Dry Point
"Sanke"
Medium: Dry Point, Watercolors
Size: 17.5 cm x 12.5 cm
November 3, 2016
Exhibition Text
Karen Armenta
Sanke, 2016
Dry Point
In Sanke, the theme is a continuation of the block print, Atargatis, where both feature mythology; this one features Japanese mythology. This drypoint drew inspiration from the Japanese styled artist Kuniyoshi Utagawa and the Impressionist movement’s technique. Koi fish represent strength and perseverance and are overlooked, but in legends, it is the koi with the most bravery that reaches ascendancy. Watercolors are used to express the Japanese style mixed with Impressionism.
Sanke, 2016
Dry Point
In Sanke, the theme is a continuation of the block print, Atargatis, where both feature mythology; this one features Japanese mythology. This drypoint drew inspiration from the Japanese styled artist Kuniyoshi Utagawa and the Impressionist movement’s technique. Koi fish represent strength and perseverance and are overlooked, but in legends, it is the koi with the most bravery that reaches ascendancy. Watercolors are used to express the Japanese style mixed with Impressionism.
Artistic Inspiration
"Under the Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa Oki Nami Ura), Also Known as The Great Wave, from the Series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku Sanjūrokkei) | Katsushika Hokusai | JP1847 | Work of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art." The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.
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Room, By. "Kuniyoshi Utagawa." , Posters and Prints at Art.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.
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"Impression, Sunrise by Monet – Facts & History of the Painting." Totally History Impression Sunrise Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.
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My piece was inspired by three art pieces. One of them was Katsushika Hokusai's The Great Wave. His use of color on his wooden block print made me want to fabricate the same characteristics into my dry point art piece. The Japanese style also influenced my decision to choose The Great Wave as part of my artistic inspiration. Another artist I was influenced by was Kuniyoshi Utagawa and his piece, Red Carp Under Wisteria. His wooden block prints also were heavily based off of the Japanese art styles and was a traditional Japanese artist. He also painted fish, and I used his fish as references when making my own fish for my dry point piece. Both of these artists used the same medium, which was natural for Japanese artists because they favored wooden block prints. My final artistic inspiration piece was Impression, Sunrise by Claude Monet. When painting in the white areas of my piece with watercolor, I wanted to use the same style that Monet used in Impression, Sunrise. His colorful and splotchy impression of the water was something that I wanted to use in my own piece.
Much like Hokusai, Utagawa's Red Carp Under Wisteria has color that seemed to reflect the theme and style of the fish and the water. The fine thin lines that are made by the ink in both The Great Wave and Red Carp Under Wisteria makes it easy for me to use as references while making my dry point piece. Since my dry point's theme is about mythology and I wanted this piece to be similar to that of my block print piece, I decided to lean more towards another form of mythology: Chinese mythology. That is why for this piece, I wanted to make koi fish.
Koi fish, in Chinese myths, are said to bring good fortune and wellness, since they can live long lives. They have many meanings and represent many symbols, ones that vary from bravery, perseverance, beauty, and luck. There is a particular myth that says that if a koi can swim up a waterfall through what was called the Dragon's Gate, then that koi would become a dragon. I loved the myth and wanted to create a piece that represented everything the koi fish does. Similar to my block print piece, this one also contributes to mythical beings that are overlooked. The koi fish in the myths were only given the reward of turning into a dragon when they reached the top of the waterfall and only exclusive fish could (brave ones). I wanted to create a piece that showed their beauty and could be connected with viewers through its symbols.
Planning
From the time that I was creating my block print, I wanted to make my dry point similar to the theme of mythology that my block print had. Most of my sketches reflected the theme of mythology and I brainstormed various mythological creatures to base my dry point off of. My sketches were all crosshatching because I loved the idea of a challenge and wanted to see what I could do with cross hatching. Right away, I came up with three feasible ideas for my dry point and it was frustrating to choose only one because I loved all three of my ideas. In the end, I chose the piece that I could paint with watercolors in the end because I had another specific style I wanted to inject into my dry point piece.
