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For this quarters project, I choose to do a limited pallet painting.  The limited palette painting is when you only use 5 or fewer colors of your choosing.  For my limited palette, I chose the colors: green, red, flesh-toned, brown, and black.My drawing is of a girl with her eyes with her closed and hand on her chin.  I mixed the flesh-tone and brown together, to make a light brown skin tone.  Her head is tilted to the side with light and dark brown dyed hair flowing down to her neck. With her eyes closed, I made her lashes long and full, while her nose is small and long. Her lips are full, with pink lipstick.  She also has a tribal pattern above her eyebrows.  The piece that I made shows self-reflection, and peace. It is a reminder of how you think about yourself and knowing your worth when your eyes are closed to the world.

The materials that I used for this painting was 5 different watercolors. To create the strokes on the painting I used small brushes. The surface I painted was watercolor paper.  The small brushes are used to create detail and I used them for the whole painting.  The watercolor was used with more water than the actual paint in some cases or vice versa to create the colors of the painting.This piece of artwork connects to my previous work based on having a meaning connected to me or my family.  For the first step, I looked up simple sketches of a girl.After that I got my desired paper to do the artwork on which was watercolor paper.  Then I sketched out where I wanted everything to go on the watercolor paper( I was taking a while on that) In short I began to paint in the last few class periods we had. Finally, I went over some final detail in pencil so it can stand out more.

There are also some very famous artists that have done similar work like me that have deep means in their work. Some of these people are Amedeo Modigliani and Pablo Picasso. An important technique that's involved in my artwork is the brush stroke. When painting you tend to use a light hand strokes/ movement of the had to create texture. For me, I used a light hand as well as a heavy hand to make some parts stand out more. When doing the painting I also learned about the usage of the water to the color ratio for different opaqueness of color.  When I was creating this piece of artwork, became fond/ proud of my choice in color, and how it turned out to be more realistic than I thought.  I also like the way her head is tilt, her long eyelashes, also the different colors of brown in her hair. Aside from what I think is good, I would like to change the way of her hands. I want to change them so that they can be more realistic. I also want to shade in some more parts in to make some contrast. I learned that there are many ways to create paintings with different forms of makeshift texture from the stroke of a brush and, using limited colors to create an array of things.

So, my project represents one of my favorite fruits which is an orange which I decided to create. So, on my picture I made an orange, the show how good it is and how tasty it is. In this artwork I wanted it to represent my way of eating and how good it was and how when I eat it feels like the sun is shining. For this artwork I used a lot of materials well just color pencils and then when I used a blue color pencil to make different shades and also I used gray and mad different shades I used each color pencil in a detailed way and also pencil which I used to outline. This only related to my work by how it symbols my living situation but, the other I used different materials and had fun. Vincent Van Gogh makes self portraits and has done crazy things for the people he loved so that’s why I did. I learned a new technique in art called shading along with my outline and it was the best thing to use in this artwork. I am most proud of my use of color and different shades because I think it was well done and fits great in my portrait. If I could change one thing I would change the clouds because maybe I should have kept them white to resemble more happiness in the portrait.

For my quarter 2 project, I did the still life drawing because I wanted to try something different. For my project, I drew a candlestick and an orange. I want my artwork to communicate that it wasn't easy to draw this. My current work relates to my previous work because I have done shade and texture in art before. The materials I used when making this art was a 2H, 4H, and 6B pencils. I first drew the candlestick and orange with a 2H pencil. Then, I used a 6B pencil to outline the shape of my drawing. After outlining the shape of my drawing, I used a 4h pencil to shade my drawing so it will be easier to erase parts that I mess up. After shading my drawing with a 4H pencil, I used a 6B pencil to darken the parts that I wanted. An artist who makes similar work is Zheng Chongbin. He uses a lot of shade and texture in his drawings. A certain technique that's important to the work is using a softer pencil to shade the drawing, then going over with a darker pencil to darken parts that you want. A technique I experimented more with the process of making this work is shade and texture. I'm most proud of the way my artwork turned out. I really wouldn't change anything about my project because I like how everything turned out. In conclusion, something I learned through the completion of this project is to not waste all your time drawing your object because you're not going to have enough of time to add shade and texture to your drawing.

