In this post, I’m showing you the ‘Making Of’ this piece of beautiful and bizarre art – ‘Rose Red Supper‘. This creation incorporates the beauty of the main character, however, combined with elements that are generally seen as peculiar and ugly: skeletons, moths, and – before anything else – the porcelain heart that two skeleton hands serve her for supper. You’ll get to see the work in progress (WiP) with screenshots and a timelapse video that shows you the digital editing process from start to finish. Enjoy!
With ‘Rose Red Supper‘, the colors were there first in my mind. I was longing to create a piece with LOTS of reds, and a little bit of purple. That was the first thought in my mind, and only after that the actual concept started to take form.
I like to work with different vivid colors. As for the reds, I’ve already created a piece with quite a few reds (and lots of whites) earlier in 2019 – ‘Blutstränen‘.
However, with ‘Rose Red Supper’, I wanted to create something that is REALLY RED. I have an inclination to beautiful and bizarre art – and if you know my Surreal Creations, you know that I like to work with skulls, skeletons and other vanitas symbols, and that my works always tell a story.
…and then slowly, the vision of the lady in red who lost her heart and is now having a heart for supper developed in my mind. This is how ‘Rose Red Supper’ was born.
With the porcelain heart, I’m revisiting a concept that I’ve used before in an earlier creation – ‘China‘ from 2018. I like the concept of the ‘porcelain heart’ and have come back to it in the same year with ‘Desert Rose‘ (…and also might be coming back to it in the future). Feel free to check out these two works below and find out more about their Making Of, if you like.
To learn more about the Making of ‘Rose Red Supper’, have a look at the WiP shots down below.
The Making Of 'Rose Red Supper'
Reverse layering
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Work in Progress shots
Here you can see the very beginnings of my piece of beautiful and bizarre art. I’ve chosen a background for ‘Rose Red Supper’ (which really wasn’t hard this time – sometimes I spend a lot of time on finding the right background) and I’ve already added the three skeletons that I will later on make red in Photoshop.
The skeletons on the left and the right will later on be half-covered by curtains – this idea was already in my mind when I started working out the scenery.
And one more thing: there’s already a piece of delicious cake on the floor. Those of you who are familiar with my works know that I sometimes like to have little sweets in my creations, such as in ‘China’, ‘Space Captain’, and ‘Space Junkie’.
The sweets are usually at variance with the scene of the creation –you know I like opposites. In ‘Rose Red Supper’ and ‘China’, they symbolize something sensual that the main character cannot enjoy. In ‘China’, the lady cannot enjoy them because she’s made out of porcelain. And in ‘Rose Red Supper’, the main character is not really alive anymore. Because, if you look at the finished piece, the lady actually has no heart – there where her heart used to be is a hole now…
‘Rose Red Supper’ has made some progress – in particular in terms of the reds. As I said above, I wanted to create a piece with a lot of vivid reds, so I threw in some more reds on the background and I also made the skeletons look super-red with a couple of adjustment layers.
Some more delicacies on the floor and on the sofa: a plate of Turkish Delight on the floor, one strawberry on the sofa and one that has fallen down. Delicious, but for whom to eat?
More red for ‘Rose Red Supper’: transparent curtains line the scene and make a lot for the overwhelming amount of vivid reds that I wanted to have in the image.
…and if you look very closely, you can see some insects behind the curtains: moths. As you know, I like to work with all things of nature – beautiful and ugly. A red chameleon will appear later on in the scene as well.
Half of the lady has appeared. Of course, she needs to wear something red: an under-bust corset and an elegant evening gown. As I mentioned at the beginning, I wanted to combine the reds with some purple, and the first sprinkles of purple have joined in form of the pasties.
If you’re wondering that my lady doesn’t have a face and arms yet… I always give a part of myself to the ladies in my creations: they always get my face, and sometimes also other body parts like my arms. The bust is a stock photo, and I edited out the original arms because I needed the arms and hands to be in a very particular position for this creation… The same goes for the face. When I create something, I usually have a precise notion of the facial expression in my mind.
But more important is the hole in her chest… where her heart used to be. However, not everything is lost. The hole in her chest still has the form of a heart, and there is still some life left: beautiful flowers are growing out of the place where her heart used to be. So beautiful and alive that they even attract some bees…
Now you can understand why I needed my hands and face to render the idea that I had in my mind. One of her hands touches the spot where her heart used to be. At the same time, the gesture signifies something like, “Aww, this is for me?” The way you would react when you receive something very precious…
The other hand is ready to hold the cutting utensil that she needs for her supper…
Her eyes are looking down at the ‘supper’, her mouth is open – half in surprise and anticipation, half in disgust…
Of course, her lips and hair had to be red as well. Plus, some pink eyeshadow on her lids increases the burst of colors.
‘Rose Red Supper‘ is complete. You can now see what she’s holding in her hand and at what she’s looking down at.
A heart – nicely decorated with rose petals, some leaves and a rose with stem put into it – is served to her for supper… The fork is still lying on the plate. She didn’t dare to grab it yet.
Look at the hands that are serving the ‘supper’: they are red skeleton hands, each having a bow on the wrist… (See the close-ups below for more details.)
Will she eat the proffered heart, trusting the server and hoping for the ‘supper’ to be able to replace her own, lost heart?
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I hope that this post helped you gain some insights into my creative process and better understand what I meant to express through this work. However, I know that art is subjective and I am always interested in knowing how my viewers perceive my art.
What do you think about this piece? How does it make you feel? What does it mean to you? Please feel free to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments. If this piece inspired you to create a new piece of your own, I would love to see it! Post a link in the comments, tag me on Instagram (@ginangiela), or reach out to me directly. Make sure to sign up for my email list below so you don’t miss out on new ‘Making Ofs’ and other cool stuff. ♥
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