"The World... This word means two things to me..."



The assignment------------

My finished art project. The assignment? Create a large-scale drawing inspired by a piece of writing. My inspiration? A precious letter/poem written to me by my boyfriend. Here it has been translated into the context of The Tripartitus and expressed through those characters that so often reflect aspects of my life... as Luke and Jayli, for they are just much like my mate and I are for each other - the World.

My story is a reflection of my thoughts and feelings, pains and passions, and I thought it would make an appropriate medium through which to depict my theme.



The theme------------

You may interpret it however you wish. However, this image does have an intended meaning... at least for me personally...

What is the World? It's about darkness and light, suffering and enjoyment, hatred and love, loneliness and friendship... Those are concepts touched on by the original poem - now here is where I've added to it: through moving from one to another, through understanding and union, two may become one, yet exist separate and simultaneously. Now, there exists one, the other, and then there is that transcendent entity that is both-yet-neither: three parts to make a Whole. One tripartite symbol.

That is the World. That is the Tripartitus.

How does that translate into characters, into imagery? You might know Jayli and Luke as lovers, but anyone who knows more might know it wasn't always that way. Separated by conflict and lies and darkness... The image of the lonely figures and the burning forest is a scene from my story, marking the beginning of the transition from not knowing to knowing, not seeing to seeing, where the previous misunderstandings are swept away at last and relationship may be reborn with the knowledge of past mistakes. They brought the worst of pain to each other in their own ways, but endured, and survived, and fluorished to provide for each other something that they could not have had alone. The fire symbolises the duality of the World and of human nature, and so it is portrayed as both hateful and consuming, and warm and protective. Day and night are there also - they are not good, or bad, but simply are, where what matters most is that together, they balance. There is the tripartite existence of Jayli - Jocarra, Ash, and Raydl as one, each representing different facets of who she is, together creating a whole. The gently rolling valley with the pinnacle of rock, Paruda, means "peace" in their language - here, Luke is shown embracing it, surrounded by stars that he is sometimes represented by, which is a symbol all of its own. It was Jayli that brought Luke to the lost lands of Paruda, but it was Luke that brought Jayli paruda.



The image------------

Photo by: ~pzacher
Dimensions: ~3x4 feet on paper (some high-quality, heavy-weight, expensive stuff... can't remember)
Materials used: charcoal (which was later abandoned and reworked), pencils (HB, 3B, 5B, 6B), 6B graphite stick, kneadable eraser, Faber-Castell hard-edged eraser, paper towel, projector
Time spent: ~20 hours over 3 weeks
Compositional inspiration: Josephine Wall
References (didn't use any straight, but got help from): a photo of a vulture spreading its wings I took at the Seattle zoo, a photo of a snow leopard, a book of human anatomy, my hand
Original sketch: [link]
Work in progress images: [link] [link] [link] [link] [link] [link]