The inspiration for this collection came from a conversation I had with the Founder and Executive Director of the Underprivileged And Underserved Foundation (UAUF), George Goodwine. While discussing race and whether or not every opportunity was fair based upon someone’s familial structure or “starting line,” I was asked the following questions. How does someone overcome these hurdles? How can the playing field be leveled to make things fairer, when others may only have 50 hurdles to overcome in the same competition?
My response was simple. “The person in front of 150 hurdles has two choices. They can either get discouraged before they begin, or start jumping. In the midst of the race they might get tired, unsure, or discouraged, but if they press on to the finish line they may become more physically fit than the person who jumps over 50.”
I used to dance ballet and at the time, there were a lot of hurdles I had to overcome solely based upon inconveniences that came with being raised in low-income, single parent home. Above are pencil sketches and sharpie drawings that I have drawn from actual photos. I plan on making these images my own by adding more abstraction and vibrant color to them.
Over the course of the project, stay tuned to see how these pictures will transform into a work of ART!!! Check out my artwork at theservingartist.com
Progression image 4 of 6. 11x14 Marker paper, Medium Graphite Pencils (asst. B-5B). This is where I felt the piece coming together. I spent a lot of time working on her left eye.
Canvas mounted on wooden frame. Size: 25 x 30 cm Materials: acrylic, Chinese ink, brush, pen and marker. Is sold the original piece. For this reason, there may be slight differences from one piece to another.
Doodling my faces, this time on a piece of wood from a pallet. Re-cycling! Used watercolors and colored pencils, Carved out some spots to add dimension.
I used a Platinum Preppy fountain pen for this. I like how it makes me kinda happy looking at it haha. I made this into digital form ( made it a little happier with more smiley faces) and put it on my Redbubble and TeePublic.
I like doodling these self-portraits. They are the drawing utility drawing themselves, I just the conduit between the pen, pencil, or brush, drawing the way they see themselves. This is a Sharpie...
This is a piece of work of a canal in Amsterdam. i made a rubbing with pencil of a interesting patterned wall to create a base tone and then worked into it. This helped focus on tone and create interesting textures.