"Vanda Sanderiana"
Queen of Philippine Flowers
Overview
Project X is a course in Visual and Creative Arts program, that is entirely self-directed on an individual project with a concept of our choosing. All the planning and ideas are self-driven with provided feedback to keep us on the right track with our chosen concept.
Where to start?
The Most Inspirational Person
This mixed-media piece, combined with traditional art(oil painting) and digital art is called “Vanda Sanderiana” and it is a flower that is part of the orchid family. This specific title is one of the species of orchids that is the national flower in the Philippines. Elements included in the piece are a digital projection of orchids and a painting of my mother.
The key concept of this piece is nature interacting with the human body. Each element having a specific connection with the individual. The floral elements symbolizes my mother who embraces purity, innocence and beauty, while also making a cultural reference on choosing orchids as the main flower in the piece.
With the combination of floral elements with the human figure, it serves as an exploration of how one percieves the world around them.
This is shown through the placement of flowers, as my mother always says to trust what the heart tells me, but to always keep a clear head when making decisions. Through these connected elements, it further invokes one’s inner self.
Initial Thumbnails
In my initial research, I began to explore different ways of how nature would react with the human figure. Asking myself questions of whether to include the entire figure or focus on the face itself. I just had fun exploring the concept at this stage and not necessarily think about a specific flower I wanted to portray, but focused on
the human figure.
After some feedback, I gave more thought about the flowers and how it would tie into the subject of my piece.
When I decided the subject to be my mother, it made the process more easier about how the elements would further connect with each other.
It also helped me connect with my piece and made the creative thinking
more fun to do!
Material Exploration
Since this project is entirely self-driven, I was able to pick materials I could explore with this artwork. Taking inspiration from my other course which involves the combination of analogue and digital to create art. I found this concept quite interesting, as being in the digital age, the exploration of digital art is expanding. Thus, I chose to explore this material more in depth for my personal project.
Exploring Each Medium
I had to figure out how each medium would connect with each other. Starting off digitally, I drew an orchid and tried different digital brushes. Eventually, I chose to have a painted look as to not let it stray away from the painting itself. Then, I started to do some experiments of oil paints and collage to determine the placement of flowers. With this exploration, I realized that the painting was too dark and I need to be cautious when I actually start painting.
With this exploration, I had to be aware of where I would be placing
the digital flowers.
Final Thoughts & Decisions
For the final product of my work, I decided to have a finished monochromatic painting rather than have white strokes on the painting to define where the projected flowers will be. As it will be awkward to see without the flower projection onto the painting.
My main obstacle was to think of each material seperately and have it stand on its own.
In the digital piece of my work, I wanted to explore the cultural themes. I included flowers of orchids from my mother’s background, Filipino. With that I also included her favourite traditional white orchids.
Overall, working on this piece was quite the process with many obstacles along the way. However, figuring out each one of them through added feedback and research on the subject and culture, it really helped the process and allowed me to expand my knowledge. Research and having an overall connection with the piece made this an enjoyable experience.
