Art 3 Reflection!!!

This past year has been a lot of very constructive work and through this past year,

I believe I have grown a tremendous amount. I came into art 3 with some skill but without any idea on how to use it and that is really something that these classes have given me. I have learned and experienced new things that have helped me so much. Specifically looking back, our sculpture project was probably my favorite along with Tommy coming and teaching us about figurative drawing. This year has been utterly difficult as well but even if I hated the process of doing say the oil painting or the self portraits, I have still gained that knowledge and skill that I did not possess before. The oil painting still life project actually helped me in creating one of my fantastic four projects entitled “Dear 6, From 16” and it is easily one of my favorite works that I have ever made. Speaking of, The fantastic four projects and play pages were a fun way to experiment and ease into the idea of narrowing down our general subject of work for art 4 and 5. They allowed me to try new things that were completely new to me.

At the beginning of the year, we were tasked with creating a self portrait inspired by another artist. Me being me, I of course chose the hardest, most detailed and dark painting possible by Rembrandt. It was absolute torture. It was my first time attempting to work with ink and I did so many practice pages with ink before I even attempted touching my large copy. In the end, it ended up being almost unfinished and I was incredibly disappointed in myself. However, I do believe that it was a really good learning opportunity about time management and facing my fears of messing up the work head on. Sometimes you just need to go in and start which, to me, is the hardest part. Later in the year, it was submitted to the scholastic art competition and to my surprise it actually won a silver key! It was such an amazing experience having my artwork in a gallery and seeing it in person except when I looked at the label and realized I spelled portrait wrong. Absolutely mortified. Other than that it was so much fun.

Our sculpture unit was by far my favorite because sculpture is what I'm very passionate about. I loved experimenting with the different ways of sculpting and carving. Even though I think I’m pretty good at sculpture, I still struggled a good amount. What I struggled the most with actually wasn't anything to do with sculpting or assembling anything but it was actually creating the painting on the inside of the sculpture entitled “Think Inside the Box ''. I had an idea of creating a childlike painting that a mom would put on her fridge and show off to her friends like it was the most amazing thing in the world but I couldn't figure out how. No matter how much I tried I just couldn't separate myself from my perfectionist mind. Eventually I realized all I have to do is stop thinking. Cover my brush in all sorts of pretty colors, not worry about smearing or coloring inside the lines or making it beautiful. I just had to think as a child, experiencing color and this curious sensory overload for the first time. It ended up looking exactly the way I imagined it. What I learned and obtained from this project was the ability to separate myself from being a perfectionist. I needed to remind myself that I dont always need to be perfect and color inside the lines and that true beauty comes from making mistakes.

Our fantastic four projects and play pages were by far the most helpful in preparing us for art 4 and 5. They allowed us to experiment even further while also forcing us to focus on time management and deadlines. I decided to focus on sculptures and the connection to childhood hood that eventually gets severed as we grow older. I learned that I like to work with 3d materials and brighter colors. However, I had to step out of my comfort zone with my painting. I decided to do a very ambitious project when I thought of my oil painting. A lot of the time, I don't like to listen to my own advice so of course I needed to make a pretty large oil painting after specifically noting that I never wanted to create an oil painting again. Honestly it wasn't too bad. I realized that when I am able to take my time on work, it turns out so much better. In art 4 next year and with my summer projects, I still want to focus on the theme of childhood and incorporating color into my pieces. I believe that we don't usually see or appreciate the color that is already around us and we just need to stop for a minute every day to take in how everything is art when you can look and see it.

This year I have improved my work tremendously but I also want to better myself for the future. For example, I want to focus on improving my time management skills. I like to postpone things until the last minute possible and thus creating pieces I am not proud of. I also want to improve my skill in all areas. I am inspired by the wonderful work of my peers and their skill and I hope to someday live up to the skills. I hope that art 4 will create a space for me to express my ideas and feelings in a different way and improve my skills.