Part I: Artist Statement
History and Influences:
As an artist I feel that one of my major breakthroughs was learning how to create more realistic pieces. I learned how to do this by understanding how more natural colors, imperfect shapes and textures, shading, etc. create a more realistic art piece. One of the hardest things about creating realistic pieces is the fear that it will look to messy, but then you learn that the more you play the more realistic it will become. My parents have been very huge motivators in my art because they always inspire me to create new challenging pieces that I wouldn’t have created on my own. And even if my art doesn’t turn out how I wanted it to they will still frame it and hang it up without a doubt. Without my family my art would definitely not be at the level that it is at today.
Description of Who You are as an Artist:
I enjoy making art about nature because I have lived in a small mountain town my whole life and practically lived outside in nature since day one. Not only do I love creating art around nature but I also enjoy making it realistic because I have such close contact with some of the most beautiful places/things in nature where I live. I love to create clear depictions of these things for other people that may not get to experience the sights that I get to see every day. I want people to feel touched by my artwork because I put so much time and effort into my work. I want people to see how passionate I am about nature, my hobbies, my family, etc. For each piece I always have a different way that I want people to look at my work but I always aim for it to spark some emotion.
Making Connections:
Without art my life would be very bland and boring because it gives a whole new insight to things when art is created. I think that art is a very important aspect of everyone’s life whether you like to doodle in class when you are bored or even if you are a architect that draws for a living. I feel that art just like math is a universal language that everyone can begin to understand and interpret. Even though I may not go to school to be an artist art is present in our everyday lives whether it be creating a poster for school, playing pictionary, etc. As I mentioned before art is a universal language making it important for everyone to have a little knowledge about it because without it the world would definitely not be as connected. I believe that art is in every career whether you are a doctor or builder. For example a doctor may need to draw out a surgery they are going to perform while a builder may draw out what they want their newest building to look like.
Part II: Images of Artwork and Rationale
Visual Arts Standard #1: Artistic Thinking and Behaviors - I can approach artistic problem-solving using multiple solutions and the creative process.
"7.5 x 11" Glazing Technique Watercolor
"8 x 11" Landscape Watercolor
Sketchbook Sketches of Self Directed One #2 Pencil
These pieces of art show how I began learning about the value scale and applying them to my artwork, as you can see in my landscape painting. Also you can see how I began learning what happens when you use a technique called glazing to mix different colors to create a whole new color. I also started to critique my writing using the 5 step critique to observe, describe, analyze. interpret, and evaluate how these new techniques were used in my painting and how I could improve my skills/painting.
Visual Arts Standard #2: Responding - I can apply literacy skills to describe, analyze, interpret, and evaluate art.
Sketchbook Critique of Self Directed One #2 Pencil
Sketchbook Critique of Landscape Painting Watercolor
Sketchbook Final Critique #2 Pencil
The 5 step critique helped to push me to go deeper into not only my own artwork, but also other artists work. I have used this to further better my artwork because I could take the time to dig into my artwork and understand every mistake I made, everything I did well, how I used different elements of art and principles of design, etc. This helped me because I always knew what I needed to fix for my next piece and what my clear purpose of my art was. This critique also helped me to understand what other artists purposes were in their artwork and what they did to create that message.
Visual Arts Standard #3: Connecting - I can understand the relationship among the arts, history and world culture. I can make connections among the arts and to other disciplines, to goal-setting, and to interpersonal interaction.
Sketchbook Art History #2 Pencil
Sketchbook Planning for Self Directed One #2 Pencil
Sketchbook Planning for Self Directed Two #2 Pencil
The ability to create my own artwork that was meaningful to me was hard to discover because I had to understand what I liked to paint while still sticking to specific criteria. Something that really helped me understand who I am as an artist was learning about famous artists life and how they included that into their work. I included my research on Serge Hollerbach because this really opened my eyes to how much an artists artwork reflects who they are, which helped me start to include my interests into my paintings. I included two of my planning processes because it shows how i think/plan out my artwork by including my own goals and how I plan out my pieces.
Visual Arts Standard #4: Producing and Presenting - I can create an original body of work and and then select my best work to present it in a portfolio and an exhibition.
"8 x 11" A Painting a Day Watercolor
"11 x 8" Self Directed One Watercolor
"11 x 15" Self Directed Two Watercolor
The artwork presented above shows how I used techniques taught in class to create pieces of artwork that showed my learning in watercolor, while still including my own personal touch. You can see this in the painting of the ski shack because I used shading, scraping/etching, etc. which are techniques we learned in class, but I created a ski shack to include my own interest, skiing. Viewers can also see this in my jellyfish painting because I am a very calm/peaceful person which is why I painted jellyfish. But I also included what we learned in class to show my understanding of the aspects of watercolor.
Part III: Evaluation of Portfolio
This portfolio shows how I have grown as an artist because I started off by learning simple techniques and grew to create my own pieces of art that express who I am. My portfolio also shows how I learned who I am as an artist by creating multiple pieces of artwork and learning about other artists connection to their artwork. Also I have learned how to not only create my own unique paintings, but also understand it on a deeper level to continue to make improvements in the future.