‘Despair’, ‘Hope’ and ‘Courage’ are my first series of lip art that was fully inspired by nature itself. My goal with this series of artworks was to associate the natural plant cycle with emotions and convey them by choosing different plants, colors and labial expressions. In this post, I show you how I went about achieving this goal and provide you insights into my creative thinking and process!
Nature is one of my main sources of inspiration to create art. I love taking long walks through the forest, looking at all the different plants and admiring how amazing Mother Nature actually is.
I love listening to the birds and all the different sounds they are able to make – including my own two little budgies (ᴖ‿ᴖ). I love petting the dogs I meet – even though I don’t have my own yet.
Nature is just stunning. Fortunately, I am lucky enough to have a big garden right in front of my house. This is where the inspiration for my three lip pieces ‘Despair’, ‘Hope’ and ‘Courage’ came from.
One day in March/April, I strolled around my garden and I noticed that all the three stages of the plant life cycle were present at the same time.
What do I mean by that?
Well, there are still the dead and wilted flowers, leaves and stalks from last year. But there is already new life emerging. New buds are showing on the trees, fresh green leaves are unfolding, and the first flowers are beginning to sprout. And some flowers are even in full bloom. Beautiful.
Then, I suddenly had the idea to visually represent those three phases of the annual plant cycle as emotions…
You know that I like to make lip art, so I decided to create a new series of works based on the inspiration I just got when walking around in my garden.
The Making Of 'Despair'
Inspiration & Resources
If I were to describe how the withered plants make me feel, I would associate them with sadness, hopelessness, and desperation.
'Despair' – Final Piece
For the first piece in the series, I picked decayed leaves, flowers and stalks that were still there from last year.
So far so good. But how could I combine the withered plants and the lips? It is something that typically doesn’t go together…
I didn’t want to take the plants in my mouth. Not because they don’t taste good (⚆_⚆), but because I thought it wasn’t original enough. So had I to think of something else.
This was when I had the idea to use a plaster. A plaster isn’t usually something that you would consider very artsy. But, when you think about it, it’s a pretty good match for the concept I want to convey in this series.
You use a plaster when your skin got injured. In that sense, a plaster can be associated with wounding, soreness and vulnerability, which to me comes very close to the notion of decay and withering that are portrayed in the first piece of the series.
On the other hand, a plaster also stands for alleviation, recovery and new beginnings. Because, eventually, the skin will heal and be like new again.
When everything was set up, I still had to find the labial expression that corresponds best to the feeling of despair. How would your mouth look like when you are feeling desperate?
As compressed lips rather signify anger or resentment, I thought that slightly open lips would be better. However, not too wide open, because that’s more like surprise.
Apart from that, I made sure that my teeth didn’t show because I think the expression becomes more positive when your teeth are visible. But the first piece of the series is a rather dark one…
During the post-processing in Photoshop, I muted the colors, shifting everything a bit more towards the low-key range, so that the overall atmosphere is more somber.
'Despair' – Details
Take a closer look at ‘Despair‘ and spot the little brown bug. I wanted to make sure that it is not immediately noticeable. You need to contemplate the piece for a couple of moments in order to notice the little beastie.
If you know the other pieces of my Surreal Stories and Lip Service collections, you know that I sometimes enjoy combining the beautiful and the ugly.
However, since I didn’t place the bug on my lips, but a little further away on a leaf, the composition doesn’t arouse disgust – at least to my mind. Feel free to let me know your impressions in the comments. I’d love to know how the piece makes you feel!
Last but not least, I wrote the feeling on the plaster using a font that I felt was a good match for the emotion.
One thing to pay attention to when you are using text in your work is to use fonts that are free for commercial use. Great fonts that are allowed for resale are available, for example, from Creative Fabrica and DesignCuts.
By the way, I love how the depth of focus turned out – that’s especially well visible in the close-ups!
The Making Of 'Hope'
Inspiration & Resources
The second phase of the natural cycle, as I am considering it here, features the first buds and fresh greens reappearing after a cold winter. What emotion would you associate with the plants coming back to life if you were to pick only one feeling? I, for my part, chose hope.
Hope, because the first buds are keen enough to stick their noses out, hoping for enough sunshine to help them grow. The first blades of grass are spearing, hoping for enough rain to get them through the hot summer.
'Hope' – Final Piece
To illustrate the feeling of being hopeful, the lip expression had to be a bit more cheerful.
So, while I decided to not show my teeth for ‘Despair’, I chose to have my mouth open a bit wider for ‘Hope’. My upper teeth are visible and the lips are a little puckered, expressing optimism, anticipation and hopefulness.
All in all, the tonal range of ‘Hope‘ is already a bit brighter than in ‘Despair‘, leaning more towards the mid-key range.
'Hope' – Details
Just like in ‘Despair’, there is also a little bug in ‘Hope’– just as inconspicuous. This time the little creepy-crawly is of the same color as the big green leaf it is sitting on…
When you first see the image, you might mistake it for a bud, or not really pay attention to it. Only at second glance do you see it. Correct?
The Making Of 'Courage'
Inspiration & Resources
For the last piece in the series, I chose flowers that were already in full bloom. White daisy flowers, yellow cowslips, and some kind of purple pansies.
What emotion would you connect with blossoming flowers? For me, it is feelings like joy, happiness, confidence and courage.
'Courage' – Final Piece
To visually convey the feeling of courage, I produced a more joyful labial expression – almost like a faint smile. You can see that the lip color is much more vibrant than in the two previous pieces, too.
Plus, the overall image is naturally on the more colorful side!
'Courage' – Details
I’m sure you’ve already spotted the little bug that had to be in this piece as well. This time, I opted for a cute yellow ladybug and placed it near the yellow flower, because just like before, I wanted it to be noticed only at second glance…
Have look at the close-ups – I love how sharp and detailed the pistil of the purple flower and the little hairs around the green leaves turned out.
Some closing thoughts about this lip art series...
One of my main goals was to make sure to keep a consistent theme throughout all three works in this series. I tried to achieve that in the following three different ways:
First of all, I made sure to capture each photo from the same angle, as much as possible. The nose is almost at the same level in all of the three images, in a slightly different position, which is of course also dependent on the position of the mouth.
Secondly, I made sure that the plaster was at the same spot in all three works. Furthermore, I always wanted to have some sort of bigger plant on which I could place the bug. Since a found a nice old gingko for the first piece, I made sure to use an equally big green leaf in the second piece.
As for piece no. 3, the flowers were all of almost the same size. Nevertheless, I’m still pretty content with the yellow flower at the left that makes a good background for the yellow ladybug.
Last but not least, I aimed to make the different feelings reflect in the colors I chose. You can see the gradation in the lip color, going from a more muted auburn to a bright red. Likewise, I tried to show this gradation in the skin tone, and the hue and brightness of the plaster as well. Plus, I always picked a font that I found did match the emotion!
Altogether, I really enjoyed creating ‘Despair‘, ‘Hope‘ and ‘Courage‘ and I absolutely ♡ the final pieces!
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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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Despair
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Hope
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