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Jorge Gomez-Corril

Artist Statement

Ms.Hertz

January 7, 2018

Limited Palette Painting

As for my project choice for quarter 2, I decided to choose the Limited palette painting. For my painting I choose to do a Mexican flag in order to show some sort of respect for my culture and background. It is made up of three colors; red, white and green. In the middle of the flag there’s an eagle on top of a cactus biting a snake. Through my work, I would want the viewer to have an understanding of what my ethnic background is and how it means something to me. I could have chosen something else, ie a self portrait or an image of the sunset but the flag is just something very meaningful and I decided to incorporate that in my painting. There’s not a lot of times where there’s an opportunity to show off your ethnic flag and this was a great opportunity to show that off.

The tools that I used to create my work were; acrylic paint, brushes, pencil, eraser, cup of water,  newspaper, palette, cloth,  paper towel, wood  and a palette knife. First  I had to sketch an outline of my flag with pencil and eraser. Then, I cut a piece of wood and used it as my base while covering it with a cloth and painted it white (with special paint)  so it would have a white base. So when I was ready to start painting, I used acrylic paint because I thought it would stand out more than water colors to draw out the details in the flag, the brushes were used in order to do this and I used a variety of sized brushes. The cup of water was used in order to clean off the paint after I was done with it and then I would use a paper towel to clean off the water. After I was done with my work, the last step was to sit it on top of a newspaper to let it dry.

My current work relates to my previous work because they both had to do with my connection that is close to limited and non existent with my ethnic roots. I am not well connected with my background and don’t have a large understanding of my culture so I thought that by informing myself and creating this work, it would encourage me to have a better outlook on that. I am most proud of how this work came out because I was expecting it to be much worse that how it came out. This was an interesting experience to go through and choose my own project. The only thing that I would change about this project is the amount of colors we were allowed to use. Some people can’t limit themselves to 5 colors in one artwork. Through my completion of this project, I’ve learned that it’s not good to waste your time on other things while instructions are being given and always use your time wisely because those were two things that majorly negatively impacted me.

Within my artwork I chose the limited palette theme. I decided on about five different colors like blue, red, green, orange and golden yellow. I decided my artwork should be based in a childlike character so I recreated Ariel from the little mermaid by first creating a  sketch. For the sketch I only used a paper, pencil, and eraser. Then, I used some transformation paper so my rough sketch can lay on my final copy. I decided my painting will be created by watercolors trying different techniques with the amount of water or paint used and how I painted I created my art piece.

My artwork would be described as Ariel sitting on a rock under the sea with green shrubs and goldfish. She has her red hair, her green tail and purple shells for her top, and the blue fill in for the water. I chose this as my art piece to describe that no matter how old I get I will always love disney movies. This artwork relates to my previous work because it is always calming and childlike. With creating this piece I first sketched my art piece in my sketchbook about two times and then transformed my rough sketch to my final copy and began painting with watercolor going over my artwork three times so the color and lines show. An artist who is similar to my artwork is Marcelo Gandhi. I think an important technique was the way I painted because the way the water looked as if it flowed all in one direction, it was clean and put together. A new technique was the amount of water or paint used so that the lines or shape could stick out more to the eye rather than all blend in. I am most proud of the effort and time I put into this artwork. I would change the portion size of my project, adding more to it. Through this project I learned that with even maybe four or fives different colors an art piece can still be created.

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/3c/b3/8b/3cb38bccd135e7b45fd8c83ea2b29e08--gandhi-mixed-media.jpg

For my quarter 2 project, I wanted to work on a mixed media art. While having many ideas, I knew I wanted it to be based off of Henna, henna is something I am very passionate in and I think the more I do it, the more better I get. Henna is a big aspect to art, henna can be a paste or a design, even though I do both, I wanted to practice more on my drawing designs. I wanted this mixed media project to be something motivational and something to put around the house to show creativity.

