The Evolution of a Painting

 

The blank Rothko-esque canvas

The original idea of putting kids faces on the coffee pot.

However, I decided this erodes the 'integrity' of the pot.

Trying to decide how to place the children.

Can't get the dollar bill to work.

Solving the 'explanation' problem by placing actual price tags on the piece

It's a messy business!

The finished coffee pot (with an accidental rip now added).

Seeing whether blue will work in the picture

Looking at how to incorporate the face cream

The finished hand painted face cream

Deciding to use less children

Random price tags

Thinking that making the price tags more ordered works better

Looking to Van Gogh's bed for inspiration

Placing the children on a deliberately crudely painted bed

It is certainly a bit 'literal'. But actually I think the ideas

behind it are so important that I don't really care. (Can

literal still have value as art? There's an interesting question).

So far so good, but it feels a bit flat

Looking at whether a border works. I think so, done like this

in machine embroidery but on a thinner, more see through fabric. 

(The only thing is it's a shame to lose the top brown strip of paint).

The 'maelstrom' swirls are meant to represent the madness of the world.

I wondered about putting them on a map background, but think it would 

make it too fussy. And I like the simplicity of the black and white.

I'm also thinking of incorporating some newspaper headlines into 

the border, but will discuss at college tomorrow.

NB: the children in this work are real children, which is important for the work. They are NOT abused, trafficked children but are simply being used as 'models' in this work. The important point is that they represent the kinds of real kids (polite, happy, gorgeous ones) who could be at risk from trafficking and abuse.