Week 8

Ursa

Craft
This piece is a mixed medium work using oil pastel, watercolor, acrylic paint and 3 different photographs.  The images were used as references for the backdrop and the bear image itself was worked over in oil to help recreate the realistic nature of the bear.  The wash was created first with watercolor, then the rocky backdrop was laid out in pencil before being worked over in oil pastel.  The white marks on the bear were added after it had been pasted onto the piece, and are created in white acrylic paint.

 Concept
In this piece, I wished to further experiment with my use of tribal designs over a more realistic backdrop. The shapes are used to define the bear's features, and hi-light the splash of brown on the face, rather than to completely dominate the creature.

 Composition
In this piece, I sought to use more realistic colors  in the image, while still calling out attention to the tribal designs on the bear.  I used light colors i the sky to balance out the white of the design, and the darker colors of the oil pastel over the foreground rocks and on the bear to make the ground and bear pull away from the wash of sky.