Sketch(es)
Process
I first started off with a clean slate and began to scratch into the block. I didn't know how to go about it but with a few tests, I began to familiarize myself with crosshatching into the block. I outlined the bodies of the koi fish and made them opposite to one another, to resemble that of the Yin Yang symbol. After outlining the fish, I went ahead and crosshatched the commonly splotches onto the body of the fish. I then added the fins and minor details of the fins onto the koi. Then I added the small facial features.
After finishing the koi fish, I highlighted the movements of the fish with water ripples, to give the illusion of fish swimming in a small body of water, or pond. This part of my dry point piece reflects the Impressionism style and even the Japanese style some Japanese artists had from my artistic inspiration.
After finishing the koi fish, I highlighted the movements of the fish with water ripples, to give the illusion of fish swimming in a small body of water, or pond. This part of my dry point piece reflects the Impressionism style and even the Japanese style some Japanese artists had from my artistic inspiration.
Printing
Painting with Watercolors
This was my first time working with watercolors so I took precaution when painting my final piece. Before painting the finalized dry-point image, I practiced painting on the prints that were bad. I experimented with amounts of water, and amounts of paint and played around with different textures. Some peers even introduced me to blending with watercolor, which I tried to practice on. In the end, I tried to familiarize myself with the Japanese style of watercolors and tried to add in the blending and texture of Impressionism.
Experimentation
Beginning the process of my dry point, I experimented with how I was going to go about scratching the image of a koi fish onto my plate. Naturally, I used small strokes while scratching the plate so that I could create thick lines to emphasize the body of the koi. After some attempts, I decided to try and use a single line to create the outline for the body of the fish, but that didn't go as well as I wanted to. In fact, the koi's outline became to elongated and out of proportion to the other fish and I had to work with what I had because it was set in stone.
With the crosshatching technique, I decided to stick to the traditional technique and create the patchiness, hay-like texture of crosshatching. I experimented with the crosshatching and wanted to see what would happen with the crosshatched ares when I applied ink onto the dry point piece. I was also scared that I might have scratched in to my plate too much to the point where too much ink could go through and ruin the image.
As for the process of painting with watercolor, I experimented with how to go about water-coloring, since it was my first time ever painting with watercolors. I used the failed attempts of dry points for practice with painting. I also used them as tests to see how certain textures looked like and how the use of water would affect the colors I painted on to the dry point. I also tried to paint each piece differently, like adding more color to one or adding more water to another, and that helped me see how I should paint the finalized dry point.
With the crosshatching technique, I decided to stick to the traditional technique and create the patchiness, hay-like texture of crosshatching. I experimented with the crosshatching and wanted to see what would happen with the crosshatched ares when I applied ink onto the dry point piece. I was also scared that I might have scratched in to my plate too much to the point where too much ink could go through and ruin the image.
As for the process of painting with watercolor, I experimented with how to go about water-coloring, since it was my first time ever painting with watercolors. I used the failed attempts of dry points for practice with painting. I also used them as tests to see how certain textures looked like and how the use of water would affect the colors I painted on to the dry point. I also tried to paint each piece differently, like adding more color to one or adding more water to another, and that helped me see how I should paint the finalized dry point.
Reflection
As I began the process of making my dry point. I constantly told myself how hard this was going to be. I had a lot of things going through my mind while making the scratches into the small plate. I was worried that the scratches I made weren't deep enough and when I tried to make the scratches deeper, I was scared that I had made too deep of scratches. I asked some peers for help and they said I was fine, which made me feel better and I continued to work on my piece. I actually finished carving my image onto the plate in a single class period, so I don't know if that is something that I should be proud of, or something that I should not have done. Maybe I should've taken more time to better scratch the bodies of the koi fish, but for the most part, I am very pleased with how the image on the plate turned out. I tried my best because I knew that it was hard for me to scratch the image onto the plate. I had to have a steady hand and a steady mindset to concentrate on transferring my sketch on to my plate.
My piece has very thin lines and the ink that makes the image uses positive space so that the rest of the negative space allows the audience to look at the koi fish. The black ink contrasts with the white background, soon when I add watercolors, the light values of the colors from the watercolors will be pleasing to the eye. In a way, this piece is symmetrical, since each side of the piece is balanced together to form unity. To an extent, there is texture in this piece, since crosshatching makes it seem scale-like and just looks like something that would have a certain texture.
