Outcomes - 1

 Outcome 1: The birth of the feminine

This was a final piece I created on an A1 sheet of plywood. I covered the background with scraps of paper I found laying around in storage in my house to create texture. I stuck this down using PVA. Over the top of this I used a sponge to spread gold and copper paint over the top. 

On separate watercolour paper I painted one of my fungi women and cut her out, before using more acrylic paint to stick her in place and create an almost explosion effect around her. 

On further separate sheets of paper I used oil pastels and acrylic paint to create skulls which were also cut out and stuck to the bored using paint. 

After waiting for this to dry, I used metallic paints to drip down the canvas as well as painting eyes and mouths on the bored in keeping with my motif usage. 

Around the edge I used an art nouveau border to create definition and show the piece as finite and boxed in.

All of these elements brought together create a whimsical and enchanted piece that is reminiscent of the renaissance painting "the birth of Venus". I wanted the figure to be central and stand out but I also wanted her to be guarded from the male gaze with the eyes perpetually watching out of the painting, and mouths to speak up about injustice. The skulls are representative of the end of a cycle, but also the beginning as fungi feed off of the dead and decaying to create more life. I wanted to box the piece in not just for aesthetical reasons, but also to represent how the patriarchy crushes and holds women.