Artist Statement
Vietnamese Countryside
Atlantia Aquarian
Acrylic on Canvas
April, 2017
One moment there is lush green grass, and the next there is fire and smoke in the air. My painting shows the luscious green vegetation before the Vietnam War, and the Vietnamese countryside being bombed. In this painting, I show how the vegetation was ruined by the bombing and chemicals such as Agent Orange, which is an herbicide and defoliant chemical. On the left side, I used fluorescent green colors, to show how green and healthy the Vietnamese countryside was before the Vietnam War. On the right side I painted a bomb exploding in a field, displaying how the vegetation was ruined by the chemicals and bombs.
I chose to do a acrylic painting because I enjoy painting, and I wanted to learn more about new painting techniques. I also like the challenge that comes with doing a painting. Before I began painting, I researched art techniques to help emphasize the meaning in the painting. I researched blending, color-mixing, sponge painting, and abstract painting techniques. I used acrylic paint and a thin canvas to create the message. I used the sponge technique, using this technique helped create the scenery for the painting which made the background pop out more. I used this technique to bring out all the colors, but specifically the greens, to emphasize the beauty in the Vietnamese countryside. On the right side, a field is being bombed. I used the colors red, orange and black to show the fire from the bomb. I keep some of the green on the bombing side to show how the vegetation was being destroyed.
I got my inspiration from the beautiful spring blossoms. I was admiring the luscious green plants, and it occurred to me that I could research the vegetation during the Vietnam War and how it was impacted by the bombs and chemicals. The creativity for my painting idea came from an image I found on the internet, which showed how beautiful the vegetation was in the Vietnamese countryside. I want people to feel like they are in my painting, so they can see the beauty in the colors and nature. I also want them to see how the beautiful countryside was turned into a dump, how the vegetation was ruined. I want the audience to feel heartbroken about what happened to the Vietnamese countryside.
Atlantia Aquarian
Acrylic on Canvas
April, 2017
One moment there is lush green grass, and the next there is fire and smoke in the air. My painting shows the luscious green vegetation before the Vietnam War, and the Vietnamese countryside being bombed. In this painting, I show how the vegetation was ruined by the bombing and chemicals such as Agent Orange, which is an herbicide and defoliant chemical. On the left side, I used fluorescent green colors, to show how green and healthy the Vietnamese countryside was before the Vietnam War. On the right side I painted a bomb exploding in a field, displaying how the vegetation was ruined by the chemicals and bombs.
I chose to do a acrylic painting because I enjoy painting, and I wanted to learn more about new painting techniques. I also like the challenge that comes with doing a painting. Before I began painting, I researched art techniques to help emphasize the meaning in the painting. I researched blending, color-mixing, sponge painting, and abstract painting techniques. I used acrylic paint and a thin canvas to create the message. I used the sponge technique, using this technique helped create the scenery for the painting which made the background pop out more. I used this technique to bring out all the colors, but specifically the greens, to emphasize the beauty in the Vietnamese countryside. On the right side, a field is being bombed. I used the colors red, orange and black to show the fire from the bomb. I keep some of the green on the bombing side to show how the vegetation was being destroyed.
I got my inspiration from the beautiful spring blossoms. I was admiring the luscious green plants, and it occurred to me that I could research the vegetation during the Vietnam War and how it was impacted by the bombs and chemicals. The creativity for my painting idea came from an image I found on the internet, which showed how beautiful the vegetation was in the Vietnamese countryside. I want people to feel like they are in my painting, so they can see the beauty in the colors and nature. I also want them to see how the beautiful countryside was turned into a dump, how the vegetation was ruined. I want the audience to feel heartbroken about what happened to the Vietnamese countryside.
Project Reflection
We began exploring the truth of war in this project by reading the book “ The Things They Carried” by Tim O'Brien. In this book we read certain sections of the book such as Spin, How to Tell a True War Story, Good Form, and On Rainy River. After reading each section, we had discussion questions to help make sure we understood the plot of each chapter. I feel that I was very engaged with these discussion question, an example of this would be one of our discussion questions from the chapter On Rainy River. “ Who does O’Brien think should go to war instead of him? What do you think of his “rule” about supporting the war.” In response to this, I said whoever supports the war should be the ones that get drafted. It’s not fair to the ones that do get drafted, especially since the men that go to war never come back the same.
