The Final Project

Throughout this journey, I have visited and thought about my ancestral plane and what it would appear like if I were to visit. This pondering about setting was especially important because my final project was to create a painting of this exact setting. I knew that I wanted to create an environment from my childhood and from which I found relaxation and fond memories. With this in mind, I chose the pond at my grandpa's house from when I was growing up. He has since moved from this house with a quaint and quiet pond in the back yard, so I found myself really needing to draw on my memories from this place. With that, I began to create.

I started with painting a sunset inspired by the one that appeared in the movie, Black Panther. This created a calm and familiar vibe to the setting of the plane in the film. While the sunset in the movie appeared with blue and purple tones, my sunset has hints of orange and purple. The sunset over my grandpa's pond was always much warmer than what appeared in the rest of the sky. 

I then started to think about the types of things from this place I remember that made it so special. Things that stood out to me and made me think about my roots and the people I made memories with there. I included them in a silhouette format to again draw form inspiration from the ancestral plane visited by Prince T'Challa. 

Soft trees that bordered the pond and seemed to close it off to the rest of the world. A dock coming off the hilly bank of the large pond and a huge tree that provided tons of shade as I used to sit on the dock and throw fish food to the coy living there. The small beach my grandpa created for me held many of my sand toys and a small paddle boat that was always too big for me to be able to pedal it across the pond. Often times, I visit this place in my head and think about the memories that I've made. It helps me to clear my head and sort out my thoughts. 

After I take a mental trip to my own ancestral plane, I feel much better. It reminds me of times of my childhood and more simple days. This painting was my final project and I'm so glad I chose to complete what I did. Now, when I feel stressed or overwhelmed, I can not only think about one of my favorite places but I can also have a visual to remember it exactly as it remains in my head.