Saint Valentine is coming and that inspired me to get back to surrealism!
This romantic date is all over the place on social media and also in my country, in the streets and in our day today conversations, it's relativaly new in my country because we actually celebrate love the 21 of september usually because its the beggining of spring but now we see more and more this Valentine's celebration and I'm not complaining!
I love my country Bolivia, and one of the typical things that comes to mind when you speak about Bolivia its the LLAMA, this beautiful animal of the mountains that lives in high altitude, a symbol of this land.
I have been practicing to capture the esence of this beautiful animal for a few weeks now that's been on my head non stop for some reason, I'm drawing it with different positions and funny costumes, and it's been fun!
But now I wanted to make something different and take it to the next level, I wanted to make something with this animal mixed with the Valentine's day concept.
For reference I used a white llama,
I used the classic Paint software of windows because I wanted to make a minimalistic style, almost like a comic, sometimes less is more in art.
PROCESS
So this time I didn't started with Autodesk Sketchbook app for drawing, I used the good old PAINT from WINDOWS and that brings me back a lot of memories from back in the day when I started my blog journey.
It was so refreshing getting back to the basics! As a matter of fact I'm going to use this more often because I like the aesthetic of how simple it looks.
For the LLAMA I used this photo as a reference of a white LLAMA , I love this animal because it looks so peaceful and calm, it looks like its meditating 24/7 lol , very ZEN, I had the opportunity many times to interact with these animals, they are very common in many rural areas, it's really a beautiful animal with a long neck, thick wool, and curved ears.
Photo reference
Once the head was done I was happy with the result it looked like a logo or something, but that was the easy part because I didn't used a reference for the rest of this work. But from memory I made the body of an elegant gentleman holding a rose.
From the start I knew that I wanted a Valentine's theme, so its like the llama is on a date, that is late and might never come. A lonely Valentine was basically the concept.
After that I put some colors in that and the picture was making more sense, little by little. I put the classical heart shaped box of chocolates to make it more obvious the theme of Valentine's Day. That was the tricky part to make the character look surreal but at the same time very casual like an everyday scene almost. Thats what I wanted to capture.
The cloths were very difficult because at first I wanted to make it minimalistic, but it just didnt work, it looked like a comic book, or something funny, and at that moment I knew I needed to use another APP. Besides PAINT.
It looked cool but I needed more details... So I put more roses and a bottle with a candle on the top, a typical thing that you find on some bars here in Bolivia, a cool romantic detail for dinner dates under the light of a candle.
The color details could not be done in Paint, I mean the roses, the bottle and the cloths, but over all I achieved the aesthetic that I was looking for very dreamy and absurd.
FINAL PRODUCT
To finish the coloring, I put a filter called Hagrid on the app PIXLR, so make it even more surreal, so the sky and the clouds stand out and also the details, because this filter has a lost of contrast built in.
THE CONCEPT
Many things that comes to mind when writing about the concept of this artwork, it kind of looks random, but deep inside it has a lot of meanings and symbols. It basically represents solitude in love.
For example the lit candle in the bottle suggests hope, yet it is fragile, almost artificial, basically some kind of copium. Over all this artwork is about reflecting a bittersweet meditation on longing and isolation. Because the main character the llama is ready for a date that might never come. He is waiting but for what? for something that may never come and he knows it, that's why he is calm.
He is holding two roses, so he is ready to love, the expression of the llama , possibly reflecting an awareness of its solitude.
The suit and tie suggest readiness and also preparation, perhaps for love, companionship, or a romantic evening, yet there is no one present to share it.
The llama holds a rose a symbol of love waiting to be given but there is nobody that can receive the gift so it makes this gesture futile and absurd.
And on the other hand he is holding another rose, I wanted to symbolise self love with that, no matter if a person is there to love, you always have yourself and that's also love.
That many roses on the table is to represent many failed attemtps of love but gone unnoticed, unappreciated or unreciprocated. And also some roses appear fresh, while others are broken, symbolizing some hope still that persists despite many past disappointments.
The candleholder suggests an improvised sense of hope, much like someone clinging to optimism despite circumstances, the small flame flickers alone, much like the llama’s quiet longing and inner emotional state.
The table is devoid of food and too big, reinforcing the idea that this is not a true dinner but an imagined or symbolic occasion really.
OVERALL THEME
With this artwork I wanted to encapsulates the experience of someone who has an abundance of love to give but no one to receive it. Reflecting the state of the lonely society we live in, and in this special romantic dates it's a real struggle for many people.
Particularly in this artwork there is a sense of resignation, hope exists indeed, but it is practically unfounded because nothing appears that will ever change in the world, the llama represents society.
It is really melancholic but at the same time hopeful in a weird and fun way.
You know, this is the beauty of surrealism, you get to make what ever comes to your mind and when you finally finish it you suddenly realize you connected with the subconcious and I find that weirdly beautiful.
Thanks for your visit, until next time with more art!
Posted Using INLEO
This is so cute, happy Valentine's!
Thanks! Happy Valentine’s to you too! :)
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