Wilderness and Domesticity (2018)
Using 'Wilderness and Domesticity' as my theme, I created two paintings with horses as my main focus. I used horses as I find they give off such human-like expressions, hoping that this will allow others to relate to or empathize more with them.
Seahorses, 2018
Oil on Canvas, 60 x 80 cm
This painting portrays horses in an unlikely situation, stranded at sea with life buoys around them. I wanted to make this painting slightly comical which is why I used amused faces for the horses, as if they find the situation out of place as well.
Process
Life buoys can be seen decreasing in size further into the distance to imply the large scale of the sea. Being inspired by pop art, the colours I used were more vibrant than real life which added on to the fun and comedic value for this scenario. I hope that viewers will get a laugh out of this painting beacuse of how unlikely it is and how the horses seem so calm about it.
Longing, 2018
Oil on Canvas, 60 x 80 cm
This painting is about portraying domestic horses in a restricted environment, longing for a chance to break free from this situation. Since an hourglass represents time, in this case it shows that time is slowly running out for the horse while it is in captive due to mental stress.
Process
Started with a purple underpainting as I hoped that it would make the later layers darker and create ongoing purplish tones in the whole painting. I tried using chiaroscuro techniques on the horse to make its muscles more defined and prominent, making it the main focus of the painting.
