Favorite Food

Our class was told to paint a picture of our favorite food.  Picking the food was the hardest part for me.  I have struggled with finding meaning in my art.  I say this meaning a lot of the art work I have done looks cool, but it doesn't mean anything to me.  For example, I am very happy with my gummy worms painting but it isn't exactly something I would hang up on my wall in my room.  I chose to paint a milkshake for this assignment.  Milkshakes are special to me because it reflects my childhood culture with my grandpa.  My grandpa and I would used to go to Steak and Shake when I was little to eat.  The milkshake represents this perfectly because we would get milkshakes.  Now milkshakes are probably not my favorite food but this painting brings back great memories and is more special to me than a painting of apple juice or grilled cheese would have been.

Now focussing more on the actual painting itself.  I am semi happy with it.  It is totally not my style.  I am more of a photo realistic painter where as this painting is not photo realistic at all and I feel like that is what bothers me.  The blurry look of it is what I was going for but I still need to get use to it.  The best part about this technique was it was about 100 times faster than the photorealistic technique.

Ribbon, Lipstick, and some Gummy Worms

This project was assigned as an at home project.  If that didn't scare me enough, we were asked to pick three and only three items that represent us.  I chose ribbon because I love fashion and want to become a fashion designer.  I chose lipstick because I am a competitive dancer and the bright red lipstick is what we wear on stage.  Lastly, I chose the gummy worms because they show my personality.  They are bright and cheery like me.  They are also are sweet and sour just like my personality can be.

These are pictures of my progress throughout the painting:

This is the first time I took a progress picture of my painting.  Honestly, I was about to throw this painting in the trash I hated it so much.  I literally had no faith in this project whatsoever.  The colors were off, the gummy worms didn't look like gummy worms, and the couldn't get the color of the ribbon.

I worked long hours to get from the above picture to this one.  I finished the ribbon and was very happy with it.  I was use to ribbons because I had to make them so often for all of my pointe shoe pictures.   The lipstick was half done and the container that held it was not shiny enough.  That was the least of my worries.  I made every single sugar grain dot using white paint and a toothpick.  Lets just say I am NEVER doing gummy worms again.  That was the most tedious work I have ever done.  The bad part was, I still wasn't happy with the gummy worms.  They didn't look 3D and the over piece I was still not happy with.

This is taken after I fixed the lipstick and I PUT IN THE BACKGROUND.  I learned in this project a background makes all the difference.  I finally saw my art coming together.  The background created depth and dimensions.  I realized you cannot give up on a piece of artwork too early.  You have to keep working and working at it and in the end you will end up with what you want.

This is my final painting.  I finished the background and I really like what it did to my overall picture.  I am very pleased with this painting.  I improved so much and learned so much throughout the whole experience.  I got so frustrated but I pushed though and ended up creating this!

Done with Pointe Shoes... For Good!

This is the last piece of work where I will use my pointe shoes.  I have learned these pointe shoes inside and out.  Every scratch and and flaw, I know where they are.  It would be very easy for me to start a new project with a new medium using them.  It has been good getting to replicate them over and over and over again but it is nice to know my next project will not be of them.

This is my finished product of my painting.  This is the first painting I have ever done.  I am very pleased with the overall picture.  I felt very comfortable painting this because I knew these pointe shoes so well.  I wouldn't change anything about this painting for the time being.  As I grow as a painter I will definitely find tons of flaws in this but for right now I say it's a success!

