Reflection & Planning - Final Exam Essay

Throughout my experience in Art III this past year, I have grown artistically and mentally which has impacted my work physically as well as symbolically. I have learned more about the intricacies and mechanics of creating various types of art, but, ultimately, my understanding of different themes and symbolism apparent in art pieces has increased exponentially. Within the units of the learning curriculum in Art III, I have acquired various skills in painting techniques like indirect painting and abstraction, figure drawings, and sculpture. During my process of creating my artist’s copy, I had previously never used a gridding system on such a large piece. Drawing on a very large piece of paper was also foreign to me. I was more comfortable working with smaller pieces, but I had to adapt in order to complete the project. The gridding system aided in getting used to the size. I was able to learn more specifics regarding individual body parts. Overall, this project aided in my deeper understanding of the human figure which is something I am very interested in. I also learned more about independence within art, there were times where I was given the freedom to choose what I were to create for a project. I chose to create a hand for my sculpture project, however I was unfamiliar with the process of that so I taught myself through using the many resources we are allowed to use when taking this course. Prior to taking this course, my biggest weakness in art was creativity because I had only been used to drawing from life and taking inspiration from other artists. I had never challenged myself creatively within my personal projects, but within these class projects I have used large amounts of thought and innovation to create them. When creating my fantastic four, I had to dive deeper into my overarching theme of growth to find out what I wanted to display through my art. This class has taught me to think critically and outside of the box when creating artwork, this class has challenged me to do the best of my ability and to make original pieces that represent something that holds meaning. 

I have seen the greatest growth within my knowledge of various mediums as well as my creativity and thinking when creating a piece of art. Throughout this year, we have explored many different mediums including oil paints, plaster, and wood carving. I think compared to every other year of art I have taken during my school years, this year I have explored the most amount of mediums and received the most crucial knowledge in order to pursue them. Prior to this class, I would have never known how to use oil paints through indirect painting because I, as well as many others, have only been exposed to acrylic paints. I think the knowledge of indirect painting with oil paints has expanded my overall knowledge of painting in general because I have done more painting after this project and I have become more confident and technical within my strokes in order to create the best outcome. Through this painting, I have learned more about color as well- I had previously shied away from all forms of color because it was unknown to me, I had never learned about color theory. I think this allowed me to take a large step towards my personal artistic growth because color is such an important part of art and I had always wanted to learn more about it. I have also seen growth within my own individual creativity throughout my projects. I have begun to think and see clearer images of what I want to make, I am able to use more symbolism to create larger themes and meanings within my work. Specifically, when creating my fantastic four project I wanted to incorporate the overall theme I had been experimenting with through my play pages. I had a couple difficulties along the way with my reference image and my ideal end product because they differed slightly, however I had gotten around that to create a similar theme and image but an overall more innovative look. 

I feel that I need to improve on my time management skills when it comes to art assignments. There have been times where I only worked on a project for a small amount of time and I feel I could have made it better overall if I had taken more time to work on details. I think my attention span when it comes to creating art has decreased as this year has taken more time towards other classes like AP classes. However, I think if I get a steady schedule down for when to do what assignments, I can improve my projects and my technique as well as skill. I also think doing more artworks more regularly will aid in this problem. I also think I need to improve on my shading in pencil drawings. This is more of a personal goal as I have noticed in my more recent drawings that I am not quite happy with the way I shaded. I think I need to add overall more shading within my works and I would like to try different shading techniques, such as hatching to see whether or not that produces a more aesthetically pleasing outcome. 

I feel that I can use most of the knowledge that I have learned in Art III as I move forward with my independent work next year, specifically the knowledge I gained through figure drawings as well as oil painting. I have been very interested in expanding my knowledge and overall skill in oil painting so I can possibly specialize in oil painting for Art IV and V. The lessons that I received this year have already boosted my confidence with oil painting and I think will benefit me in the future when I attempt to experiment more with them. I also think that, because I am very focused on portraits as well as figure drawings of humans, the knowledge that I obtained during the first semester of this school year will be crucial in the next years of art. I really appreciated the techniques I learned and the feedback I received to help increase the likeness of my drawings of people. I also think that my mistakes when it comes to time management can aid in my growth as an artist and as a student to be more efficient and logical when creating projects. I am very excited to start my journey as an independent artist next year. I hope to excel as well as grow and challenge myself to create original and meaningful artworks.

Abstract Painting: Process Post

I began my abstract expressionist painting by creating a blue coat of paint all over the entire canvas and then I began to think about what I strokes I wanted to put on my painting. I was very nervous because I had never done an abstract painting before, I wasn't sure what would look aesthetically appealing. I decided to just go for it so I used my entire arm and made one long and curvy stroke of wet paint over the blue with a pink color. I really liked how the pink color looked next to the blue so I wanted to accentuate it by attempting to make it more vibrant. I ended up using a variety of different colors to try to make the blue pop as well as the other colors. I was going to use a lot of orange because they are complementary colors, but I wasn't happy with the way it turned out. The orange on the blue looked more muddy than I had expected so I decided to move away from that idea and use more pinks, greens, and a little bit of red and some yellow. I began to feel more confident the more strokes of paint I put on my canvas. I particularly enjoyed letting the paint drip down the canvas to create a drip effect that matched well with the brush strokes that were visible on the canvas prior. The only thing I would have done differently is to try different strokes and maybe think more about a cohesive color scheme, although I do like how all the colors come together in the end. I also would have liked to add more layers if I had more time.

Process Post: Oil Painting

The process of finishing up the grisaille has been relatively slow, but rather relaxing because it is not as overwhelming as it would have been if we were to be painting more directly. I have been mainly focusing on attempting to fully get rid of the lines made by the charcoal and to make it so there are no lines made by the paint, only values next to each other. The picture on the bottom is the earliest photo and the aspects I wanted to work on following was to make the watering can darker so it wouldn't be too similar to the porcelain vase next to it. I also needed to work more on the background, because the values were lacking compared to the still life. In the second photo, I had been still painting too indirectly for finishing up and I didn't make as much progress as I had hoped. I painted thin layers of grey paint over the watering can but it still wasn't as dark as it should have been. I worked on the background a little more and it got darker but not as detailed as it was in real life. I started adding more white and highlights during that class as well. I was really nervous to paint more directly as I should have been because I had only been using very thin washes of paint thus far, so it was a different experience attempting to use more paint than I have been. The last photo I had made a lot of progress. I made the can as dark as it should be and I worked on the background with darker paint. I slowly stopped painting using thin washes and I think I have almost hidden all of the lines made by the charcoal. I was also asked to get rid of the line of the edge of the porcelain vase and the background. I hadn't noticed it before, but once I stepped back and truly looked at the values I had realized it was a very distinct line. It was difficult to make it not look like a line and I tried to blend out darker and darker paint but nothing helped. I had to then go with a lighter color to erase the line completely and then use darker paint to blend outwards. I think I got rid of the line relatively well and now I see only two values rather than three.