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 art piece that I created, it represents a visual of one of Science Leadership Academy  Beeber students; Jhakur Hall. It portrays him on the soccer field with a ball and goal net in the distance. He is pointing to his jersey number “15” to distinguish hom from his teammates. I wanted this piece to in some form communicate the community of our SLA soccer team, by displaying one of its’  players. I made the piece very simply by just a led pencil and four colored pencils. To be completely honest, this someone aligns with my other pieces as being finished just before set due date. I was not necessarily inspired by a painting artist, but rather sport photographers. The way they photograph athletes after, or during games made we want to cultivate such images. I experimented with detail in this project. Especially regarding the leg muscles, I tried to make it as accurate as possible. Such legs turned out to be my proudest depiction in my work. Included in my success of the art is how I looped around my weakness of drawing faces, so drawing the back of a head was so much easier, and a lightbulb moment. In reflection of my project, I would want to change the open space (or background) of my art piece. Next time maybe include field grass or other players. During this project I learned that portraits are not always, just a fact, but rather a representation of a perspective or opinion of something.

My artwork is not the best, but it does have meaning. The meaning behind it is you can always overcome any issue. My artwork is me with no face, my face is filled with words and drawings that represent me.  The words that were used were beautiful, peaceful, caring,successful and strong. I chose these words because either these are things I want/hope to be or things I feel as though I am. The background is a brick wall, some of the bricks have words, phrases, and images that people have said to me, trying to bring me down. Some bricks are cracked because I no longer care what people think or say, and others are left blank because I have a whole life ahead of me to live and I will not know what people will say or do till then.

The tools I used for this project are pencils and pastels. I used a pencil to draw my artwork on the piece of paper we were given, and I used pastels because I want catch one's eye.  No one inspired me to do this piece, I just followed my hand. I am most proud of the thought process I did for this project. If I would change one thing in my project it would be adding more drawings that represent me. One thing that I have learned through completing this project is how to use pastels with limited of space.

My artwork has an alien like person standing on a cloud reaching out to other clouds and a sunset like setting in the background. Through my art I hope to show how alienation is something that I face in my life with my culture. I feel isolated in a room full of mexican culture because I feel as if I don’t fit in. This brings me back to my personal life experiences and feeling as if I wasn’t part of the culture that makes me, me.

As for the drawing portion of my work, I used a pencil to first draw an outline and then oil pastels to color in everything. This was a struggle because oil pastels are very messy and can easily ruin your drawing if not used correctly. Then i used a conte crayon in order to help the outlines have more definition in them so that there would be a separation between two things on the drawing. The sharp edges of the square crayon helps for a more subtle straight look to the finished product. Something that I learned while using the crayon was having to push the crayon slow but put pressure on the crayon at the same time so that if you draw a curve it looks neat.

The artist that inspired my art was Frida Kahlo because although her painting were very sad and had bad/dark meanings to them, she still managed to put some love or good heart into the background story. For me, although I feel disconnected from my culture, I still have love for it and want to make my relationship with it stronger. Throughout my life going to family gatherings would be uncomfortable for me since the music, food and people felt distinct to me. I didn’t feel a warm welcome when I would be around my own family.

In conclusion, one thing that I am most proud of in this work is the background story that it has because it’s very important to me. While one thing that I would change is the things that I decided to include in my drawing. I would change the clouds for planets and the background to the Mexican flag so that it would have a more clear meaning in my drawing and when I explain.

Tykeiah Martin

Ms.Hertz

Art

October 19, 2017

 Included in my photo portrait isn't an actual face, but it's me. My art is built on a puzzle piece which reflects all my thoughts and characteristics and people who even means the most to me. Which is built upon who my character is. The art speaks in terms of who I am. Inside of this art piece I used the materials of soft pastel color, sharpie, colored pencil and a soft pencil. It reflects the same idea from my piece. A certain technique is important when creating your artwork because you want to reflect how you feel creating the idea to others if you like to. A new technique I learned throughout this process was to spray my work after the finish to set the tone of it so nothing would change or create a distraction in the photo from any mistakes made. Also, I'm proud of the different color schemes I used through this piece. Additionally, there is an artist named Tim Kelly who also focus on puzzle piece photo. I would change the word addition possibly. I learned that through the process of art your mind may change and you will make plenty differences to the photo and your picture may change throughout the process of you creating this art.