Layer by Layer: Ivy

My relationship with this piece is… interesting. Let me give you a timeline of events.

• Finally figured out the concept, and I’m very excited about it!
• Nerves creep in due to the shoot feeling oddly high-stakes because it would be difficult to reshoot, so I do what any normal artist does and procrastinate on it.
• Excitement outweighs nerves. I’m shooting it TODAY.
• My mom helps me, because duh, who else is going to pour the fake blood all over me?
• Nervous again because I’m convinced my concoction of corn syrup, beet powder, and red food coloring will indeed stain my skin and rip out all of my hair- or worse, not look good in the picture.
• Cue nervous laughter from me and mischievous laughter from my mom.
• Fake blood drips all over my face, hair, and body. I am a mess. I love it.
• I’m a mess, can’t get up to see the photos and check if they’re good, and my remote stops working. *upside down smiling face emoji*
• Fast forward. I see the photos, fall in love, and edit for multiple days.
• Finished editing and I can’t stop looking at this beaut. She’s my new favorite.
• After it’s done, I find myself gazing at the final product longingly, totally in love with it.
• …
• ……
• ……….
• Cue thoughts of, this is the best piece I’ve ever made and there’s no way I’m ever going to be able to top this so I might as well just quit and throw away the whole project because why would I keep going after this one hit wonder that never even hit the radio???
• Wallowing.
• A little more wallowing.
• Realize that if Foo Fighters had the gusto to follow up their massively successful album The Color and The Shape, with the absolute sonic masterpiece of There Is Nothing Left to Lose, then damn it, I can’t quit!
• I find peace.
• Mostly.

So, I wouldn’t say that I have a love/hate relationship with this picture, but she and I have been through it.

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WHAT IS IVY ABOUT?

From my Black Curtain Sneak Peeks page…

Ivy portrays the story of a love so consuming that it becomes you. It doesn’t just shower your senses, it grows without your permission and blinds your vision. Self-imposed harm is portrayed as a sign of internal struggle and the willingness to hurt yourself. 

The visuals for this came to me when I became obsessed with Taylor Swift’s song, ivy. And, listen, I’m a music freak, alright? This is just something you should know about me because I will be talking about music a lot.

This entire series is not only based on my firsthand experiences and feelings, but also on being a young adult in general. I wanted to create a piece full of inner turmoil and coming to grips with the realization that you are capable of doing heartbreaking things to people you love. This is also what I believe the song ivy is about.

But now we can get to the real meat and potatoes. The layers!

The main things I knew I wanted to do was add something to spice up the background, adjust the reds to look a little orange, take away saturation, add the thick line of blood down the middle, and make the sheet that’s draped over the subject look a little more yellowed and old.

Some other things I did to spice it up was add additional motion blur to the roses falling around the subject.

Ta-da! That’s the final product!

What I think I like most is the almost abstract feel that the piece holds, which is something I wasn’t aware of until I showed it to others! I can see everything clearly, but when I’ve shown this photo to others, they weren’t totally sure of what they were looking at. It took them a minute to recognize the face and details of the subject. And when you think about it, that is nearly a perfect representation of the emotion of this photo.

Here’s a ~behind the scene~ look at the total mess this made. As I said, I was very happy.