Cityscape & Landscape

Locations are not a subject that I typically like to draw, so when we were assigned a cityscape and landscape, of course I was a bit hesitant. However, it did not take long for me to come up with a concept. I decided that I want to create images of the greatest moments in my life: the day I swam with manatees and my first cruise with my favorite band, Train. I decided to portray these amazing moments in my own style as well as use collage in both of them so I could try something new. For the cityscape one, I created is as an image of me viewing the city of Miami from the cruise ship as it is leaving. I collaged it with different colored papers, all of which I had written the titles of Train songs on them, partly because Train is always on my mind and also because as the cruise was leaving, Train was beginning their first concert of the cruise, so Train songs truly were around me at that moment. The landscape project was bit simpler since it was an image of crystal river with the two manatees that I swam with swimming in it. For that project I used all sorts of different papers and paint colors to create the image. However, while I am actually very proud of my cityscape, I know that my landscape could use lots of improvement. For the landscape, I actually like how it looks, especially the water and manatees, however, I wished I would have had more time to add more to it. I spent so much time on the cityscape that I did not get a chance to add as much to the landscape as I would have wanted. I wanted to add something else in the water to create a more interesting composition such as a person swimming or some lily pads. But on the other hand, I am very proud of my landscape, it took a lot of time to write down all of the songs and cut out all of the paper, but I really think that it was worth it. I like the different colors and how the buildings turned out, however, if I were to change something I would probably outline certain items such as the boat and maybe the person so they could stand out more, but other than that I am very please with how it turned out. Therefore, while places are not my typical subjects for art, I felt that it was good that we were assigned a cityscape and a landscape because it helped me to explore new subjects and new media. Overall, I felt that my cityscape and landscape pieces were a success, I just wish I would have been given more time to push my landscape even further.

Creative Writing

Free choice is a very broad topic for art projects. For some, this may make ideas come easier and more freely, but for me, I find it more difficult to come down to specific concepts. All I had to consider for this project was what types of art I needed more of, causing me to come down to three main decisions: abstract, realistic, less color. In other words, I needed to think outside of the box. Unlike anything I’d done before. Finally, I was able to focus on three ideas, all of which involved one of the things I am most passionate about: writing. Writing is a huge part of my life and it is what I am hoping to do for the rest of my life, so it was pretty surprising that I had not considered using it in my art projects even more than I already had been. So even though these three projects I have created are each very unique in their own ways, they are each connected through my love of writing.

My first project started as a simple idea about a portrait of my dog, Mabel, but then when I considered adding a touch of writing into it, it blossomed into an entirely new idea. I decided that instead of simply coloring Mabel normally, I would use words to create the color inside of her. Since she is one of the happiest parts of my life, I thought it would only make sense to put happy words inside of her. Fortunately, I have a book that I read every night that is essentially just a long list of happy of things, so I took my favorite excerpts and added them into the color of her face to show that not only do I find happiness in my dog, but that there is happiness all around despite how often people fail to realize it. At first, I just painted the background of their piece normally with a pretty blue shade of paint, but then for the words I used these small fine-tip markers so that I could write the words so that they were still legible. I thought the overall craftsmanship of this piece turned out well, but I know that I could’ve pushed this idea further, especially if I had been given more time. For example, I wish I would have created a better composition rather than just placing my subject dead in the center. I also wish that I could have been more consistent with the size of my words in order to make the image look even neater. However, I am pleased with my idea as well as how it turned out, I just wish that I had been more creative and reached further in the process of creating it.

