Untitled

Abstract

Artist's statement: "This painting is inspired by child soldiers. It focuses on four different children who are from different races and different situations, but all are images of young children involved in military conflicts. Each soldier is framed by an oval-shaped background that portrays his own country of origin. Each background shows a nature scene that is peacefully and carefully painted, while the fire at the bottom of the canvas, as well as the smoke at the top, give the impression of violence and destruction. An element that is successful in this painting is my treatment and color of the figures that I painted. Each one is very detailed, and I personally learned a ton about painting flesh and how to utilize acrylic paint to be descriptive of flesh tones and texture. I also continued to experiment with color and layering. I used various bright colors as under layers for flesh and nature scenes, and it gave those sections a lot of depth that a flatter color scheme could never have achieved. However, something that was not as effective was my painting technique. I painted this piece, particularly the figures, very carefully and with tight brushstrokes. However, if I had utilized the size of the canvas and made larger, looser brushstrokes, it would have been a more successful piece. In the future, I want to experiment with being even larger and looser with my brushstrokes, describing a realistic object or person without being completely photorealistic."

This is a digital photograph of Reagan Alley's painting. It was submitted as an assignment in the spring 2016 Intermediate/Advanced Painting class taught by Professor Erin Harmon.