6. Flowers

Inspired by Pipilotti, I wanted to create a collage of flowers to use as an overlay for future art.

1.

First I gathered some images of flowers that I had taken myself.

Firsthand source.

 2.

Secondly, I used photoshop to remove the background of some of the flowers, creating smooth shapes that I could layer.

3.

Third, I layered the flowers until the entirety of the page was covered in flowers, creating interesting patterns and shapes.

For aesthetic purposes, I altered the hue of some of the flowers to create a consistently warm tone.

Then I experimented with other hues and effects using Photoshop.

The bright colours give a welcoming, encouraging aura. Warm and friendly.

 Slightly darkening the image brings the colder tones into view and makes the piece a little bit more eerie.

Changing the hue to BLUE gives the piece a whole new aura. It feels cold and surreal, because blue flowers this vivid are not natural. It could be seen as eerie.

Layering the blue and red together gives an eerie "shaken" affect. The red and blue together make it appear to be a "3D glasses" experience, which plays tricks on the eyes.

 Altering the colours and softening the edges slightly makes the same image appear dreamlike and soothing. The flowers appear soft and welcoming.

Layering all of the pieces above together at different opacities gives an incredibly multidimensional piece, which appears surreal and shaken. The contrast of sharp lines and soft edges are confusing to the eye, and it appears very digital, almost like a digital glitch or error.

Zoomed in, the flowers are visible, but overlap to create a surreal layered affect. The longer you look, the more you can see. At first glance it looks like a smudge of many colours.

I enjoyed experimenting with different colours, and seeing how changing the colours of the same piece could give an entirely different effect. The image above was a small experiment, and I find that the purple is surreal, but also relaxing.

EXPERIMENTING WITH SILHOUETTES:

I chose a snippet of Kara Walker's work with interesting shapes and surreal ideas, without too much detail to keep it from becoming distracting.

Inspired by Pipilotti, I used photoshop to add the flower textures I created, to make it appear that they had been "projected" behind the silhouettes, so that the silhouettes themselves appear to be shadows.

 I found that the colours I used vastly impacted the aura of the piece. For example, the piece above with cold tone colours makes the piece appear eerie and surreal, ghostlike.

Whereas, on the other hand, the piece below with vibrant colours are welcoming, warming, inviting.. The bright red, pink, and roses bring attention to the romantic elements of the piece.

The flowers, at this scale, are so plentiful that some of the details (the sun, the sword,) begin to become lost in and amongst the detailed background.

I think this is interesting, because it could provoke the viewer to look more deeply into the piece, to discover all that it has to offer.. But, I wondered how it would look to enlarge the flowers.

I love the effect of the piece above, with the large blue lily as a focal point of the background, and other flowers simply peeking onto the frame. It allows the viewer to focus on the silhouette initially, and then look more deeply into the background over time. I enjoy the surrealism of the piece, and the multiple dimensions. There is a level of 'uncanny' that I find very interesting, not only in Walker's silhouettes, but the strange background too.

The piece above uses a rose as a focal point, which demands the viewer's attention right away. The bright red and pink is vivid and romantic, and the connotations of a rose automatically dedicate to the romantic themes of the couple in the middle of the scene.

The dreamy, soft purple colour scheme gives a dreamlike feel, and lures the viewer into a false sense of security... When they look closer, they may not be expecting the surreal twists in the silhouettes, due to how girly, soft and harmless the background appears to be.

This piece is especially interesting to me because of the layer affect on the background piece. It is very strange and difficult to decipher, on first glance. The rose no longer looks like a rose, on first glance, and the other flowers just appear to be strange shapes. The background layer is so dark, that it is difficult to decipher the shapes of the silhouettes on first glance.
Looking at this piece makes me feel vaguely reminiscent of space, perhaps aliens (due to the glowing / vivid colours on darkness), which ties in well with the surrealism of the silhouettes.

The piece above seemed TOO dark, so I wondered what it would look like if I inverted the colours of the silhouette itself. See below.

Inverting the colour of the silhouette allowed me to darken the background, which brought a whole new feel to the piece. On first glance, it is hard to make out the silhouettes due to the business of the background. Although, looking more deeply allows the viewer to see each dimension of the piece individually. I enjoy the vivid colours and simplicity of the background, and I am glad that it keeps the organic patterns of the flower petals.

More experiments. The layering of this piece allows the silhouettes to be the focal point of the piece, as the background is far too busy to have any eyecatching features. Although, the fact that it is so busy could evoke curiosity to look deeper into it, to discover what it is made up of. (Many, many flowers).

ANALYSIS:
The experiments above follow a similar theme, although using different colours and effects to achieve different affects on the viewer.

The general theme is interesting to me, and I think that it is a strong development of my original inspiration, which was the image below.

I enjoy the surrealism and multiple dimensions offered. I am interested in the theme of the "uncanny", which I think is projected here. The flowers are innocent, natural, soft, harmless, but using them on this scale (and in these colours) can alter their affect on viewers.

I did not make these images with the intention of evoking any specific response, although, I think that these experiments cemented my interest in using flowers / nature / vivid colours in my pieces, because of the affects I can produce.

I enjoy being able to use something usually heartwarming (flowers) to create an eerie piece, and I enjoy being able to manipulate colour to manipulate feelings, too.

I am interested in Kara Walker's piece below:

In which, the silhouette is not solid colour. I would like to experiment with "inverting" the silhouette in this way, with my own style.

See next post for more details.