My second piece is an example of me trying to create a more realistic image. However, in order to do that, I needed to create it based off of a deeper concept. I have had an idea for this idea for a while, but it is not one that I have been willing to share and I am still unsure as to whether or not I will be willing to share it during the critique. It is about my ex-boyfriend, which is not someone I like to even think about because he put me through some pretty hard times and I still am scared to get close to people now because of this. Therefore, I wanted to portray my fear in this piece, showing people that you should never treat a person like that because it truly can haunt them for the rest of their lives. To begin this piece, I wrote down the entire story of our terrible relationship and decoupaged it into the background of my piece. Then, I painted myself as well as the dark background over top of the story, making it impossible to read while still providing an interesting texture to the piece. I had hoped the text would have been a bit more visible, but I actually like the method I took since it was sort of like a way to get my emotions out by covered this haunting story with paint. It made me feel in a way that I was truly free from my past. While I felt that I nailed the concept of this piece really well, it definitely could still use plenty of improvement. While I really did try to make this piece more realistic than the others, it did not turn out exactly how I wanted. The craftsmanship in my face could definitely be better, especially since the skin tone did not work too well on top of the glue in the background. However, I think it is okay if I do not completely nail the realistic side of art because I don’t believe that realism is my style at all. I have my own kind of art and even if it is not exactly what I had hoped I need to embrace. So while I am pleased with the concept and process of this piece as well as how I was finally able to come out of my shell, craftsmanship is still an area for me that definitely needs improvement. This piece has helped to show me many of my strengths and weaknesses.

My final piece is something very different from everything I’ve experimented with in the past. I decided that instead of painting on a canvas, I would create a more abstract piece through the pages of a notebook. Originally, I wanted to create my own book and paint on it, but then I found this notebook that I had decoupaged back in elementary school and I decided that I would fit perfectly for this idea. This piece is about the story of my life, but the way I chose to represent it is through different colors. Each page of the notebook represents a different point in my life and either use bright colors with a big pattern to represent exciting and crazy times or darker, simpler designs to represent times that were not as great. By flipping through the pages of this book, it is easy to see the progression of my life and how it has gone thus far. However, my life is still going, so I left some of the last few pages blank in order to signify the unknowingness of the future for me. Overall, I felt fairly good about this piece, but I still feel like I could have added more to it. Or more specifically, I could have spent more time on it. Certain pages are really appealing to look at while others look sort of rushed, I wished that I could have spent more time blending the colors better or just overall making it more appealing. However, I feel that this piece was a success and it helped me to expand my ideas better and think more outside of the box. All three of these pieces helped me to grow as an artist and I really hope that I can continue to grow even more with my future pieces.

Stepping Outside of the Box

I have never been okay with stepping outside of my comfort zone, but then again, who really is? But this AP Art assignment forced all of us to take a step outside of our art norms and explore different media, styles, and ideas. It did not take long for me to come up with a decent idea for this project’s concept, however, I had a difficult deciding how I wanted to pursue this idea. Typically, I would just use paint, but I knew I had to experiment with something different. So when I found out about water color pencils, I figured that they might be worth a try. My idea was to creature a timeline of “photographs” from my childhood with my best friend Izzy. I sketched out images of different moments of our friendship that I remember, starting with the day we met, to the hanging out every day, to then becoming two people who just said hi in the school hallways. I wanted to show the progression of a typical childhood friendship to illustrate that even those who were extremely close at a young age can drift apart simply by no other reason but time. Some people may be glad that they have separated from the friendships of their childhoods, but I personally miss some of them, especially my relationship with Izzy, which is what I decided to create my project about. I sketched out five image onto watercolor paper and when color them, I experimented a lot with different values. The center image is colored the brightest, signifying that this is the moment in which we were the closest. Then, the images become lighter, faded, and less detailed as they extend towards the ends of the piece, representing the moments in which we were no longer good friends. I strung all of these images together with a string I found in my childhood craft bin in order to represent the progression of our friendship throughout the years. Overall, I love my concept I created and I thought I did a great job representing the different values based on the level of closeness between the two of us in that point in time. However, through this project I discovered that watercolor pencils are not my forte. It would probably work better for me if I worked on bigger paper or created a more abstract image because the craftsmanship definitely needs work. The watercolor pencils blended too easily and made the lighter images look way more sloppy than I would have liked. Therefore, if I ever use watercolor pencils again, it will either be for a brightly colored imaged such as my center one or for a looser, less detailed image. But even though I am not entirely pleased with how my alternative media project turned out, it was good for me to experiment with a new media such as watercolor pencils so that I could then grow in my art skills even more.

