Artist Statement for The Wolf of Chernobyl
My art style mainly focuses on darker themes with a more semi-realistic style. I usually stick to drawing animals, so for this project I wanted to branch out but also keep my skill with animals involved. My favourite animal to draw is the wolf and I was highly inspired by the abandoned sites in Chernobyl and how it is a haven now for animals despite the radiation. It gave me a chance to practice doing buildings and backgrounds for once instead of only focusing on organic subjects. Nature, surrealism, horror, animals, and realism, are the main subjects that influence me. However I do have select films and other artists that really inspire me with their storytelling techniques and meanings. I did them all as mixed media pieces. First I did the sketch, then a watercolour base, inked the lines a little, and finally did a layer of Prismacolours to fill it in and make the colours more vibrant. It was a bit of practice all around with each element. I have learned that in the rest of my personal art, I would like to stay away from doing backgrounds for now. It was really good practice for the project, however it really burnt me out. As well, I might not do elaborate mixed media pieces as often just because it was such a long process for each painting. Practising the different mediums was pretty important to me though, learning how to layer and incorporate mediums and colours all together really helped me. This semester, my favourite art pieces have been all of the photography assignments. Because I finally got the chance to learn how to use cameras properly and was able to experiment and get feedback. So for this project I decided to turn back to traditional art for a bit, though I was still able to show my progress in camera skills/video editing through my promotional video. If I could change anything about this project, it would probably the subject and the amount of paintings. I had to catch up a lot outside of school in order to complete each piece on time. And doing the backgrounds and layers of mediums really burnt me out. So if I could do it again, I would alter it to be a bit easier for me to do and keep up with. One thing that surprised me was the diversity of buildings and personal items left behind after the explosion. What was supposed to be a temporary evacuation turned into 36 years. I tried to encapsulate that tone in my pieces. It feels so sad and lonely to see the memories left behind, but also hopeful because a new life took over. I was also surprised at how well watercolour and Prismacolours go together when you layer them properly. It was very good practice. I want others to perceive my project as kind of a twisted storybook. I love to include horror elements in all of my artwork, but also make it look pretty. Hopefully people will notice the details and the textures from the layering. Thank you for reading.