David Padworny & Joshua Miels have been my main influences. The style of their paintings and the techniques they use to paint have been my inspiration. Along with my development, I was able to interpret migration through the work of these artists. Two portraits of my older brother have helped me to achieve this. These artists helped me internalize emotion so that I could incorporate it into my work. David Padworny was the artist who introduced me to color. Like Josh Miels, his work is abstract and he strives to convey intense emotion. He paints his works from rough sketches, blurred pictures or memories to keep a lively and creative atmosphere. He tried to express emotion through his paintings by using exaggerated expressions and even painting tears on the subjects. His works are expressive, both in terms of colour and style. It can be used to convey the emotions of the subject and the artist. His expressive qualities were sometimes so intense, it was hard to tell what the work was about. It also highlights how his portrait paintings were bordering on abstraction. It was only after I discovered Padworny that I began to understand the importance of colour in creating a more naturalistic look. Padworny’s work inspired me to experiment with colours I hadn’t yet explored. After copying his work, I learned how to use color to create tone. It was a great help when I painted my first portrait. The first time I learned about texture was when Padworny painted with thick layers of impasto. His idea to capture emotion by exaggerated expressions also inspired me. You can see in the Portrait two of My Brother that I exaggeratedly painted his smile to emphasise the joy and happiness he felt.
After I had absorbed all Padworny’s work, I began to develop my idea based on the theme of migration. Padworny’s art was too abstracted and expressive for my project, but I still found it useful in forming the concept I needed. Joshua Miels is an artist who works in the contemporary art world. He paints mostly portraits. The idea of the painting was inspired by two portraits I did of my brother. He wanted to capture emotion in his subject, just as Padworny did. He wants viewers to see what the subject is hiding. The emotion of my brother at the time played a big role in how the art was portrayed. The face of my brother is a giant smile. It captures his character. Josh Miels paints with a variety of bright colors, which enhance my brother’s character. Miels and Padwomy used a pallete knife to paint our canvas. My canvas was paper. It gives both my and their work a texture. Miles is not satisfied with simply painting the canvas. To create the texture, Miles paints in multiple layers. Miels & Padworny are oil painters, whereas my acrylic paints and acrylic texture paste is what I use. My artworks are matte, whereas theirs have a glossy finish. Miles created his art to let people connect and understand emotions on a spiritual basis. He strongly believes in the freedom of expression. He is particularly concerned that men be allowed to express themselves. He thinks that many men feel they have to hide their feelings in order to conform to stereotypical views. Most of his portraits are of men. His portraits are mostly of men to give a stronger impact to the viewer. This made a huge impact on my life, because even though we have different themes, it gave me a new perspective of the male emotion. I also chose a photograph of my brother at a younger age to paint. It was my intention to illustrate that even though we grow and change physically, our emotions never go away. Miels created male portraits in which the expressions were sad, so that it would be apparent that men are capable of feeling. Miles wanted to confront the viewer’s emotions, so I did this. It made me think of the reason why the subject was feeling the way they were. Joshua Miels is a major influence on my art, but we cannot compare our themes. Miels’ work was purely emotional. A long history in his family of depression, anxiety, and addiction was also a factor. It was for this reason that he created his work. The sub-category of my theme in this work is emotion, whereas the dominant theme, as previously stated, is migration. The word migration was interpreted as growth. The entire piece is two paintings. One of my five-year-old brother, and one of his twenty-year old brother.
It is important to note that they are placed side-by-side in order for the growth power and natural body development to be clearly highlighted. The man has evolved from an infant to an older adult. Due to the similarity of expression in the two paintings, the viewer is forced to consider whether migration from a child’s body to an adult has any effect on their emotional development. Josh Miels, not David Padworny, was the artist who most influenced my work. Miels’ style was the one I adopted and made my own. It took me some time to learn how to use colours this way. I started by painting with naturalistic colors and gradually added more colours, until I finally changed to only using bright and interesting shades. Miels’ paintings had a more refined and uniform quality because he painted them in segments. Padworny’s seemed more random in his colour selection and application. The colours were all blended together, so there was no clear distinction between them. This resulted a muddy-looking effect that I didn’t enjoy. My final artwork clearly shows that Miels’ method was my preference. This is a preference of mine and also an expression of myself, since I am a refined individual. It was possible to combine the work of Miels and Padworny, despite their different approaches, to create mine. By creating these pieces, I have expanded my artistic abilities. This will be helpful to me as I move forward. My understanding of colour and emotion has helped me create two paintings that are unique in their expression. Miels and Padworny’s art has both positive and negatively impacted me. They have helped me decide what my artistic preferences are. I also discovered more about myself as an artist, because the texture of the paint really sparked my interest in the visual arts.