MIAD Field Trip!

Throughout our tour of MIAD, I found a variety of items that inspired me, most of which was the art created by the students as well as some of the surroundings in the college itself. I sketched out each of these items in my sketchbook as well
As for the works of art that I found most inspiring, there were three very different designs that each appealed to me in their own ways. All three of these pieces were student work so I do not know the name of each artist. The first piece is fairly simple, it is a canvas covered in this shiny pink material that almost reminds me of tin foil with three hearts painted on top. Typically, I am not drawn to art as simple as this, but something about it just made me think and relate to certain situations involving love and relationships. Not only was this piece pleasing to the eye, but it really got me to think despite its simplicity.

The second piece I was drawn to was the sketchbook image of a student and it is a purple ghost created with watercolor paint. And while most people will probably just see it as a ghost, it is actually an interesting interpretation of Haunter from Pokemon and since I am such a huge Pokemon nerd, of course I was instantly drawn to this piece. Not only do I love the idea of a spookier, more realistic interpretation of a Pokemon, but I also love the use of watercolors and how even though the colors dripped and blending together, it still looks very neat at the same time. I have never been the best at using watercolors, but maybe if I experimented with them more I could create something similar to this.

The third piece that I was interested in was a realistic portrait of a snow leopard. I have always been obsessed with animals, so of course I would be drawn to a painting of an animal, but it's not just that. I think it is amazing that students are able to create an image as realistic as this and while I have always struggled with being realistic, it is something that I would like to work on, especially with animals.

While I found the art created by students to be very inspiring during our tour, there was also many interesting items that I discovered on my own. Many of these things were around MIAD, but were not actually the artwork itself. For example, as we were walking down the halls, I spotted a mural that was the words "I Love You" created out of smaller words. I did not have enough time to get a close look at what all of the smaller words were, but I loved the idea and since I am a writer I realized that maybe I should be attempting to incorporate words and writing into my artwork even more. However, while that mural was very inspiring for me, I also noticed many other simple things that interested me such as the items that were sketched on tables or the decorations that students had put in their work space. On one table, students had sketched all sorts of different Pokeballs onto it and many students had items such as Pokemon, Uglydolls, and sloths decorating their work area, which are items that bring back memories from my childhood. I think it's really cool that other students share these same interests that I do even though I had no expected it. There were also some cool things outside of the college that peaked my interest such as a creepy building or the fortunes from our fortune cookies, but the three most inspiring items were actually inside of the college.I am really glad that we went on this field trip because even though I am not planning to go to an art school, I was able to find a lot of inspiration for both my art and my writing.

Is He the One?

Fauvism, contrast, and value are three words that I never would have thought to create a an art piece about, but after being assigned these three words in my latest AP art project, I realize how well that they actually worked for me. In this assignment, we had to pick two techniques and one art style to put into a piece of art with the concept of our choice. After picking these, I was instantly familiar with the words contrast and value, however, fauvism was a concept that was new to me. After researching a bit, I was able to come up with an idea for this piece that I was actually pretty proud of. I wanted to base my piece off of a situation I was currently going through where I have a crush on someone that I do not know if I should really be with. This idea got me to thinking about how people often are unsure about the person they like or want to be with. It can be a confusing situation. Therefore, in my piece, the focal point I created was a girl that is in a boy’s arms and while it looks like it would be a comfortable place, she has a look of distress across her face due to the fact that she is unsure if this is the right person for her or not. In the background, I decoupaged various conversations that she would have had with this guy and then painted over them so that they appeared to be memories. Then, I used the bright colors of the fauvism style for the girl since she is the main point of the piece and the one with all of those memories in her head. Then, the boy is in black in white to provide contrast and to show how he is fading away in her life due to her confusion.

