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And Then The Sky Fell
by-nc-nd
Published: 2011-04-23 19:42:45 +0000 UTC; Views: 26240; Favourites: 1516; Downloads: 293
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Description
18x24" hot press
Watercolours
Concentrated dyes
Iridescent Gold acrylics
Pearlescent inks
Gold mica flakes
Gloss varnish
Watersoluble oils (fluorescent pink)
Ink pen (lineart and Kanji only)
Collaged hot press (speech bubble)
• Click to view earlier version from June 2009
• Work-in-progress shots
• Figure work - walkthrough part I ; walkthrough part II
• Closeup I ; Closeup II ; Closeup III ; Closeup IV ; Closeup V
• Started 27th November 2010 ; Completed 23rd April 2011 ; Approximately god knows how many hours
This painting is dedicated to my dear friend Shawn wroth - and not just because he worked so patiently to procure my absolutely stunning website, which can be viewed here at www.katherine-cheng.com .
Every painting I make comes from somewhere deep and special. Moments of sadness are what I have a tendency to honour; they are a reminder of the contrary, so I would never forget what I have, as opposed to what I don't have.
Here I am commemorating the situation of being in love, but not loved in return. The emphasis is not on blame, because in a game of two, fault never lies with just one individual. Rather this is a representation of constantly falling, deeper into the endless abyss, where the saying "it can't get any worse" holds no ground. The eels are locked in a figure-8 of eternity, the embodiment of just how long this could last if one does not have the capacity to save themselves... or in my case, be saved. The illusion of beauty, as symbolised by the flowers, impedes the mind as degradation sets further in to eat right to the core of one's soul.
It can become utterly hopeless.
... or it can all turn around
PS. The Kanji in the speech bubble means "Heaven".
___________________________________________________________________________
I offer my deepest gratitude to my longtime friend Sam, SRaffa , as well as Keith zerocomplex , without whom this piece would have been forlornly lost, despite the 4 months of work put into it.
My thanks also to AthenaTT , JurgenDoe, johnpaulthornton , pewxi , NEOkeitaro and SkillZombie for taking an interest in the work-in-progresses.
Thank you for taking a look, please enjoy
. . : : katherine-cheng.com : : . .
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Comments: 558
The yellow is the gold. Shifts in the light in real life, and is really cool 
This was the most painstaking painting I've ever done 
Thank you for the critique Charon <3
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You know I've been waiting for this piece to come out for month and I've seen the slow progress to it every time but the final image is even better as anybody could imagine.
the presentation and the harmony of colors are just magnificent and out of this world. You always continue to impress me with your outstanding attention to detail around the center piece of your work. I like very much the light shading and how it touches the whole elements of this image to add a more lighting effect and source to the piece.
If there would be more stars to give to the image I would give it rather 10 e.deviantart.net/emoticons/s/s… " width="17" height="16" alt="
My eyes still lying around this image and every time I find a new aww effect. This is by far you best piece at this time and your skills are getting enormous better with each new painting e.deviantart.net/emoticons/c/c… " width="20" height="20" alt="
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Thank you so much Jurgen for always believing in me and my work 
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I always do and I love your work so much
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He is completely right, your skills are heavenly;w;
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I know, but you are still amazing
welcome, keep up this divine work of yours!;-;
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You find yourself floating out in the middle of a void. As far as you can see there is a strange flow of colors all around you, gently waving about you like the gentle winds of sea shore. You are unable to perceive any beginning or end to this world that you are currently in, only that there is existence. Tenseness runs through you as you search about you to see if there is something that you can recognize. In your hand you find a pair of flowers, their petals gently caressed by your carefully clutched fingers. There is a strange calm about you as you stroke its gentle petals with your fingertips. Suddenly you sense a presence about you. You gaze out further and make out vague shapes slowly swimming toward your through the ether. Spirits, taken in the form of eels begin to survey you like curious animals viewing something they've never seen.
You gaze deeply into their bright eyes as they move about you and wonder if they see you as a threat or simply another passerby in their unusual home. Then as slowly as they arrived, they eventually turn toward another corner of this realm and disappear into the distance. Unsure of how you arrived in this realm or why you are here, however you are filled with an odd sensation of inner peace. As if this strange dimension is comprised of all the good feelings of the worlds about you and they cover your body like an endless blanket of protection. As this feeling continues to surround you, you look at the flowers in your hand and slowly allow them to float away from you; wishing that in some way they too can feel the peace you have now accepted within. And Then The Sky Fell, created by the exuberantly talented `snowmask, presents with another outstanding view into one's imagination and allows our minds to journey once more through her deep and detailed mind.
