Art 2 Final Portfolio

1. I think my most successful project was the icing portrait of my brother. My thought process started with this question: Where have I seen a portrait of someone made out of nontraditional material? Ice sculptures and cakes! The ice sculpture was impossible, because of cooling purposes and tools, (I would have needed a saw). So I went with icing.
What I enjoyed about this was that I only bought the three primary colors, and made my own colors. I really liked coming up with new variations of colors and still having shading with colors (not black or white). This along with the technique of using a palette knife, and making the poster paper big, all were beneficial to to enhancing my project.

2. In the mixed media project I felt that I overcame most obstacles. I think that one of the biggest challenges of artists is to speak your mind, and make a piece that really shows your purpose and how you feel about society. I think it is very challenging because you are going against your audience but still expecting them to actually enjoy and hopefully buy it! It can also be disturbing for the artist because they have to pull out emotions they feel most passionate about.
For me these were things like deaths, wars, hatred, and never being satisfied, all things that humans do and feel for each other. We don't think twice about the people that make clothes for us in factories, the animals dying, children who die every five seconds, the pain that others feel. Its sad that a majority of people will never ever be satisfied and truly happy even if they had a perfect life. I noticed people in class during this time wouldn't stop complaining about family, drama, and school. I made this project for that reason. My friends complain about their family and to me that makes no sense. Lots of kids don't have parents, or someone that puts a roof over their head. There is so much positivity that people need to see in the world, there is so much more than us. We have to enjoy moments as little as seeing the sun, and seeing people around us (even strangers).This project made me think of so many things wrong with society. My conclusion to my thoughts were that there was always a con to our happiness, or vis-versa, your happiness may cause pain to others.


3. Here are the two pieces that show how I have grown as an artist this semester: the whats the point (ballerina pointe shoes), and the last project book carving.
What's the point: This project was good, but very basic. It wasn't advanced, because it was just a simple drawing and the subject was straight forward. There wasn't a design or layout. It was a head on picture basically. I just printed out a picture that I saw on pinterest of ballet shoes and I really liked the picture so I chose to draw it. Even though I put a lot of effort making the drawing as accurate as I could get it, there wasn't anything special about it, or unique.
Book Carving: I spent more time planning, which made a big difference. I took more time finding several different references and put them together to make the design. I used different materials, and thought about what I wanted it to to give the river a realistic feel, so I used plastic wrap. I would've not thought about mixing materials. This class was the first time I used other materials than paint and pencil. I am able to think ahead and get creative with materials. I would have just painted the river also, but I used the plastic to make it more realistic, and I think it adds more to the project. I know to think about how the light will shine on it giving more of a realistic touch and when the light moves it seems like the river is flowing.
Before my designs and layouts were symmetrical but now I am aware of using diagonal lines to balance the corners and positions of the subjects in the frame.This projects layout was balanced and I tried to create a diagonal line from the right top corner to the bottom left corner, with the Eiffel Tower and the carousel since they were the biggest parts. I am also able to put several subjects and make them work together in the picture, instead of just one.

4. I think that allowing us students to pick our own materials was very effective. This allowed students' pieces to be individual and their own. I do feel that this helped me to be creative, because I used materials from acrylics, to the strangest like lipstick and icing. Using nontraditional mediums helped me to take risks, which I still am learning to do, and thinking outside the box. Plus working with the same materials like paint, pencils, etc, can start to become a safety blanket, which I later realized....

 In the picture above is my project where I used lipstick as a medium. The theme was up close and personal, and to me the most personal thing is love. I represent love with lips, and a zoomed in picture fit the theme. I actually cranked it up a notch (Mrs. Rossi gave me this great idea!) and kiss the drawing myself with red lipstick. At first I wanted to express more of a gloomy faded mood to this piece, but this idea completely changed it. I am so glad it did, because I needed to change the theme and experiment with different emotions. This emotion to me is very girly, flirty, and playful. I have never done a piece like this!