All of the sections that we read helped us to understand the truth about war, and what it really meant to be a part of the Vietnamese War. After reading this book, we had a seminar on The Thing They Carried. To learn more about the truth about war, we watched a film on the Gulf of Tonkin incident, explored and learned about the Cold War, and had veterans come in and talk about their experience with the war.
During this project my artistic skills strengthen by practicing and asking for guidance. Going into this project I had decent painting skills, although I still had much learn about certain techniques for painting. The original picture I was going to use for one side to my painting was too complex, so I found one that was in my range for artistic skills. One of the main challenges I was facing with this art piece was, the brush strokes. I started to notice that the detailed, light strokes look smudged together, and not professional.
I began to research ways to fix it and learn the correct way to painting the smaller details, after a day I still couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong. I used my resources and went to go ask Heather Prekup a staff member and great painter, what I was doing wrong. Heather said that I was not using enough water, apparently you are supposed to dip your brush into water, then dip that into the paint, and then again dip the brush back into the water. I was very surprised to find that it was much easier to do the detail, after I learned that water technique. I grew from this experience, by learning not to wait at the last minute and to simply ask for help.
Doing this project gave me an idea of where we can find truths about war, and how we only find the truth from the ones that were a part of the war. Reading The Things Fall Apart by Tim O’Brien, and reading all the different stories from the perspective of a young man that was drafted, made me realize that the only place to find out the real truths about war is from the ones that had a part in it. We had a guest speaker come in and talk about his experience in the war, and how people would not believe some of the stories he told becuase no one could image how it felt to be the one in his shoes. Sometimes it was just to painful to go back to some of the sad memories.
An example of this, would be one of the stories the quest speaker told about a friends death that he said he was responsible for. He introduced pot to one of new guys that got drafted out, looking back he realized that this guy probably had bad family issues. This new guy started to do pot and he became so addicted that he had to get locked up and was never the same again. He was so out of it that he was a danger out in the field so they couldn’t use him. The guest speaker said that he is pretty sure he never made it out of the cell. He felt that it was his fault that he never made it out, he was the one to get him addicted even though everyone else did it too it was just too much for the poor guy. No one can know the full truth about the war, not even through the stories, books, and movies that are shown about war. The only ones that will know the real truth about the war, are the ones that were a part of it.
All of the sections that we read helped us to understand the truth about war, and what it really meant to be a part of the Vietnamese War. After reading this book, we had a seminar on The Thing They Carried. To learn more about the truth about war, we watched a film on the Gulf of Tonkin incident, explored and learned about the Cold War, and had veterans come in and talk about their experience with the war.
During this project my artistic skills strengthen by practicing and asking for guidance. Going into this project I had decent painting skills, although I still had much learn about certain techniques for painting. The original picture I was going to use for one side to my painting was too complex, so I found one that was in my range for artistic skills. One of the main challenges I was facing with this art piece was, the brush strokes. I started to notice that the detailed, light strokes look smudged together, and not professional.
I began to research ways to fix it and learn the correct way to painting the smaller details, after a day I still couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong. I used my resources and went to go ask Heather Prekup a staff member and great painter, what I was doing wrong. Heather said that I was not using enough water, apparently you are supposed to dip your brush into water, then dip that into the paint, and then again dip the brush back into the water. I was very surprised to find that it was much easier to do the detail, after I learned that water technique. I grew from this experience, by learning not to wait at the last minute and to simply ask for help.
Doing this project gave me an idea of where we can find truths about war, and how we only find the truth from the ones that were a part of the war. Reading The Things Fall Apart by Tim O’Brien, and reading all the different stories from the perspective of a young man that was drafted, made me realize that the only place to find out the real truths about war is from the ones that had a part in it. We had a guest speaker come in and talk about his experience in the war, and how people would not believe some of the stories he told becuase no one could image how it felt to be the one in his shoes. Sometimes it was just to painful to go back to some of the sad memories.
An example of this, would be one of the stories the quest speaker told about a friends death that he said he was responsible for. He introduced pot to one of new guys that got drafted out, looking back he realized that this guy probably had bad family issues. This new guy started to do pot and he became so addicted that he had to get locked up and was never the same again. He was so out of it that he was a danger out in the field so they couldn’t use him. The guest speaker said that he is pretty sure he never made it out of the cell. He felt that it was his fault that he never made it out, he was the one to get him addicted even though everyone else did it too it was just too much for the poor guy. No one can know the full truth about the war, not even through the stories, books, and movies that are shown about war. The only ones that will know the real truth about the war, are the ones that were a part of it.