Overall, I felt that this piece was very successful, especially compared to the ten pieces I had to create earlier in this year. I was able to spend more time on it and develop stronger ideas in it. I really admire how the colors of the piece turned out and the text bubbles look, it all really makes the entire piece just come together. I am also proud of how the people turned out, especially considering how I am typically not the best when it comes to drawing and painting people. However, even though I am very proud of this piece as a whole, there are still some slight things that could be improved about it. For example, the craftsmanship could use some work, especially in the green and blue parts of the background. The brushstrokes just look a bit sloppy and I was having troubles smoothing them out. If I were to recreate this image, I would cover the entire background in mod podge, rather than just the parts with text boxes so that it would look smoother overall. Also, while I felt that I captured contrast and fauvism very well in this piece, I felt that I could have done more with value since while it is present, it could have been exaggerated even more, especially in the guy. But even though there are aspects that I need to continue to work on, I felt that this painting was overall a huge success and I am glad this was the project that was chosen to follow up the ten projects in one week assignment.

Ten Projects, One Word

Ten art projects in one week. Just hearing that sentence would give any artist chills almost instantly. But the extent of this project did not end there. On top of it, we had to create all ten of those pieces based off of a randomly chosen word. Mine happened to be opulent. A word that I would never have thought to create this many art projects about. However, I was able to come up with ten different ideas, each of which displays a different aspect of the word opulent. Some of my pieces were based off of the word rich, showing how money is not always the most important part of life. Others were based off of some of the synonyms, extravagant and luxurious. These paintings either showed extravagant ideas people often have or how different items can be luxurious to different people. Overall, I felt that my pieces started out very well, but as the week came to a close, I could feel my ideas and craftsmanship getting weaker. However, as usual, my concept of color in each of my pieces was very strong. Each image has a unique use of colors and an interesting composition. However, when I look at some of them it is clear to see that the paint in certain areas is not as neat as I would have liked it to be. This is most likely due to the short amount I had to work on these, but even so, craftsmanship is something that I still need to pay attention to and work to improve. In addition to the craftsmanship, I also wished that I could have had more time to work on detail in my pieces, especially in the backgrounds. I love experimenting with different colors in the background of paintings, however, there is not much going on, which is something I definitely need to attempt to fix. Therefore, while I had some difficulties putting together ten different art pieces in one week, it helped me learn to manage my time better and helped my gain a better idea of what I need to improve on throughout this year.      

Summer Artist Statement

I’ve always loved art, however, this summer was the first time that I actually dedicated a significant amount of my free time to it. Unlike most summer homework assignments, I found this one exciting and I was eager to start even before the school year had come to an end. But even before I started this assignment, I already knew which art portfolio I was leaning towards: drawing. And as the summer progressed, it became even more clear to me that the concept of drawing and painting was the type of art in which I wanted to focus on.

Throughout the summer, I experimented with a lot of different types of drawing and painting both in my sketchbook and with the projects I created. Throughout my creations I used a wide variety of different colors and designs, as well as attempting to create a more realistic picture at one point. Overall, I felt that using my free time to experiment with paints really helped me to lean towards the drawing portfolio even more than I had in the past. While I did not have as much time to work on my homework as I would have liked throughout the summer, I was able to create about one sketchbook entry per week and continued to think about new ideas here and there even while I was busy. I felt that being able to continuously think about art helped me to expand on my overall ideas of pieces and to help me think outside of the box a bit more.

While I mostly just experimented with medias I was comfortable with such as paint, decoupage, and colored pencils, the one area in which I was pushed out of my comfort zone was photography. I have never been the best when it comes to capturing pictures, however, I am glad that it was part of the overall assignment since it caused me to try something new and helped me to get ideas for my other projects a bit. I would like to create more art projects based off the photos I took in the future, but hopefully I will be able to improve at photography even more so that I have more images that I can sketch from.

Overall, I am very pleased with my work throughout the summer; I found it to be the type of homework that I actually looked forward to completing. I felt that I helped me to be more independent with my art and to help my ideas and concept branch out and become more of my own. I have a feeling that I will see a lot of progress in my art throughout the year.