Emily Schumann: Week 2

Alright, so I've made a decent amount of progress on three of my paintings:

The rhino piece is all laid out and I'm adding washes of color periodically to add depth, particularly to the two rhinos in the center. I also need to go back in and add more details throughout the whole piece.

The Sumatran Orangutan piece is coming along nicely, I'm really happy with it so far. I want to add an outstretched hand as if the orangutan is reaching out to the viewer, and holding a mound of dirt with a seedling plant that's fighting to survive in his palm. I really want to emphasize his human-like expression as well.

The Yangtze River Finless Porpoise piece is still in rough shape. I'm trying to figure out exactly how I want to make the composition, and it's already changed from this photograph. Ideally, the human reaction to what our race has done to the creatures will be the forefront of the piece, with suggestions of our actions in layers in the background.

I've noticed a growth in these three pieces -- from the actions of humans out of selfishness (South African rhinos), to a plea for change (the orangutan), and finally, realization of what we've caused (the finless porpoise), and I really like that idea. I like the idea of people viewing my pieces and seeing different things in each that drives them to a concrete conclusion: we need to change.