For this project, I decided except of doing a canvas that everyone does already, I should do something different. So I chose a wooden board. I painted the whole board Yellow because I wanted something bright. The henna designs were red and green because of the holiday and the quote was black and white. For the wooden board I used acrylic paint, for the red and green henna designs, I used acrylic markers, and lastly for the quote I used black and white watercolor.

The quote in wooden board said “Hold the vision, Trust the Process”. This quote is very meaningful because it talks about holding on to the thought or vision and to just go along with it and this is what I did with this project.

This artwork is different from other work I did because I am only getting better at henna and its a learning process. A new technique I learned was to test out all the products first and go over with a simple draft.

I am very proud that the work came out bright and very neat. Next time I would work on a different concept, to try it out.

In my art work there are many different colors used to represent things. The bottom of the work has like a brown mass that is supposed to represent water. Then there are pink type clouds that has a mountain structure in the middle of it. There is also this blue wind sweeping over the mountain. The sun is a blue circular figure to the side in the corner. I want the work to communicate whatever the person feels looking at it. The wind, ocean, sun and mountain can represent different things to a person while looking at it. For the painting I used a block of wood as my canvas. I used tempera paint, newspaper and acrylic paint. The tempera paint was used for like everything and layered of the newspaper for part of the ocean and the sun. The acrylic paint was used to make “snow” on top of the mountain and used to add some white details in the ocean. My current work is like my previous work because both of them are like whimsical in a way. In both works nothing is supposed to be the color that it is. The process involved for my work first started off with me making an outline on the wood for what I wanted the painting to look like. As i began painting with the outline I quickly realized I did not like and another vision popped into my head. So I started off with painting the ocean and the mountain was a leftover thing from my previous vision. So I added a sun using newspaper for texture.

I do not know an artist who makes similar work to me. I don’t get inspired by other people I just go with the flow of things. One technique I used working with tempera paint is layering. This was really useful to get colors to pop. I am most proud of completing because I thought I would never finish. If I could change one thing I would change maybe the color of the sun. I learned that even if there is a plan you don’t have to strictly follow it if you change your mind.

For my my project, I created a three dimensional sculpture of an hourglass. The hourglass is made up plastic and cardboard and completely stands on its own. It’s complemented with a brown paint that gives the cardboard a wood-like aesthetic. I wanted this sculpture to communicate the idea that you do not have to be a skilled architect or professional to make something beautiful. I believe the greatest things can be made with the simplest tools. The hourglass also represents how fast time flies when we’re not paying attention. Time is always of the essence, so we must take advantage of every moment.

For my materials, I used two plastic water bottles for the “glass” portion of my hourglass and cut them in half to make a symmetrical encapsule. Once I cut them in half, I used saran wrap and tape to cover the the bottom and exterior of the bottles and give it a somewhat exquisite finish. I then carved a hole in each of the two caps to allow the sand-like material (sugar) to repeatedly pass through the bottles as much as necessary. I then used the hot glue gun to glue the two caps together to secure the bottles and prohibit any material from slipping out of the bottles. I then filled the bottles with the sugar and put each of caps on the bottles, and the hard part was over. Lastly, I cut two circles out of cardboard and glued them onto the top and bottom of the hourglass. This was meant to be the frame of the hourglass. I then painted the cardboard and the caps of the bottles and completed the hourglass.

The only similar work I can remember doing is a science project where I tapped two bottles together to show some type of chemical reaction. However, that project was nowhere near as extensive as this project. I was inspired by an artist by the name of Lorenzo Quinn who made a very impressive three dimensional sculpture. Here’s a link to his work: https://www.lorenzoquinn.com/sculptures/. While completing this project, I learned that is important to be efficient in the way that you secure any material inside the bottle to guarantee that is does not get out. Making this a priority will save you a lot of stress and make for a more impressive project. I also learned a lot the use of the hot glue gun throughout this project and the tip that is important to attach the glued material to its desired location quickly before the glue dries. I can honestly say I ran into this problem at least once.

