First Song

My first song was Amazing Grace. I was raised in a Catholic household and my mom would take us to church every Sunday as well as other important masses during Christmas and Easter. One of her favorites songs to sing, particularly during Easter was Amazing Grace. I think the words really summarized the emotions that she felt for the Easter season. I often sang it with her. It is still today a song I find myself singing randomly while i'm walking or just thinking.

For my artistic representation of my first song I wanted to make a reference to this religious idea of Easter and for that reason decided to do a scene of the Crucifixion. I also wanted to play with colors and there meanings to evoke a response from the viewers. I chose to use bright colors such as orange yellow, red and blue. Normally Easter is referenced with purples or pastels but I wanted to represent a more bright, joyful and uplifting idea of what Easter meant to my mom and I. It was a time of gratefulness and peace. I chose to silhouettes the cross and the crowd in black and highlight them with white as I felt this gave a great contrast to the bright colors and allowed for a more abstract understanding of the scene. Also I placed the important elements of the crucifixion such as the nails, blood and the crown of thorns on the cross yet chose not to silhouette Jesus as I felt it also allowed for a more abstract reading. One classmate thought the scene represented the moment of removing Jesus from the cross while others though of it as a more modern scene where the crowd was people of today remembering the past. I was pleased to see the different perspectives that people were able to get while analyzing the piece and truly believe it represented the emotions and ideals I felt and still feel today when I sing my first song, Amazing Grace.