Advanced Studio 1

Olivia Lopez "Learning My Values" 

Watercolor, Acrylic and Magazine Paper,  2025

I wanted to make something with a meaning behind just the surface level, and i wanted something related to femininity and self-confidence. I decided on this idea after seeing a couple different magazine pages that sparked my interest, and I knew I wanted a powerful quote included somewhere within the painting. 

First I looked through a couple magazines and just cut out some pages that stuck out to me for whatever reason, and I tried to think of a good line of words and I decided on "How do you measure your self worth" because it spoke to me. I also had never done a water color piece in any of my art classes, but I still wanted to use other materials so I just decided to do a mix and use the watercolor as the background. I did the paper last and I used mod podge. 

This piece is supposed to symbolize growth and confidence within yourself. A lot of people experience insecurities and struggles with their self image, this is supposed represent the beauty and light within everyone even if they don't know or feel it. Everyone is beautiful and everyone deserves love. 

This is my first time using watercolor paint and I didn't really try anything before I just threw it on but as I went on I learned what worked and what didn't, like how much water to use and what colors to mix to get the color I wanted. I also had to learn how to get the metallic paint to pop the way I wanted because the gold paint I used was very sheer and I had to layer it with white underneath to get it to be bright. I do think I learned a lot of different techniques while making this project.

I don't really know what genre it would fit into, in the past I've made a lot of surreal style art and so I would say I tied some of that within this painting, but I also used mixed media so its kind of a combination of a couple different styles of art.