Overgrown (how it was created)

..Shaking off all those heavy chains
Now I will find my own way..”

As it becomes clear from the text, this is… a work on the song of the band Machineheart – “Overgrown”. Why this work in particular? Everything is as usual. A random song, images before my eyes. The desire to create something. The last few days have been difficult, although this work and the song are not connected with those events. But as I mentioned yesterday, I wanted to dedicate this work to two very creative people whose works inspire me. In a sense, I tried to put something of my own into it, but at the same time, embodying the things that they use in their works. From one author I took, for the most part, the color scheme, and from the other the symbolism of the things that are present in the works.

At the same time, this is a very personal work that resonates with the song. It is both about the fact that I have outgrown the person who inspired me to create at one time. And about the fact that only by going beyond the framework accepted by others, you feel comfortable. You feel yourself. It’s like you’ve outgrown the need to listen to other people’s opinions on how to live your life.

Ingredients

Today I decided to try using something a little unusual for me – shiny acrylic paint. Why? The initial idea was to make red nails to contrast with the black and white background image. But I remembered that I have a somewhat unusual paint and decided to try it.

This was another case where I used the wrong stuff because the paint didn’t stick well to the plastic false nails. So I had to do it in several layers. Also, I used a top coat of GlamBee pro gel base color.

It allowed us to level the top layer of paint and make the nails as uniform as possible.

Actually, the last polish is designed to be used with a drying lamp. But it didn’t work out very well for me. More precisely, my nails dried out, but probably because it was applied over paint – the drying took longer than I wanted, so I spent about half a day on the whole process.

Remember, I don’t use special nail glue for my fingernails, but double-sided tape? To hide it, I applied white nail polish to the inside of my nails. Interestingly, it took away the transparency, but added a certain shine to them when used with a UV lamp.

For me, the final result was amazing. They glowed exactly the way I wanted them to. Or rather, not like that. Not only did they stand out from the background, they also had a kind of demonic look.

I don’t look for easy ways and I don’t protect my eyes, so… a powerful 60 W LED ultraviolet spotlight was used for illumination. Usually, such spotlights are used to illuminate installations in museums, and I used it to shine on… myself.

Makeup

There were several ideas, usually I try something before the final shoot to understand what I can get.

Basically I decided to use white face makeup as a base and red makeup for the lines. Actually I had more ideas, like for example putting chains on the nails by making it a print from metal chains, but nothing came of it. Also I wanted to apply the lines either using toothpicks (so they were even and uniform) or using thread, but I just applied them with a brush. Also this time I tried to slightly increase the contour of the lips to make them look fuller.

I decided to apply the final version of the makeup not with regular red makeup, but with one that also has a glow effect. However, it doesn’t apply very well and has a heterogeneous structure, so the final lines turned out to be more smeared. In addition, I decided to use my wig, which I didn’t finish, but which added a certain charm and uniqueness to the final work.

It’s not visible in the photo in ultraviolet light, but the eyes were painted with red face makeup. I really appreciated using it instead of classic eyeshadow, because it’s much easier for me to work with. On the one hand, it’s not visible in the final photos that I posted, but…

When I selected red on the camera, it immediately appeared in the pictures. This could have been overcome, but that wasn’t what I was interested in, so I didn’t pay attention to it.

Final result

I always feel sad that I only show one work. That’s why in posts like this I select a few that I like and publish them in addition to the main one.

The nails charmed me so much with their appearance that I decided not only to do my main idea, but also to experiment with their use.

In fact, this was the very case when with such a glow, any composition looked winning, because it highlighted a certain fragment of the frame.

Despite the inconvenience of taking a photo with my nails on my own, in this picture I was sad that I only had one set of nails and didn’t do them for both hands.

One of the people I was working for appreciated this shot. I also like it for some reason. There was no color highlighting used here, but in monochrome it has its own soul.

My love of “monkeying” in photos is very beautifully reflected in this work. A kind of “little crazy” in the form of a work.

This is what the eyes look like under UV light. It’s interesting that there’s a certain emptiness in them. This is without a doubt one of my best eye shots.

I enjoyed doing this series and the result pleasantly surprised me. This is the case when you get exactly the work that you wanted to show. Such works inspire you to create something new, something unusual. Reflecting your inner world in it.

“When they try to lay me low, down into the dirt I go
But don’t fight it
They were just giving me the very thing I would need
Try to tell me what I can and cannot do
Who to be and do not be, it’ll drive me to the brink
Any dead ended road, one step closer to home

Shaking off all those heavy chains
Now I will find my own way

Turning the ground underneath me to show what I am
Pushing and breaking my way from the hand of the man
Nothing to fear being here, now that I’m overgrown
Overgrown, overgrown..”