chirping cricket
This is another of my Tisnikar studies. With each one, I have to change the composition and colors a little bit to fit the medium I am working with and proportions of the paper, but hopefully I am able to retain the basic feeling in it. I think I'm learning a lot about the way he uses color and simplified lines to express emotion. This is a good process for me to go through since I have a tendency to follow things too literally with my own work. Of course, my version of this painting is still not as dark and somber as the Tisnikar version. There definitely seems to be a pattern going on in my attempts to capture his style, but not a particularly troublesome one - not yet, at any rate.
Here is the quote that accompanies the painting, from the book Tisnikar; Painter of Death:
The morgue and autopsy room where I work are in a little park set off from the rest of the hospital buildings. While I work during the warm summer nights, only the chirping of crickets break the silence. Not one, but dozens of crickets pipe up one after the other, or all together chirp their endless song. While the town sleeps, I work and they keep me company - they're wide awake, like me.
Once I managed to catch a cricket. He seemed to be chirping on the tree next to the open window. I went out and saw the cricket in the light coming from the window of the autopsy room. I brought him in, took a good look at him and then let him go. In this painting, I show dead people and animals, and the cricket as I remember him.
posted by Tina Banda | 11:11 AM
11 Comments:
Very nice, your painting scanned really well. The dead woman looks like she is at peace. It's almost like she is floating in a river.
thanks! I'm still trying to get used to the differences that pop up in scanning images, whether it be through my photobucket account or directly from my computer. the colors are not as saturated here than they appear on the original according to my monitor, but I know that may not be the case on other computer monitors. to some extent, I have to surrender my need for control whenever I scan and post an image. not an easy thing to do for someone that frets as much as I do!
These images are definitely captivating. I can see why you want to use this as source material. I know you are thinking stop-motion annimation, but you can almost see a painted animation flow just from the way you are painting these things.
I know what you mean and I've had the same thought. the problem is that I know even less about the technical aspects of cell animation than I do about stop-motion. cell animation would require hundreds and hundreds of paintings. I don't think I would be up for the task. the stop-mo format will of course also require hundreds and hundreds of still images but I have a slightly better idea of how to proceed with that, having worked on three stop-mo films in the past in addition to my albeit limited experience with puppets.there's also my background with photography in general, which gives me just a slight advantage in terms of dp work.
I do think I will have to shoot this in digital though. the lighting will be just too tricky otherwise. I have these visions of getting several rolls of underexposed film back from the lab after shooting for 20 plus hours. that would be a real nightmare. stop-motion brings the need for a re-shoot to a whole new level of time, money and frustration.
You've captured a wonderfully dramatic moonlight, Tas. And I agree with mp- though I know the figures are dead, there is more peace conveyed than pathos.
I've looked at the images in that book many times and I think you have indeed retained the feeling of the original.
If you don't mind my asking, have you given any thought to what kind of music (if any) you will use in the film?
TDB
hi there Drive-By. great question! the music will be key to the whole feel of the film. this is an area where I need to do a lot of research. I want to listen to some folk and classical music from that country. is there classical music associated with anyone from Slovenia? this is something I need to find out. on an instinctive level, I seem to hear stringed instruments, something somber and low, like a cello perhaps, but I don't really know for sure. I think I will need the music first before I start shooting because it will greatly influence the pace and changes in the scenes.
Those sound like good choices. I know these kinds of films take a long time, but I really do hope I get to this one someday.
Cheers,
TDB
Holy shit T, this is fantastic! the flowy smoothness of the strokes, the lighting/shading. Damn, lady -- I wish like hell I could come close to that kind of representation.
If you're comfy with it, I'd love to see the original images as you do these...but fine if not.
I love the little stiff/vaguely petrified eye of the cricket ("who me? What am I doing here?") The woman is so stony and elegant -- she has an archaeological feel to her. The cricket's stunned little eye seems to say "great. What the hell am I supposed to do about THIS? The inevitability of death and decay -- the only truth that spans the ages. How am I supposed to fix THIS?!?"
Thanks Cayenne, I finally got around to scanning the book copy of the original painting. The pages in this book are a little too large for my scanner unfortunately, but most of the composition is here, enough to give you a clear idea of what it looked like initially. Copy and paste this direct link address into your url:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v38/Chimi/Tisnikarcricket.jpg
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