Constellation Cradle
A colored pencil drawing I made as a final project for a drawing class required for my major. I like drawing, but I’ve never been great at it, partially because I have mild essential tremors in my hands that prevent me from being able to draw smooth lines easily. That said, I really wanted to pursue this vision I had for the final project, which caused me a lot of stress, but I’m very happy with it. It’s currently framed and hanging over my bed.
Like with some of my other school projects, I was required to write an artist’s statement about the piece which referenced a classical work in some way, so here is what I wrote:
As generic and standard a reference as it may be, I’ve always been inspired by Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh. van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter, whose work was very Expressionist, meaning it attempts to express emotions through color and form. For example, probably his second most famous piece, The Night Café, has a distorted perspective and conveys a sense of darkness about the café, as van Gogh considers it a place where you can ruin yourself. This style is also found in Starry Night, albeit even more distorted, since he painted it delirious in a hospital after infamously cutting off his ear.
Throughout all my artistic endeavors, I’ve always attempted to convey the meaning through the aesthetics rather than things like symbolism or the subject. Not that those things don’t have value, it’s just that I find a piece much more impactful when it doesn’t need to use them, and I believe Starry Night executes it perfectly. The flowing linework to represent the night sky, slowly cascading down into the town, the ominous smoky black shapes on the left; all the aesthetic elements work together to produce the atmosphere of the piece, and I wanted to try my best to approach my piece in a similar way. This would prove to be tough, considering I am not an illustrator by nature, but I wanted to give it a shot.
The general idea for the composition came from my fascination with water and mist, as well as Carousel by Vylet Pony, an album some friends recommended to me that ended up changing the way I view art. I tried to use lines in the same way that Starry Night does; the way it creates flow in a way that isn’t necessarily realistic, but works to convey mood and tone instead. I intended to do this with the waterfalls specifically, allowing them to distort almost the entirety of the piece, but because of my skill level, I eventually decided I would need to cut some corners in order to get the project done on time. I also tried to use a similar technique with the forest below, using upside-down v shapes, but the results were more flat than I would have liked.
This piece, which I’ve decided to name Constellation Cradle after one of the songs off of Carousel, attempts to convey this simultaneous sense of serenity and wonder. One of the most surreal experiences in my childhood was sitting under those waterfall mushrooms you see at large pools or water parks. For some reason, hearing the torrent of water slamming against the surface of the pool, looking through it to see the light from the world around you completely refracted, distorted, and drowned out by both the water and its sound—something about being isolated in such a surreal way really struck a chord with me. I hope looking at this piece allows you to experience at least a fraction of what I felt as a kid.