Sustained Investigation Series
My sustained investigation is exploring the different ways that various body parts can convey an emotion. Each painting focuses on one specific body part and a corresponding emotion that it is showing. I was able to convey each emotion by using specific and purposeful positioning of each body part along with the combination of the color palette that went along with the emotion. The first piece in my investigation is a painting of legs showing confidence through their position and the background colors. I went on to explore anxiety in the shoulders, happiness in the mouth, anger in the hand, sadness in the eyes, curiosity in the feet, longing in the hand, flirtatiousness in the mouth, contemplation in the eyes and relief in the neck. 
With each piece I created my own reference images in order to position the body exactly the way I intended. This entire investigation was a challenge for myself that pushed me to learn and grow in my painting skills. Prior to this I had done mostly abstract or design oriented paintings. I never attempted to painting the human body realistically. 
Each painting helped me grow in my skills and made me more confident in my ability to paint the human body. The paintings that were the most challenging were the eyes showing sadness and the neck showing relief. I even had to completely re-do the sad eyes after I had painted the eyes showing contemplation because I had grown in my ability just in that amount of time and knew that I could do better. The eyes showing contemplation was my aha moment. I had really mastered my technique of expressive brushstrokes and unblended colors, as well as emphasizing the lines, shadows, and highlights throughout the skin in order to accurately show the part of the body. I was very proud of myself for how the eyeballs turned out in this piece, and it is still my best painting that I have done to this day. 
As an artist I expanded my abilities in what style I can paint in successfully. I tried something new and along the way I learned how to do it well. I grew in my confidence as well. Before I never would have attempted paintings like these. Now I am very confident in my ability to paint the human body in my own style. 
Process Development for Sustained Investigation
Additional Artworks
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Artist website: https://elisedosch.weebly.com/
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