Extraction from photograph
I found a photograph of my brother Mike walking in a park with Dad during one of our visits to his group home. Mike is autistic, low functioning and nonverbal. He has some idiosyncratic self-harming behaviors, including head slapping, hand biting and slamming his arm against the side of his chest. He usually grunts in synchrony with the arm coming down.
In keeping with my plan, I tried to abstract the emotional elements of the photograph into a watercolor study. I feel if I continue this process I will become more aware of what the photograph is telling me and better able to convey the feeling at its core. I hope eventually to be able to do this with minimum brush strokes.
Today’s study
I have not yet achieved the minimal-brush-stroke stage of conveying a feeling, but the study below is the first step – extraction of the salient features that convey what I want to emphasize.
Mike and Dad
7″x10″ 140# Rough Watercolor Block
There are two contrasting elements in this study. Mike’s expression and the position of his arm and this other hand, which is holding my father’s hand.
Even if the viewer does not know the backstory of the face portrayed in this watercolor, it is clear that the subject is in some distress. The source of distress could be a loud noise, since the hand covers the ear, or it could be an inner source, based on the closed eyes.
The two hands represent human contact. Taken together, one might interpret this study as extreme distress coupled with its possible alleviation through human contact.
Derivative
The viewer might note a certain similarity to The Scream by Edvard Munch. This was not intentional. There are only so many ways to portray an open mouth screaming or otherwise vocalizing. Personally, the study reminds me of a cross between The Scream and the Great Wizard of Oz (the projected icon representing the man behind the curtain to whom we are not supposed to pay attention).
Only the first step
However, I believe that the study above can be further abstracted. I hope to achieve the kind of raw emotion that I would be hesitant to show, as in my post, Discomfort: Emotion or Bad Art? If an image hits a nerve, it has power; it can be a key to greater self knowledge.
