The Philosophy of Art
As an artist I want others to view me as someone who is creative and original. Through my work I wish to communicate a deeper meaning and have my art connect with others in what ever way it can. Ideas and inspirations such as music real life and other artist encourage me to express myself artistically. When creating a piece of art it's important to incorporate symbols, meaning, and emotions into your work because you can better represent something without having to draw that exact thing and different people can interpret different things when they view the work, which leads to debate and conversation about your piece. Good art work is reflective through the time and skill put into the piece along with the story or message the artist is trying to convey.
Representational Reflection
In progress
Final Artwork
My idea for this piece was simple I wanted to reflect my love for art. I did that by using my paint brush holder as the reflective surface. My original idea was to reflect a painting I had done over the summer but I couldn't get the angle right so instead I did a paintbrush and a palette knife. During planning i took so many photos of my paint brush holder, different lighting and different angles. These photos helped me decide which angle was the best. I love working in Prismacolor so this project was a great first project, I didn't have to worry about a new medium or one I find difficult. Overall I love how bright the colors turned out but something I would change, if I had the chance, would be how i blended the top triangle.
Everyday Objects
In progress
Final Artwork
My idea is a guitar in a pop art type style. I chose this idea over my other nineteen because it was the only one that really related to me and wasn't just a random object. The most challenging part was getting the strings lay at the angle instead of just going straight down. I wanted the brown to contain varying colors so no two parts look exactly the same, which meant if i messed up the brown i went to fix it with wasn't the same, this became a challenge when i messed up on the finer details like the strings. Something i re-learned about acrylic paint is how fast it dries. If I was to do this piece over again I would do the background differently, I don't know what I would do and I like my current background, I just feel as though it's missing something.
Interior Spaces
In progress
Final Artwork
When I was brainstorming ideas I thought of many things, most were generic and others just on my list so I would have twenty. I got to nineteen when the idea for an open cassette player just popped into my mind, it was the only idea that wasn't basic so i decides to go with this one. An artistic challenge I faced showing difference within the piece while keeping the different sections similar enough that a view would think it was something else entirely. Another challenge I faced was finding the exact thing i was looking for so I could have a reference picture. It's difficult to find a cassette player in this day and age, the internet didn't even have what i was looking for. Something successful about this piece would be the unifying aspects of the lines and stippling, all the parts that are plastic are vertical while the nobs are stippled. I have used pen and ink before so while I didn't learn new I did improve my skills. I hope to use this medium again and to continue improving.
Self Portrait (Oil)
Practice
In progress
Final Artwork
I'm not a huge fan of drawing or painting people so when the self portrait rolled around abhorred the idea of having to do another self portrait, having done one over summer. My inspiration for this piece, besides myself of course, was the piece i did over break. Only in the scenes that I used the same filter. My idea was to do brighter more saturated colors, it worked for things like my shirt and the background, but I wished I had used more yellow in the face and blended it better with the pink. Something else i would fix would be my hair, specifically my hair line. To create this piece I started by putting a graph on my picture and my canvas then drew based off what I saw in each box, than did the same with the colors. A success of this piece would be my shirt I really love how it turned out. Some challenges would be my hair and the placement of my facial features, the eyes weren't the right shape, the nose was too high, and my mouth was at the wrong angle. This piece helped me grow as an artist by giving me the chance to work in a medium I don't normally use.
Pet Portrait
In progress
Final Artwork
When it was time to take photos of our pets for the portrait I about doing one of my friends cats instead of my dog. later that day my dad was feeding our dog a piece of cheese and I just thought my dog, Tater, looked so photogenic in that moment. Obviously I ended up picking my dog over the cat, resulting in this drawing i like to call "Food?" I started with drawing out the general out line of the dog then worked from the bottom up adding layer after layer of different shades of browns and tan until I got the color that matched my dogs coat. After that I worked on things like highlights and shadows till I got the finished project. A challenge I faced when working on this piece was the shading of the muzzle but I think it turned out pretty nice. My two favorite parts of this piece are the collar and the nose. If I was to re-due this piece I would change the background and I would make the mouth a tad smaller. This piece allowed me to develop my skills with blending colors and the appearance of fur, which really helped me grow as an artist.
Landscape
In Progress
Final Artwork
When I was brain storming ideas for this piece I knew I wanted to do a beach, only because in sophomore year I painted this same beach just a about 50 feet to the left. So when a landscape was assigned I took the opportunity to show how much my painting skills have improved. While working on this piece a challenge I had was the sand. Getting it the right color in the right places, getting some texture and adding the lights reflecting to certain parts of the sand. While painting this piece I decided to start with the background and work my way forward so that when painted the boards the wash wouldn't be seen. This came in handy when i redid the sand 4 times. Something that I think worked out great was my sky, it's blended how i wanted it to be and it has this soft look to it. If I was to redo this piece I would do the sand differently, not so much how I did it, but when I made the color. The first time I mixed the paint I didn't make enough, so what I would change is the the amount of paint I made. Overall with this piece I re-learned how fast acrylic pant dries, I know it's fast but i always forget how fast. I grew as an artist by working and improving in a medium I don't really like and that I don't use often.
Nature Turns Mechanical
In Progress
Final Artwork
While I was brainstorming for this project I would think of an object from nature then think of a mechanical part that was similar in shape or color. My original top two ideas were a butterfly with circuit board wings or jellyfish light bulbs, but I settled on stained glass flowers. The plan was to have the flowers look as though they were sculptured from glass and have a flat stained glass background, but it didn't work out like that. To me, my flowers just look like normal flowers, but despite that I'm still proud of this piece. When I was younger my family would travel to New York more frequently, something we would do often would go to a glass museum. My father once bought my mother these glass roses and that was the original inspiration of this piece. But I didn't want to do roses instead I wanted to do my favorite flowers, dahlias, and it just so happened I had a garden full of them. A challenged I faced while working on this piece was, like I said above, making the flowers appear glass like. Something I'm proud of is the colors I chose for the flowers, in person they are bright and vibrant. If i was to redo the piece I would plan the background out a little more, the blue on it's own seems to simple.
Review of the Semester
This semester has been interesting. I've done more work over the past nine weeks then I have in any other art classes. My favorite piece from this semester was the interior space project. My work was done in one of my favorite mediums which was pen and ink. Besides the medium the cassette is also what makes this piece important to me, the image I used as a reference belonged to my grandparents who live in Rochester. My least favorite piece was my self portrait. I wish I had used normal colors instead of having brighter more saturated colors. Also I don't like painting myself because I'm constantly judging it. Something I learned from this class is time management. Having to finish nine projects in nine weeks really shows you the importance of managing your time.