Taliesin

Hello, my name is Taliesin. I enjoy art a lot. I have done pottery, felting, and crochet, but most importantly I have done painting. For our final 8th grade art project I was initially stumped. But once I thought about all the main themes in my art one big thing was cats. I love cats and have painted them my whole life. So for my painting, I initially was just going to paint one cat holding a rat but I eventually decided to paint another cat. For the first painting, I did struggle, but it was a productive struggle. I enjoyed making it. But once I moved on to my other painting it initially went well, until I got to the mouth of the cat. As you maybe can tell I struggled immensely. I would just try, try again, and fail. So I took breaks, especially with my friend Tatum. She was doing felting. Once we both got frustrated or wanted to take a break we would switch art projects, I do felting and she would help me with mine. I learned to be ok with making mistakes, and to ask for help and switch from the plan.

I wasn't inspired by a specific artist but I have absorbed a lot of art and tend to enjoy more colorful and expressive pieces. My artwork doesn't have a specific meaning, I just want to show the killer instinct of cats, contrasting the dead rat with the fluffy ball of yarn. I chose acrylic paint and canvas for my work. Since at my house, those materials aren't usually accessible to me. I also didn't want my painting to be completely flat, so I tried to add some texture to the fur and yarn to make it more 3d. I want people to see the details and all the work that went into my artwork.

The Duality of Cat, 2024

Canvas, paint, pen, paintbrush, and finger