As my eyes move about the piece, I am more and more enticed by its presentation. The artists continues to impress with her outstanding attention to detail upon the figure of the piece. The minuscule curves and creases upon the female subject's body and limbs do a great job of adding a more human feeling to the piece. Slight shading touches to the compositional elements give more emphasis on the lighting source in the piece and allow for a subtle toning effect to be seen on each of these elements; further strengthening the composition as a whole without genuinely hurting it. The vibrant colors bring out more of the personality of the artist and further entice the eye and imagination. The two eels, more specifically the slightly decomposed one, add a strange silence and calm to the atmosphere of the composition while at the same time adding a bit of a dynamic touch to the piece, as if one could see the two creatures move silently about the area of the canvas in an endless loop. As said by the artist, this piece represents being in love but not in return. The eel decomposing could represent that love slowly tearing up about the one in love as they feel the attraction from the other is beginning to wane about them. The flowers could represent how one's innocence has left them from this encounter despite the other not loving them like they wished or not at all. Its hard for one to let such a thing go, but in the end, one would become stronger because of it.
While there is much to love about this piece, I feel there is still some things that could be done to further bring out the beauty in this piece. This may sound like a nitpick, but in some parts of the piece the roughness of the texturization in the paint could go with some softening. It would really help out with the flow of the piece, whereas some parts of the texture give off the appearance of a dirtiness to it, as if it were tarnished somewhere during the development process below the surface. Perhaps its just my eyes, since I have made that mistake before or its the computer screen, but a bit of softening to the piece wouldn't hurt it.
Our dream can and always have presented us with some of the most outstanding imagery before out eyes, while at the same time presenting us with a complicated message in our hearts that we cannot fully interpret. They show us our turmoils, our peace and our struggles, but one must search for the answer themselves in the end rather than having it simply given to you. By seeking it out and allowing this cryptic rift in your mind to finally heal, you will end up having a stronger emotional and spiritual reserve ready for the hardships of the future when and if they come. And Then The Sky Fell shows to be a constant reminder and representation of the sadness and struggles we feel in our minds each and every day. While they may appear like one is hopeless and helpless, we must allow ourselves to simply wake up form the void and look out into the distance with hope rather than dread. Another excellent composition from you Katherine, and here's to many, many more. e.deviantart.net/emoticons/c/c… " width="20" height="20" alt="
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Thank you for the beautiful critique, Marvin
In response to your suggestion, herein lies the challenge of capturing a physical painting and presenting it in the digital world. Those textures come through so prominently whereas in person, the way our eyes adjust to focus results in that "softening" effect that you mentioned. It is always a task, to balance both viewing experiences (online and in person), and it's something I'm constantly trying to grasp and improve. With this piece there is nothing much I can do except add a depth-of-field filter, which could be nice but could also be counter-productive, as a lot of the detail, especially in the background, could be lost.
The only way to get this right is to shoot it in film, rather than digital. Until I can get my hands on a medium format with digital back (for proofing), this dSLR is going to have to do, which has served me faithfully for many paintings.
Again thank you
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You are more than welcome Katherine.
If that's the case that it was beyond your control then I guess there's really almost nothing wrong with this. My only complaint now is that I wish I was standing in front of the original copy.
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I'm getting a postcard of this to check the print quality. My guess is that it would only look reasonably comparable to the original if it was the same size (18x24").
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The closer the better; no matter what the size.
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This beautiful artwork's has quite a touching story (which feels familiar to almost every human being...) that seems to be only hightened by the use of lush, luminious almost flourecent hues, violently contradicted by the ashy shades of the abyss the character falls into. The hypnotically swirling eels and the pendulous posture of the female make me almost feels as though I'm falling down into a similar vertigo. A stunning image, intricately detailed, masterfully crafted.
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What lovely words
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I've been gaping at this for what seems like hours. The quality of your work is outstanding - even the backwash is beautiful. I love the colour variety and saturation; very strong purples and blues against greens and yellows. Your composition is wonderful and shines through the fluidity of the girl bending back intertwined with the eels. Seriously, movement is essential in a piece, and everything flows so naturally into each other. The subtle hot pink (since when is hot pink 'subtle' though?) implied circle helps to tie everything together in a truly harmonious way. You don't see a piece this visually pleasing and stimulating very often.
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I'm glad you enjoyed this! It's a personal favourite
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Hi, I featured this in my journal [link] hope that´s ok
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Always love your work. This is very powerful and beautiful. Keep in touch.
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Thank you for checking this out
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Such an elaborated technique! I'm amazed by the vibrant colors and the perfect transparencies, what a great combination of colors. And such a great composition. The symmetry is amazing as well... short: A masterpiece.
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Thank you so much. A lot of calculations were involved with the symmetry, especially the border. It was a fun experience, something I'd never done before
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I can teel they were. Once again, it's a great piece!
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I love this picture, I just wish I could get this energy in my pictures
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I just love colour, and movement. Very happy you enjoyed this, a lot went into this painting
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what the ...? hey -> 
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My pleasure. You're always very welcome!
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This is breathtakingly beautiful and detail, and you offer a meaning of this in your comment, which is something that you don't often get to see from artists that do such intriguing and incredible pieces. The way this reads is both chaotic and tranquil, like a vortex, the eels, the hand gestures, the swirls, it all takes you places in this piece where you can discover more and more beauty! I'm lacking in words today, or else I would continue to describe how utterly amazed I am at this.
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I love that you mentioned "vortex"
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