For my art project I did the limited palette project. I choose up to 5 colors and from those five colors I can only use them for my whole project. I could mix them together, or use them by themselves but I had to use my choice of colors. My portrait is a painting of a black woman's silhouette. The portrait t shows her neck up, so her dark brown hair with her bold red lips. I didn't draw any eyes or nose of that nature.I believe that one of the notable features of a black women is her hair and lips. I just wanted my portrait to communicate the black culture. I used acrylic paints colors including: brown, pink, purple, and white. I also used a mixing palette and a palette knife to help me mix all of my colors together. I did my painting on a piece of cardboard. Now looking back on it I wish I used canvas because I predict that it would have looked better. One of the most important technique of this project was mixing for me. I had to thoroughly go in and use my palette knife to mix my colors together to create a new color. If I could change one thing about my project I would change one of my colors which is purple. I really didn't use it as much in my painting. In conclusion I really did enjoy doing this project it was really fun and studying when I was mixing the paints together.

When I first began this project, what came to my mind was, “How was I going to express my message to the viewer, the audience?” It took me a couple days before beginning it in order to realize what I truly wanted to say in the form of strokes. I finally was able to map out what I wanted my message to be and finally, it came out to be, “Messages can take the form of colors.” This statement was able to guide me through the whole project as it allowed me to only purpose my message. The colors were there to convey it and have the ability to communicate the message to the viewer. Before coming to this high school, I was able to conduct a deeper analysis of the arts and literature. During that time, I tried to find the meaning of the art besides just dismissing it with, “oh that looks nice.” There is more to the piece than what we make it be. During this project, I was able to analyze an artist who I am really fond of and produced my own style in the process. For this project, I decided to do Limited Palette. Limited Palette allows the artist to only use 5 colors. I decided to use watercolor paint rather than acrylic paint.

A technique that I had to develop was trying to “stitch” using the paint brush. I am uncertain as to what the technique is called, however, it played huge contribution to my work. The technique allowed me to display the leaves of the trees and make value into the piece. The technique is essentially using simple “x” strokes across the canvas. However, you want to make sure you have a small brush if you decide to make the image further away. This is a mimic from one of Bob Ross’s own technique I saw on his tv show. As such, his art has inspired me to do something similar, creating the beauty of nature using just 5 colors. Techniques are very important to the work and especially the artist. The artist needs to develop a technique in order to make the work consistent. A consistent story can tell a story whereas a dictionary cannot.

Present in my work, there are trees scrambled all over the place. However, there is one tree that seems to be close to the viewer, located on the right. Finally, there are mountains in the background, coated with a lot of colors. For the project, I decided to use Permanent Light Green, Phthalo Blue, Burnt Umber, Brilliant Red, and Chinese White. The Light Green was used primarily on the leaves, and I knew I could make the paint more transparent due to the fact that this is water coloring. Phthalo Blue was used more on the sky and the mountains, with some on the ground. Burnt Umber was used mainly for the trees and giving texture to the wood. Brilliant Red was also used for the mountains. Finally, Chinese White being used mainly for giving definition. I mixed the colors Brilliant Red and Phthalo Blue to get a similar purple color. Personally, the color looks like the many visible colors in the galaxy. Thus, I decided to use it on the mountains because it felt “distant” enough. At first, I watered it down to get the concept of what I pictured the base to be. Then Mrs. Hertz instructed me to use less water to get more of the colors into the piece. For the trees, I used a mixture of Burnt Umber and Permanent Light Green. Mixing the colors gives a very light brown and it was very good to give the contrasts of the trees. The stitching technique was very useful for the trees as well. I was able to stitch leaves into the canvas using the technique. I even combined Phthalo Blue and Permanent Light Green together in order to paint in the ground, the hill. This work is very similar to my previous work. It had trees and hills, however, lacked the mountains in the background.

In conclusion, I have learned a lot through the process of this project. This project allowed me to explore the many colors and possible combinations to get a different result. The Limited Palette was very challenging, but it makes the artist improvise when producing his/her artwork. Throughout the challenges I had to face, I could say that I am very proud that I was able to use colors to make other colors stand out. However, with many warm accomplishments, I also wish I had done things differently. I wish that I could have made the grass more visible rather than being transparent. The difficult of water coloring makes it very challenging to make things stand out since the water only makes the colors more transparent. I also wished I had not used such a big brush as it started to ruin up my canvas by giving it visible “cracks”. Overall, I am very proud of my work and the project was very challenging but fun.

For this quarter I decided to do a Still life Image . My art had a story behind it just a light one though not to crazy.My Still life image included a Mason Jar, Mortar and Pestle, and Grapes. For this creation I used shading pencils, regular pencil, eraser, and a color pencil. I wanted my Still Life Image  to be somewhat dry and not too shiny this is why I chose these tools . My portrait consist of no colors what’s so over making it bland but detailed I really like this because the art really speaks to you. The colors don’t throw you off you just sit there and look at it.