Artist Statement Take 2

We were asked to rewrite our artist statement because in just a fourth of a week, we have learned so much. I decided to write about what I have learned about how to create art and how to be inspired.  I have so much more to learn but this is how far I have come:

IB art has given me an opportunity to learn many different mediums that I would have never considered attempting to use before.  In this class I have discovered some of the many techniques and skills of pencil drawing, charcoal, chalk pastels, and paint.  The way I approach art now is different than before.  I now try to be influenced or have a specific purpose for the art I create to make it more personal rather than a random piece of artwork.  I am more focused on meaning of the art along with the overall look of the piece.  I try to tie in culture in every piece now because culture is all around us.  If people can relate to my artwork, then more people will understand it.  Everyone knows about culture.  I am nowhere near where I want to be on how I use sources or how I am inspired but I have definitely grown in those areas since the beginning of the year.  I have learned the overall process to make art.  First off, the artwork in the beginning looks very amateur.  I have learned art has to look bad before it looks good.  Only after the finishing touches are added, the artwork looks right.  I learned it is hard to quit on an art piece because there are always modifications that can be made.  This is what I have learned in a fourth of a year.  I can not even imagine what I will learn by the end of the class.  I have grown in many areas already and I hope to grow even more than I have now.  Art takes patience and hard work.  Both are very hard qualities to to obtain but I know if I try to obtain them, I will end up with very pleasing results.

My First Attempt at Charcoal, Drawing, Chalk Pastels, and Painting....Went a Little Like This

These were one of the first assignments given to us in IB Art.  We were to choose an object that symbolizes us.  I am a dancer so I picked my pointe shoes.

This is the first charcoal drawing I did in this class.  I learned in this piece of work that I am very shy to put color down.  The point shoes are no where near dark enough and the proportions are off.

This is the first drawing I did in this class.  I am proud of this piece because it was my first but there are many things wrong with it.   I did not shade the ribbons right and the shadows are not at all dark enough.  Again, the proportions are off.

This is the first chalk pastel piece I did in this class.  This is one of my best works because I had a major breakthrough.  I was finally brave enough to actually put color down and make the piece more dynamic.  This was the first time I experience color and it taught me how to recognize the millions of colors in a picture.

This is my first painting in this class.  It is still in progress but so far I am very excited about it.  I have learned how to blend colors and work with acrylic paints in this work.  I use my skills about color that I learned in the chalk pastel piece to help with my color selection in this one.  I am sticking more to the actual colors in the picture in this work compared to my chalk pastel work where I brightened the colors.  

A New Kind of Homework

For homework, we were assigned to draw a picture of our pantry and write about how it represents me.  I was really excited about this assignment at first; however, then I realized how difficult drawing your pantry really is.  This is how it turned out.

I wrote that my pantry shows I am a very busy and healthy person.  The oatmeal to go and the instant breakfast represent my busy schedule and the salad dressing and the go lean cereal represents I am a healthy eater.

First Day of Class

On the first day of IB art we were asked to write.  Write in an art class?  Yes, we were asked to create an artist statement.  This statement was intended to show where we were in our relationship with art and what we hoped to obtain from this class.  This is what I wrote:

I am very happy to have the opportunity to take IB art.  Art surprisingly does not come easy to me.  I have trouble deciding on an idea and sticking to it.  Hopefully that will be a skill I will acquire during this two year course.  I enjoy art because I love making things my own and showing a view in a different way.  I have been exposed to various art classes.  I took art every year in elementary school and middle school.  I have taken drawing, computer graphics, and creative arts in high school.  I have also taken a sewing class at Jo Ann Fabrics.  During the summer I took a week long design camp at Ohio Northern University.  Also during the summer I took a week long fashion design camp at Columbus College of Art and Design.  Throughout this class I will strive to improve on every aspect of art.  I would really like to improve on drawing/sketching and colored pencil drawing.  The materials I have the most trouble with are oil pastels and charcoal.  What I plan on learning from this class is how to create a piece of art work from start to finish while being comfortable and creative at the same time.  I know I will get frustrated at times and I know ideas will not come easy.  I will work through it so I can grow from my experience.  I am very interested in fashion.  I love costume design and fashion design.  Fashion is what I would like to incorporate in my work through the next two years.  I want IB Art to take me to a new level of thinking.  Along the way I believe I will enjoy the class and it will be a great experience for me.