Wicked Sunset

Wicked Sunset

  Materials:  Oil pastel on cartridge paper

Description:  I chose to name this piece "Wicked Sunset" because it portrays an eerie feeling.  The dark and thick pom trees give off a scary feeling.  The sunset behind the palm trees is not illuminating the palm trees, but instead is making them look dark and lifeless. There are a lot of palm trees that seem stiff and lifeless as if they are purposely covering the beauty of the sunset.  

I chose to make a large portion of the bottom of the piece black with palm thick bundle of bushes and palm trees in the foreground of the image. I also chose to place a sunset behind the palm trees because a sunset is normally looked at as peaceful but in this piece, is covered by scary looking palm trees, and therefore, does not seem peaceful. The sharpness of the leaves of the trees also make the image appear dark and scary, instead of the leaves looking free, flowing in a breeze of wind.

I was inspired to use oil pastel to complete this artwork, from this photograph(wallpapervacations)   that was taken of palm trees, with a faint, orange sunset in the background.  At the time of completing this art piece, I felt very stressed.  I believe that this is why the palm trees came out pointed, instead of free flowing.  I also felt as if the palm trees in the photograph were blocking the radiant sunset, which caused me to think of stresses that people face, and how stress can block a persons happiness from showing through.

The main objective of this piece was to contrast the difference between peace and war; not war within the world but war within the self.  The sunset represents the calmness within a person and the dark palm trees represent the stress the people may be facing.  The stress may seem to overtake a person but somehow, the peaceful sunset will always find a way to shine through.

-Yours Truly