This Still Life Image has a short story behind it. The creation of grape juice and what not.. In my creation the mortar and pestle are shaded more because they’re behind the Mason jar and for the grapes they’re resting on the mortar and pestle causing the top part to be shaded as well. The story is the creation of grape juice of course. Mortar and pestle are used to smash herbs and make medicines and what not. So basically you smoosh the grapes until they’re all mushy and nasty with mortar and pestle liquidate it and then pour it in the Mason Jar.

I Am more of a visual learner so while drawing I pulled up images of the things you see in front of me as well as had the physical objects in my general direction. While doing the outlines of the object I made sure to make it poke out which is why I used the shading pencil. I then had to rearrange the initial positioning of the objects to create as little space there was. When done with that I used different shading utensils giving the objects distinct colors making sure no object mimicked the other.. An artist that inspired me is Willem Kalf.. His art is very abstract and he’s known for doing Still Life Art.

If I could change one thing it’d be to add more color, add a surface, and redo the grapes. I hope to get better with the shading.

All in all I feel as though this project went really well. I learned a lot while doing this such as the different type of utensils as well as multiple ways you can use them. I also learned that I have a little bit of artist in me. I was actually proud of my art it looked great! I also learned that something so basic could come out so complicated or be considered abstract art when lots of time is put in.  I hope to use my experience now for projects later on in the future. I can’t wait to do more projects close or similar to this one and see the improvements.

 My artwork is a drawing of two warriors that are ninjas but they are out of uniform. They have elemental abilities and supernatural powers in general. I didn’t generally want my artwork to communicate anything, it wasn’t a deep peice that makes you think. It was just something to look at, that I think looks cool. It does show my personal interest though. It shows that anime and cartoons influence me a lot. My project involved mixed media as well. I used charcoal, color pencils,a pencil and a micron pen to add depth and feeling to my drawing. The charcoal was used to shade and add a sense of tone and shadow. My color pencils just gave the drawing color and I went over the drawing with the micron pen.

 This drawing was similar to my other artwork because it started out with a pencil sketch. It also uses the same process as my artwork in the past. The theme was very similar as well. I used to frequently draw super powered warriors with elemental abilities. To create this drawing I first started out with a stick figure base of how they would be posed. After that I flushed them out, adding muscle and more details like facial structure and features, then added clothes. I went in with the micron pen and outlined the drawing. I then chose my colors for my characters and colored them. Going in with the micron pen was important because it stopped some of the potential smearing that the pencil, color pencil and charcoal could have done. So I believe it was important to use it. I also learned how to use charcoal. For example you can spread it with your fingers opposed to coloring the whole thing with the whole charcoal stick/pencil.

 An artist that inspires me is akira toriyama the creator of the dragon ball series. Other artist of popular series like naruto inspire me. A youtuber by the name of Jazza inspires me a lot. His artwork looks more western, he has a comic book style. The thing I’m most proud of is my character with the low cut face. It came out exactly like I wanted it too.

For my Q2 project, I decided to make a charcoal drawing. This drawing is supposed to be a man with wings looking into the moonlight.

M.Stones

Hertz

Artist Statement Q2

For my quarter two project we had to create a still life drawing, we would pick one or more objects then draw them from different angles and viewpoints. I choose to do a banana because bananas are one of my favorite fruits to eat, it all seemed simpler and easier to draw while being nicely detailed. I first picked the banana i was going to draw, part of my first step in my process was sketching it out and then drawing it. I did that then I had to draw it from another angle, and as my final step I drew it at another different angle sitting on my hat. I had no real artistic inspiration from any artist only from the fact that I want to draw a deeply detailed banana. I used different pencils for shading and lining, when it came to thinness and darkness in lines, and dark areas.

Still life in art is depicting objects that are placed together naturally, this is what I did for my quarter two benchmark art project. I wanted my still life work to be different from others, so by doing this I decided to put random objects together that does not match, by doing this people will see there’s no limit on art so they should try their best to think out the box. I had to draw it three different times before I did the final drawing and that made it perfect. The first two drawings were horrible, but when I did the third one I started improving.

Before I started drawing everything, I thought that the star would be the hardest thing to draw, but it was actually the base of the candle holder. The star was a little challenging but all I did was payed attention to get it right.The candle holder had multiple curves in it, so I had to make sure that they were all even and look the same. I enjoyed the process of drawing everything even though it was pretty time consuming because I wanted it to be perfect, especially the string/rope with the beads took up the most time, but it was worth. I definitely got better at shading and creating more depth within my drawings.I would also add more shadow to the candle stick,because the starfish was the only thing had a shadow on it.

I must say I really like this type of art and I’m looking forward to working on more pieces like this.

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.