Relating this to my artistic inspiration, Impression, Sunrise influenced much of my technique when I painted my dry point with water color. I wanted to incorporate the feathery strokes and the blending with the scales and the water, and the vibrant use of color appealed to me the most. The Japanese style in the artworks The Great Wave, and Red Carp Under Wisteria influenced the theme and the style of my piece, which included much use of Japanese symbolism. The theme's connection to the style adds much more depth to my piece regarding the different symbols that the Japanese cultures used in contrast to the traditional symbols other cultures use, and I learned new techniques with dry point.
My piece has very thin lines and the ink that makes the image uses positive space so that the rest of the negative space allows the audience to look at the koi fish. The black ink contrasts with the white background, soon when I add watercolors, the light values of the colors from the watercolors will be pleasing to the eye. In a way, this piece is symmetrical, since each side of the piece is balanced together to form unity. To an extent, there is texture in this piece, since crosshatching makes it seem scale-like and just looks like something that would have a certain texture.
Relating this to my artistic inspiration, Impression, Sunrise influenced much of my technique when I painted my dry point with water color. I wanted to incorporate the feathery strokes and the blending with the scales and the water, and the vibrant use of color appealed to me the most. The Japanese style in the artworks The Great Wave, and Red Carp Under Wisteria influenced the theme and the style of my piece, which included much use of Japanese symbolism. The theme's connection to the style adds much more depth to my piece regarding the different symbols that the Japanese cultures used in contrast to the traditional symbols other cultures use, and I learned new techniques with dry point.
Connecting to ACT
Identify cause and effect relationships between your inspiration and your artwork.
It was the Japanese style of my artistic inspirations that made me want to create a similar style to my dry point piece. The cause of it was my interest and admiration for it and the effect was my interpretation of the Japanese style with crosshatching. The beautiful colors of Impressionism and the idea of the Japanese style painting caused me to want to imitate it, and in turn resulted in me attempting to watercolor for the first time.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The overall approach the author had from the topic of my inspiration was that to inform readers about the Japanese style of art and the different symbols in Japanese myths and art. I also researched some things on the specific legend of the koi fish and discovered many interesting facts that were new to me.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I concluded that in Japanese culture, it is common to see many daily things given so much meaning. In their beliefs, everything has a purpose and everything bears beauty and it is one of the many things that makes life, life.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
To go along with my block print theme, I continued to work with mythology, but for this piece in particular, I leaned more towards Japanese mythology, instead of Greek mythology. The central idea or symbolism behind my piece was the subtle strength in things as uncommon and unlikely, like koi fish.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I inferred that art, in a way, tries to find the beauty in everything by expressing them in different styles, much like many different cultures. I inferred that symbols represent messages artists want to say to their audience, but it is up to the audience to interpret them based on what they are given.
It was the Japanese style of my artistic inspirations that made me want to create a similar style to my dry point piece. The cause of it was my interest and admiration for it and the effect was my interpretation of the Japanese style with crosshatching. The beautiful colors of Impressionism and the idea of the Japanese style painting caused me to want to imitate it, and in turn resulted in me attempting to watercolor for the first time.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The overall approach the author had from the topic of my inspiration was that to inform readers about the Japanese style of art and the different symbols in Japanese myths and art. I also researched some things on the specific legend of the koi fish and discovered many interesting facts that were new to me.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I concluded that in Japanese culture, it is common to see many daily things given so much meaning. In their beliefs, everything has a purpose and everything bears beauty and it is one of the many things that makes life, life.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
To go along with my block print theme, I continued to work with mythology, but for this piece in particular, I leaned more towards Japanese mythology, instead of Greek mythology. The central idea or symbolism behind my piece was the subtle strength in things as uncommon and unlikely, like koi fish.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I inferred that art, in a way, tries to find the beauty in everything by expressing them in different styles, much like many different cultures. I inferred that symbols represent messages artists want to say to their audience, but it is up to the audience to interpret them based on what they are given.
Bibliography
Thompson, Wendy. The printed image in the west: Drypoint | essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of art history | the metropolitan museum of art. The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, 2000. Web. 14 Dec. 2016.
Baselitz, Georg. Drypoint. n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2016.
Baselitz, Georg. Drypoint. n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2016.