stranger
this painting was originally called ‘blades of grass touch the sky and so will i’.
i explored likeness with nature here. when we consider ourselves as part of nature, it becomes easy to see our resilience and endurance as living beings. we see it in plants, in oceans, in natural phenomena, how nature finds a way and continues to cultivate life under any circumstances. growth is a constant.
i am a very growth oriented person. that’s what nature and i have in common. (as well as literally being one and the same in every sense of the word.)
but i have a tendency to forget that i’m constantly evolving, and don’t always see my own progress. so my persistence to reach higher and higher is something i’m perpetually entertaining. are my goals closer today than they were yesterday? could i be doing more?
can i continue to grow in my career, in my craft, and personal development, or have i stopped. we all experience stages of stagnancy, but they’re part of the journey. if i think outside of my obsessive ego cycles, then i can almost perceive little changes happening in the background, even when i haven’t been feeling productive for weeks.
the color play here is an interaction between muted and vibrant tones, connecting in a starling dynamic, which captivated me. i especially like the contrast between the muted moss green and the bright grass green, i think i might explore this type of colors dynamics more. one of the best things in visual art is how unexpected color combinations add so much soul to a piece.
and another small detail at play in this painting is the little portal, if you look through the ear tunnel of this character here. where you’d expect to see the blades of grass that cover the whole background, but instead there is empty space. it’s a little hint to challenging perception.
i changed the name of this painting to ‘stranger’ because i wanted an easier name to refer to this artwork, and here i don’t mean ‘stranger’ as in someone unfamiliar, but more so, something stranger than. something eccentric.