Ivory Keys This is an idea I had sketched out at the beginning of the summer, but I originally was not going to carry it out because I had recently completed an elephant in the same medium. However, it was an idea I thought was interesting and I thought conte would be able to capture the rough, wrinkled texture of the animal well.
I spent a bit of time roughly figuring out how the elephant would be positioned (I didn't include them because they are really ugly and don't make much sense). I looked at a bunch of pictures of elephants which was very entertaining and helped me to understand how the elephant would theoretically contort itself into a piano bench. Once I got started on the sketch for my final piece, I had some issues making the proportions look natural. Even now, there are definitely some issues, but I think elephant looks like it could be in the realm of possibility even though the head looks big. After having the sketch done, the conte was a relief since I knew generally where I wanted to put my lines. I loved creating all the little wrinkles and shadows. I hadn't picked up a conte crayon in a while so working with such a small instrument took some getting used to but I didn't have too much trouble. After I had finished the elephant, I went back to the piano since the perspective still seemed wonky and then tried to figure out how to approach a smooth, shiny surface with conte. I feel like the piano could still use a bit of work but I'm not sure what I'll do to improve it. The last thing I did was add white highlights which is what I think really helps bring the piece together. Artist Statement I wanted to create a sense of irony as an elephant plays on the ivory keys of the piano. The slightly absurd scene addresses the tragedy of poaching for the ivory of elephant tusks.
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Hello Everyone!I am a Maggie Walker art student in Richmond, Virginia. This blog section is a little window into my art process, research, and experiences. You can follow along with my journey as you scroll. Archives
March 2020
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