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enmi β vargatimmen
Published: 2009-10-16 10:49:31 +0000 UTC; Views: 17136; Favourites: 1147; Downloads: 494
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Description
I wanted to portray the feeling of waking up in the middle of the night, worried, depressed, scared. "Vargatimmen" can be translated as "wolf-hour" which is the term for the hours before night turns into dawn. The hours where your body is cold and your mind is filled with darkness.I hate how depression and angst have become something to laugh about, to make jokes about. These things are very real...
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Digital painting, originally made to study hands and feet off photo-reference.
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Comments: 87
You really captured that feeling so well, perhaps a little too well! Nice work!
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Beautiful execution - I am touched by your caring appreciation of the topic
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I can very much relate to the feeling this drawing conveys-- beautiful work! The hands and feet are especially lovely...
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Wow it sure is a moving piece. You have portrayed these feelings so well! The texture, the colours fading at the right, the androgyny, the expressive hands, the hair and the eyes... they're all great.
I know what you mean, those hours where you grow restless and scared, when you desperately want dawn to come but fear the coming day it at the same time. And mostly, you don't even know exactly why you are feeling this way.
I totally agree that it's no laughing matter and that it's not some distant notion you just "hear about" in the grapevine about losers. It happens to strong people too and should not be taken for granted.
This is what I admire about art; being able to show feelings you can't translate well into words, and things that are real but not necessarily pretty in the traditional sense, in all their frightening beauty.
Thanks for sharing this!
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Thank you for this beautiful comment! <3
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I think this captures that feeling perfectly. It certainly encompasses what I experieced in the past at such times.
Thanks for making this.
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wooow... what texture did you use?? ))
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I really appreciate your artist statement for this piece. I've been diagnosed with depression for the past four years, with highs and lows but never quite "out of the woods". The piece reminds of how I feel specifically at night - the time when all the stress and worries and issues consume me and I just feel so weak. The day is a struggle but it's really at night when my demons appear. (As for the lovely art, the hair has a life of its own and the translucent quality in some areas adds to the dimension.)
And as for how depression and anxiety are so disregarded, I'm right there with you. There's a girl in my class with extreme manic depression and anxiety and she misses weeks of school at a time, and the kids all make jokes about how low her grades are because of it. I tried standing up for her once but I can't change their minds without explaining her situation, and that's her privacy. I hate how people make assumptions and judge others with little to no knowledge of their lives. This girl is only one of several people I barely know, mostly people I've never talked to, who obviously have terrible issues at home and are just struggling to survive in the hell we call high school.
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Thank you for your story, I'm happy that I can make art that you can identify with. 
It's sad, the way people judge and talk without understanding, and I think that could be changed somehow if the feeling of shame around mental disorders could be taken away somehow. A person should be able to say that they have severe anxiety or depression just as well as they might say they are diabetic. If knowledge was raised about these disorders and issues, then I think the jokes would be different.
Thank you for your comment! <3
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You are very welcome, and thank you for all your kindness.
"A person should be able to say that they have severe anxiety or depression just as well as they might say they are diabetic." That is so true! There is this ridiculous stigma that surrounds mental illnesses, as though something is terribly wrong or bad about you if you are mentally unhealthy.
I hope someday that a student struggling to keep up with homework because of her anxiety and abusive parents will be able to explain that to her teachers just as easily as the student with a broken arm. I shouldn't feel pressured to keep my mental health secret just because I don't want a bunch of gossip spread about how I'm "loony".
Anyway, I hope to see more great artwork from you.
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Love the foreshortening on that leg and foot! This is amazing
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This defiantly portrays ever thing you want it to, it's haunting.
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looks like art nouveau posters, but you have a more natural style, less decorative.
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You've captured that feeling very well. I haven't slept before five in the morning for a few nights now, so I've felt that way quite a lot lately.
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Aw, :< I hope you can get your sleep back soon and hold onto something happy when those dark hours arrives.
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Thank you (': finding art like this, that mirrors those feelings, actually helps a bit!
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Depression is a serious thing, but some people with depression decide to make jokes as a way to cope, maybe not alot of people do this, but its like joking after a funeral, its wrong and awkwardly hiding the pain in order to pretend nothing really effected them. By the way, I never joke at a funeral, but I have disguised my morbid thoughts as a sick joke. But I have felt this kind of thing your picture is portraying, and to be honest, Id rather cut off my hand than stare at that darkness again. Though Id like to keep my drawing hand...(not really funny I know) But drawing helps get stress off.
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Making jokes to cope is something I understand well too. Sometimes when describing to others how I feel sometimes I laugh and try to take the edge off. No need to be super serious all the time.
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Thank you for commenting back! And I understand why you are disgusted by how other (ignorant)people joke about other's pain. I was recently in one of my down moods, and just seeing your art, knowing people are out there who understand made me feel better. So, thank you. Complete strangers I meet here are always so insightful and caring.
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i love the description as much as the drawing <3
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I love this, it's very powerful. I agree with your statement too, it is kind of disgusting that any piece that portrays darkness and fear and deep emotion get labeled as 'emo.' Keep up the good work, this whole attitude about emotions being inappropriate may change with the times, and the statement your art makes is far more powerful and enduring.
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I'm happy if I can bring some light to this issue, because I think this culture of waving anxiety and depression off as a way of seeking attention or "being cool" is really harmful for everyone involved. I'm happy you like my piece!
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Randomly journal featured! [link]
A really powerful image that displays your concept well. Excellent work with the anatomy and flow of the hair.
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Oh wow. Just Wow. This is so amazing, the movement and coldness of this is amazing. It totally makes me think of those moments when I wake up suddenly in the middle of the night and my heart is pounding and everything is eerily quiet and in pretty much those exact colours........ I love this.
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FΓΆtterna, hΓ₯ret, hΓ€nderna, blicken. Skitsnyggt. KΓ€nner verkligen hur rΓ€dslan tagit fysisk form runt henne och sliter i hennes hΓ₯r.
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This is SO cool! I like your style, so beautiful
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i love her expressive hands.
you did a lovely job.
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Haha, a scary version of me. I used a photo of myself to get the pose right, so maybe there is where the resemblance comes from ^.^
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This one's great too.
You did a great job with the pose, the shading and the form of the hair.
Congratulations and thanks for sharing it!
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Beautiful and melancholy. I really love this one. You've captured that feeling so perfectly.
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I am a huge fan of your art style, keep it up. This is the kinda art i like to look at, plus i agree with your thoughts on how people approach feelings as if they are unnatural >_< they are wrong.
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I really love this piece despite it is so agonizing. I recognize those hours too well. I think you captured excellent the loneliness and struggle of those hours.
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