In this work, I am most proud of the fact that I made an hourglass out nothing but household materials (and a glue gun). It made me feel like I really took advantage of my creativity and allowed my imagination to run wild. There’s honestly nothing I would change about this project because I feel as if I was given the freedom to make whatever I wanted. In conclusion, I learned to how to create something as complicated as a hourglass using affordable materials and the guidance of Ms. Hertz. This is project I would complete again if I had the opportunity, because of my fascination of building and the process that comes with it.

In the project I used charcoal to create an image of mountains while using different techniques to create various patterns and textures to my work. While looking at this you will see 3 mountains overlapping one another and a single pine tree in the very front, with a shaded sky. There isn’t really a story or anything that I wanted to convey, I just really wanted to draw some mountains. Originally for this project I wanted to draw a tree, or flowers, mostly a tree so that I could play with techniques and create different textures for each part, but in the end I decided to keep it simple and went with mountains.

In order to create this project I first started of with a smooth piece of paper after creating my sketch. I used a pencil to create a simple outline for my drawing, then I took a conte crayon and used it to create a bold outline for my mountains, Mistakenly adding very harsh lines that acted as snowtops. Then I began to fill in the very back mountain, i began by using a charcoal stick. I rubbed it along the paper and then would use my finger to spread out and shade the mountain, on the left hand side I wanted to be a little adventurous so I took a watercolor brush and some water painted part of the mountain. In the middle of the back mountain I made my attempt at a crosshatch texture. It created a look that made the back mountain darker towards the bottom and somewhat of a gradient to the top (but it was completely colored in). I then shaded in the rest of the mountain and used my finger rather than a smudge stick. For the mountain on the right I tried to do a wider crosshatch look but it didn’t really work out so I used a charcoal pencil and shaded it in with my finger while going in circular motions so it didn't look so boring.  This ended up being the darkest of the 3, I used a kneaded eraser to try to get rid of any excess but it still appeared very dark. Next I drew my Pine tree using a charcoal pencil and a charcoal stick, this also came out too dark, but I used a white charcoal pencil to help lighten it up. In hindsight I should’ve made my tree bigger, it is rather small and useless and wasn’t very thought through at the time. For my last mountain I used the stippling technique mostly for fun and testing a new idea. I then shaded it in to add more color, because this would be the lightest of the 3. I personally liked this effect, even though it is more of a technique for pens or pencils, it worked with charcoal also. After I finished  everything I decided to Make a slight gradient in the sky, using a charcoal stick  because I found it to be the easiest to shade and work with. After that I finished off my piece by spraying it with a setting spray so it wouldn’t smudge.

This is the first time I’ve done something like this, it doesn’t really relate to any of my past work/ doodles. I could somewhat relate to pencil drawings that I’ve done and shaded in instead of colored, I never used charcoal or smudge sticks, just a pencil and my finger.  I feel like I could’ve taken more time to learn and test  new techniques to try, and come up with a better way to use and show them, but I'm not upset with what I did. New techniques are important because they can add more depth and tone to your work, for me personally I really liked the stippling technique and will probably use it more. It is a lot of tedious work but I enjoy the overall look of it and it can add more pizazz to a drawing.  Using this technique and crosshatching are probably what i’m the most proud of because I feel like i can incorporate this new ideas into future work and use them to add more texture instead of everything being so flat.

I wouldn’t mind doing this project over again, I can always try again but with my original tree idea and learn even more techniques. I feel like my final project came out alright, it's not my best work but i like the somewhat simplistic tone of it. I can learn more as a person who has an interest in art and only get better through experience and learning more and more.

Our video is a PSA of water pollution. It’s basically me and my group members speaking on the topic and how it can be resolved. We chose this topic because we believed that water pollution is an important factor that we should know. We use water everyday and we can die if we don’t have it. Water is important to everything that is living.

What I contribute to the project was by giving ideas and editing the video. I believe we could’ve done better in recording more for our video and adding more information. The most meaningful part of this experience of creating the PSA is learning about water pollution and how it can affect us and ways we can prevent it.