White as Snow, Sweet as Sugar

White as Snow, Sweet as Sugar

Materials:  Acrylic paint on canvas

To paint this image, I first drew the image of Snow White on canvas, using pencil, then using acrylic paint, I painted the rest of the image.  I used a medium size brush to paint the face, hair and background, and for the details of the face, I used a small paint brush.
This painting incorporates the elements of pop art. I decided to take a figure well known to young girls,  who is Cinderella, and change the figure to add elements from today's society.  I added bright red, heart shaped glasses to partially cover the eyes of Snow White,and a lollipop for Snow White to be eating.  The heart shaped glasses show youth and fun in the painting, which is what pop art should incorporate.  The lollipop also shows youth since it is a candy that many children enjoy.  I decided to crop the image so the painting only shows the face of Snow White because I wanted to focus more on the facial expressions of her, rather than her dress and the background of the image.  I chose to keep the colours and style of Snow White's dress the same as the original dress because that is Snow White's signature blue dress; blue, red and white.  To make all of the facial features and elements in the painting stand out, I outlined everything using thin and think black  brush strokes.  This makes the painting look more like pop art because the outline helps to make the colours appear more vivid.

As I researched images of pop art, I knew that I would want to incorporate Disney princesses' within my artwork.  I researched images of Disney princesses and I came across this image of Snow White.  This also had an influence in my painting.

Snow White is a very popular Disney princess character, and I feel that this painting portrays her as a less serious character.  Young girls should realize that it's okay to be yourself and to not follow the expectations of society.  It is okay to have fun and be free sometimes, doing what makes you happy.  Today, society does have numerous expectations for girls to live up to, such as maintaining a certain body weight, appearance, and being obligated to become a mother.  Girls need to be encouraged to be themselves and to not follow societies expectations.

An iconic figure who did not care about societies views was Marilyn Monroe.  This is painting by Andy Warhol, of Marilyn Monroe, also inspired my painting of Snow White.  Just as Andy Warhol did, I decided to used an iconic figure for my painting, and changed the photo in some ways to fit in with society.  Andy Warhol used bright, and vivid colours to create his painting, where as I used bright colours for certain aspects of my painting, such as the glasses, lollipop and background.

"Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring."  -Marilyn Monroe

-Yours Truly


"Disney Princess Photo: Snow White Pop-Art." Snow White Pop-Art. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2016. <http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/disney-princess/images/38170961/title/snow-white-pop-art-photo>.

"Andy Warhol Style." Gallery 7 Digital Studio. N.p., 14 June 2007. Web. 15 Feb. 2016. <https://artisme.wordpress.com/choose-your-style/andy-warhol-style/>.
"Marilyn Monroe Quotes." BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2016. <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/marilyn_monroe.html>.