Scholastics #1

In my art, you can clearly see that two different views of the environment where polar bears live. The story told is the acidic oceans from excess CO2, in the image at the top, is dripping onto the image below. The image below represents a healthier environment which, a look in the past when the polar bears had lots of ice and clean ocean water. The unhealthy environment at the top effects on the past healthy environment. I chose to make this because polar bears really show the effects that climate change negatively has on the earth. Excess CO2 pollutes the air and pollutes oceans. This relates to my life because I actually want to major in Ecology and Environmental Science in college so I find these topics very fascinating and I love to apply what I've learned about science to my art.

My work was made by creating a border and making two square outlines so I could create a diptych. I then searched for reference images so I could draw the basic outline of a polar bear. I used graphite to add outlines of where everything would be placed. I made the bottom of the first square look like it's dripping acidic ocean water and then that ripped and burned the picture below it. I used colored pencil and pushed down hard to get the maximum amount of color. I made the ocean in the top image green and blue to show its toxicity and the image below has dark blue clean ocean water. The polar bears in the top image are weak with their ribs showing. The polar bears in the image at the bottom are healthy with no ribs showing and lots of fluffy fur. I used a black and a grey colored pencil making small marks to create the fur. I wrote the words CO2 amongst the water and the sky to show what's causing the unhealthy environment. I also added bones of the polar bears' loved ones and bones of fish to show the death that occurs with climate change. As the polar bear is separated from its bear cub (in the top square) she reaches into the water and her paw turns to a skeleton. I used sharp black and grey colored pencils to outline the bones. I went in with a white highlight pen to add more detail, such as highlights to the polar bear's noses.

The process of creating my art was well planned out. The outline I made with graphite was very helpful for me to get my placement correct. My hand was sore at one point because I was pushing down so hard with the colored pencil but in the end, it was worth it. My project evolved from when I added more color to the water to minimize white space and added highlights with a pen. I outlined the words CO2 with the white pen to make them stand out more. As I began to add more color to each image it seemed like it was coming to life. Eventually I after having the idea to add drips to the border I made it so the drips affected the image below it. I also went in and added more shading around the polar bears to add more contrast. My next steps could be to go in while a thicker drawing material whenever I used colored pencils since it'll get rid of any sketchy looking marks.