Samson's betrayal
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Inspiration
My inspiration for 'Samson's betrayal' I give a depiction of the bible story of Samson in the book of Judges chapters 13-16. His mother was infertile but through the holy spirit conceived a Samson. But with one condition, he was to live the Nazirite life, meaning he would abstain from wine and grapes, to not cut their hair or beard, and to avoid contact with dead bodies. If Samson would stay true to the Nazirite life style the lord would grant him immeasurable strength with the holy spirit coursing through him. Samson the fell into his lust when he fell in love with a woman named Delilah who she made an affair with Samson. The philistines , who were an enemy of Samson, offers Delilah a sum of money to tell them Samson's secret to his strength. She obliges revealing his Nazirite oath IS the secret to his strength. She then has Philistinian soldiers come to their house while Samson slept, she then cut his hair then had the soldiers detain Samson in his weakened state.
For my artistic inspiration I used Caravaggio, who was best known for his bold, realistic style and the dramatic expression of his striking compositions. He utilized deep shadows and values to emphasize the figures in his artwork causing great contrast between the background and foreground. The people of his time did not like his religious art work due to the fact that it depicted holy figures as regular people. He along with many other artist were part of the Baroque movement. In Baroque style painting are generally exaggerated in emotion in very detailed facial expression to produce drama and tension. Some pieces of the Baroque movement illustrated key elements of the catholic church either in direct biblical works or indirectly in mythological or allegorical compositions. |
da Caravaggio, Michelangelo Meris. David with the Head of Goliath.1610
da Caravaggio, Michelangelo Meris. Saint Jerome Writing. 1606
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Planning Sketches
Proccess
First comes building the canvas frame. I grabbed 4 of 2 foot long stretcher bars with interconnecting edges. I connected them and then with a triangle ruler to make sure each frame corner has a 90 degree angle. When each corner is measured I used a stapler gun to staple the corners together. The canvas should be cut several inches wider than the dimensions of the stretcher bars, taking into account the width of each side of the frame, as well. I need this extra canvas to have something to get a grip on to be able to pull and stretch. Then I cut the canvas in the shape of my frames using a very sharp scissors. I centered my frame on the canvas. Laid the canvas out flat on my work surface, smoothing out and cleaning up the canvas as much as possible.
Starting with one side of the canvas and folding it in. I inserted one staple in the middle then along the side, then I rotated the frame and did the exact same thing except stretching it while stapling. Then repeated that process along the other sides and other frames. Now on all the corners fold the extra canvas and staple it to the back of the stretcher bar. Now that the canvas is set I start to sketch out, with pencil, roughly where I want the characters to be on the foreground, then I start sketching details to the face and bodies of the characters. After all the sketching is done I use a thick brush and black paint to paint the background of the piece, making sure not to paint over the sketches. Then using skin color paint, which is a mixture of 5 parts white, 3 parts brown, 2 parts yellow, and the 0.5 parts red, I use very little red because red can very easily over power other colors, and it also gives the skin a nice healthy pinkish hue. Then I start painting the bodies with their basic skin tone which I will later go through again, giving them details and painting values. Then I start painting the clothes which were mostly just a mixture of white and black to varying degrees except for the kilts the soldiers wear which was dark green and brown. Lastly I start painting the faces and hairs. Paint the details on the faces I just darkened their basic skin tone by using a little more brown or a tiny bit of black. For the hair I just use brown and black to darken the hair and I used a mixture of brown and yellow for the highlights. After everything is set I will go over the piece adding detail and fixing any minor mistakes. |
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Experimentation
For experimentation I used different blending methods for the piece. But the one I stuck to was by placing the highlight of the color next to its darkest value where I would then brush back and froth between the colors effectively blending the two. Eliminating any sudden change in value and tone when its unnecessary.
Compare and Contrast
Reflection
In my piece ‘Samson's Betrayal’ I tried to depict the biblical story of Samson and even more specifically, the moment in the story were he is captured and is forced to get his hair cut, betrayed by his wife Delilah. My original intentions for this piece was to create a semi realistic depiction of the event, but I wasn't able to get the extra details that I desired incorporated into my piece. Where, in my inspiration Caravaggio was able to implement deep values to provide more emphasis to the human forms in his piece. I was unable to achieve that same effect in my own work. Overall I was not as satisfied as I should be with my piece and I believe that with time I'll tweak the piece little by little until I am fully satisfied with the work.
ACT Questions
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
One of the most obvious cause effect relationship between my inspiration and my piece is the black background which Providences to the foreground characters in both our pieces.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The overall approach that the author of my piece had was to depict biblical stories in the visual form of art.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
One generalization that I made about the culture and people in Caravaggio's era was how religion oriented they are.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The theme of my inspiration is to highlight key moments in biblical stories.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
Religion ran the world in the time Caravaggio was alive.
One of the most obvious cause effect relationship between my inspiration and my piece is the black background which Providences to the foreground characters in both our pieces.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The overall approach that the author of my piece had was to depict biblical stories in the visual form of art.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
One generalization that I made about the culture and people in Caravaggio's era was how religion oriented they are.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The theme of my inspiration is to highlight key moments in biblical stories.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
Religion ran the world in the time Caravaggio was alive.
Bibliography
“Baroque Art (C.1600-1700).” American Gothic, Grant Wood: Analysis,
www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/baroque.htm.Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Samson.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 20 Dec. 2018, www.britannica.com/biography/Samson.
LeBourdais, George Philip. “The Baroque Period.” 11 Artworks, Bio & Shows on Artsy, Artsy, 6 Jan. 2016, www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-these-masters-of-the-baroque-painted-dramatic-scenes-of-spiritual-revelation.
www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/baroque.htm.Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Samson.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 20 Dec. 2018, www.britannica.com/biography/Samson.
LeBourdais, George Philip. “The Baroque Period.” 11 Artworks, Bio & Shows on Artsy, Artsy, 6 Jan. 2016, www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-these-masters-of-the-baroque-painted-dramatic-scenes-of-spiritual-revelation.