a large scale painting that features all the cats that i have been painting small scale.
Here are some work in progress images of my finial project it is a 9ft by 9ft painting using acrylic paint on unstretched canvas depicting cats that are perceived as good luck and bad luck, each cat will have a different meaning and will be from a different culture .
Finished final outcome
Finished good luck side
From left to right the order goes protection( Egypt), luck (America), fortune(Japan)
Materials: house paint and acrylic paint on unstretched canvas
Size: 9ft by 9ft
Finished bad luck side
From left to right the order goes despair( Ancient Greece), Bad luck (Europe), Death (England)
Materials: house paint and acrylic paint on unstretched canvas
Size: 9ft by 9ft
For my final out come I wanted to combine the work I have already been doing, which is the small scale cat paintings, and make a large scale painting much larger than i have painted before. I decided to use an unstretched 9ft by 9ft canvas for this piece mainly for the size but also because i have never painted on an unstretched canvas before and wanted to try something new, i was also hoping that this would give my paint a tapestry feel. I wanted to combine several paintings into one painting and to do that i decided i would the paint the canvas double sided, one side being good luck and the other side being bad luck this way i was able to combine a lot more painting into one. My project is centered around cats and how they are perceived by different cultures and to show message i decided to paint each cat in a different breed that is originally or most commonly country that country and culture. for the composition of the painting I decided to make the cats really big to fill up the canvas this makes them rather large in scale and thus they give off an almost totem appearance quite like statues. i also decided to paint a black cat on each side and keep them in the same place on each side of the canvas and i am very glad i did this as i think it gives a unity to the piece and shows that they are both apart of the same piece. The materials I have used for this piece are house paint and acrylic paint. i decided to use house paint as they canvas is quite large and need a lot of paint to cover it and then i went in with acrylic paint for the texture and details, i am quite pleased I used house paint as it made it quite durable which was ideal as we displayed the painting out side. I feel that make final outcome was successful in showing the message I wanted to portray to the audience about my project and I am quite pleased with the outcome.