“Sleeping Sickness” – Mia Araujo talks process
Sleeping Sickness by Mia Araujo
“Sleeping Sickness”
24″ x 36″
Acrylic on wood.
My process begins with sketching from my head and from imagery files that I’ve collected over the years…this particular piece is about the French Revolution, and I wanted to paint a picture that conveys the beauty and decadence of the aristocracy, with dark undertones to suggest the oncoming violence and massacre. There are a number of references and metaphors in this piece, the largest being that of sleep- the aristocracy is lulled to sleep with music, beauty, riches, confections, wines, etc… the sleep-inducing food and drink in Alice in Wonderland, characters in Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the poppy fields in the Wizard of Oz are all referenced here.
Sleeping Sickness drawing
I also wanted some slight dramatic tension- will the main figure wake up? Or is she turning in her sleep, before being beheaded like the rest of the figures in the piece?
The faces of the faerie onlookers are hidden, like that of the executioner, making them a bit more sinister and nightmarish. I also included figures from the 18th century like Mozart, the Chevalier de Saint-George, and the chemist Antoine Lavoisier- here his wife/work partner Marie holds his decapitated head.
After drawing out the composition and putting in all the narrative details, I hired a model. Because of time and resource constraints, we couldn’t get the costume I needed, but I made sure she was wearing a corset, since that would affect her pose the most.
Sleeping Sickness model shoot
I used film costume reference and photos of actual period garments for the wig and final gown in my painting.
Sleeping Sickness pastel sketches
Once I got the pose that I wanted to use, I made 7 studies of the face in various media (graphite, pastel, and acrylic) before working on the face on the painting itself- I wanted to get her likeness and the
detailed lighting just right!
Sleeping Sickness dead colouring
The final painting took 3 weeks of nonstop work, as I was on a deadline. As you can see from the photos, it’s just gessoed wood panel and acrylics. I use a sort of carbon paper to transfer my line drawing to the panel.
I love looking at process. Thank you Mia. How do you transfer such a detailed drawing to your wood panel?