Tobey Sharp Studio

During the ideation of this project, I ping-ponged between wanting to create a surrealist landscape that captured ideas of warped spaces that are simultaneously alien and also so familiar as to instill a sense of roaring nostalgia, and the actual process of doing so. I wanted to reference a space that inspired me, and also was realistic to create in the timeframe that we were given. This restraint pushed me to think more about the look and techniques I would use in the piece. I landed on a photo I had taken in the Arts and Scraps bathroom a few months ago. That space has always been one that I found to be calming and satisfyingly colorful. It reminds me of my preschool years and somehow is a space that, though I do not visit often I think about frequently. 

The colors that are brought out by the natural light guided by the warped and frosted windows are gorgeous, mingling with the greens and blues already present in the room. This feeling was the nostalgia I was looking for, not something surreal and hard to pinpoint like a concrete memory from childhood, but something that feels like a space designed for children, one that we may have visited in those formative years. It was so fun to play with this with color and texture, bringing beautiful bright colors to the piece that I hope resonate as much with viewers as it does with me.