Elaijah Vasquez

AP Portfolio, Relationships of Blue, 3/3/23

The question that guided my sustained investigation;

How can I use blue to express different forms of relationships from romantic to platonic, to your relationship with yourself and your environment?

I can use blue to express different forms of relationships by choosing specific blue shades to represent different feelings while also choosing different blue palettes that work together to show different things. For example, in "I Love You" when you compare it to "Something in the Water" both give off different feelings mostly because of the form and subject of the painting but when you pay attention to the color of both you can see "I love you" uses a color similar to Azure, and other shades. It gives off a night feeling and feels calm because of the way the colors all blend together as well as because the color is matte, and is a warm blue. It's supposed to make you feel a sense of calmness, similar to the calmness you feel in a relationship, Its name represents that feeling. Now when you compare this to "Something In the Water" the color of blue in it is lighter and feels a bit blurry, it's similar to a mixture of arctic blue, and a purple-ish blue. It's more so lighter and looks like a cooler tone of blue than the warmer tone given off in "I Love You". The hints of whiteness with the blue is what helps give off an eerie feeling. It's supposed to give off a relationship where you feel uncomfortable with someone, a murky feeling, in contrast to "I Love You" it's the more negative side to a relationship.

Evidence of Practice, and Experimentation?

My investigation shows evidence of practice a lot because you can see throughout all my work many are different yet similar, and I went through many different relationships in many different ways getting better and more clearer as I progressed. It shows a lot in "I'll Look After You" which I made in the beginning of the school year comparing it to "Something in the Water'' which I made recently, but you can see an improvement of the water, and it's clear I knew what I was doing and what I wanted to do compared to "I'll Look After You" which I was unsure of. I experimented with my skills in oil pastels, shades of blue, space, and working with more abstract forms of art. An example of all of these is "I Know A Place" I used both acrylic paint, and oil pastel to create some cool textures and worked with space, and worked in an abstract way. Although I didn't go through every relationship because there are a lot, I do believe I scratched off a decent amount of relationships and definitely think I have shown many emotions in these relationships with blue.

I Love You

Image 1

Height:18'' inches
Width: 10'' inches

Materials: Oil Pastel, and Black Paper.

Processes: I used my own picture I took for this one. I started the base on the paper with oil pastels, and drew the outline of the body, then i went in and colored all the areas in. After which I shaded in certain areas.

Something in The Water

Image 2

Height:9'' inches
Width: 14'' inches

Materials: Colored Pencil, Oil Pastel, Pen, and Paper.

Processes: I used a reference photo first and then sketched out with Pen, went in with colored pencils to outline basic shapes, then filled in with oil pastels, and for the water i pressed down hard and made dots, then smeared.

Know Who I Am

Image 3

Height: 23 1/2 '' inches
Width: 18 '' inches

Materials: Acrylic Paint, and Canvas.

Processes: Went in with paint, did three layers, and used basic strokes to create some sort of idea of shading.

Lost

Image 4

Height: 23 1/2 '' inches
Width: 19 1/2 '' inches

Materials: Acrylic Paint, Canvas, and Ruler.

Processes: I used a reference photo first and the went for it with five layers, started with the background, then moved onto the basic shape of the buildings using a ruler and paint, then filled everything in, work on smaller details, then moved to the foreground, then went over everything again to make it more vibrant.

I Know A Place

Image 5

Height: 19 1/2 '' inches
Width: 16 '' inches

Materials: Acrylic Paint, Oil Pastel, Spatula, Canvas, and Ruler.

Processes: Used a photo I took then went in with acrylic paint first and worked fully with just the paint, then went over everything using oil pastels tying to create texture, then went back with the paint and used a spatula to scrape the buildings.

I'll Look After You

Image 6

Height: 24 1/2 '' inches
Width: 18 '' inches

Materials: Acrylic Paint, Pen, and Paper.

Processes: Looked for a reference photo then did a full sketch in pen, moved to acrylic paint and decided to work on the whirlpool first and kept switching blues until satisfied, then i worked on the people, and finally went back with pen to create smaller lines of shading.

It's Been Awhile

Image 7

Height: 14 1/2 '' inches
Width: 21 1/2'' inches

Materials: Pencil, Water Color, Acrylic Paint, Paper, and Ruler.

Processes: I used my own photo then a refernce photo and combined the two. I started off with a pencil sketch then worked with watercolor and did a light base, then worked with acrylic paint and focused mainly on the walls. I used the ruler for the small lights in the background. I used acrylic paint mostly to work on the girls as well as for the shadings on the walls.

Thank You

Image 8

Height: 9'' inches
Width: 12'' inches

Materials: Colored Pencils, Paper, and Ruler.

Processes: I used two of my own photos and meshed them together. I sketched with a light blue colored pencil, and kept going with darker blues until I was content.

Escapism

Image 9

Height: 12 '' inches
Width: 12 '' inches

Materials: Acrylic Paint, Spatula, and Canvas.

Processes: I splattered paint on the canvas and used a spatula to make scrapes and to mix the paint in an abstract way, then when dried I went back again with white on the spaula for the trees and window.

Peace Of Mind

Image 10

Height: 19'' inches
Width: 11'' inches

Materials: Colored Pencils, Water Color, Acrylic Paint, Paper, and Ruler.

Processes: I used my own picture and started with colored pencil sketches, then put water color and used that for most of the painting, and only touched acrylic paint for the car lights flashing through the window.

Waiting for You

Image 11

Height: 35 1/2 '' inches
Width: 23 1/2 '' inches

Materials: Acrylic Paint, Canvas, and Ruler.

Processes: Started off by taking photos of what I envisioned then I did the foreground first than background next and focused mainly on the girl and her body. Then worked on the back with basic lines and dots.

My Knees

Image 12

Height: 23 1/2 '' inches
Width: 18 '' inches

Materials: Acrylic Paint, Canvas, and Ruler.

Processes: Used a reference photo for this one and I started off with a mini painting of this painting in black and white, then I just went for it on a bigger space, and just copied my initial painting, but added a background, and changed some things on the people a little. When I finished it I noticed because my hands kept touching the painting the colors were more dull so I went back over every line to make it more vibrant again.

Quality Time

Image 13

Height: 11 '' inches
Width: 15 '' inches

Materials: Oil Pastel, Spatula, and Paper.

Processes: I began with the background and did basic shading, then I worked on the two people and once I finished them i started to scratch the paper because I didn't like how empty it felt, after which I added dots to create a sense of sparkles. I also decided to scratch out a tiny bit of a heart around the couple.

Trusting

Image 14

Height: 18 '' inches
Width: 11'' inches

Materials: Colored Pencil, Water Color, Paper, and Acrylic Paint.

Processes: Used a photo I took and worked with color pencil first to sketch out the girl, then did water color to fill her out. I only used white acrylic paint to fix a slight mistake I made, as well as to use it to brighten certain areas to give off a sense of highlight.

Summary

Image 15

Height: 17 '' inches
Width: 17 '' inches

Materials: Colored Pencil, Oil Pastel, Acrylic Paint and Paper.

Processes: I used one reference photo and then used color pencils to sketch, then bold-ed the lines and worked on an abstract background inspired by all the art I have created this year in my portfolio, and used all the different techniques I had used for most of my work; Oil pastel scratching, spatula, certain shapes, finer lines, and more simple lines.

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