Foundations of Art

I think the artwork I've done throughout this year shows evidence that I really try my best as a student, but I do struggle sometimes, mainly with realistic works like realistic self-portraits and pure contour. A weakness that my work shows is how when a project is not going my way I put in as little effort as possible just to get it done, and that's evident in my pure contour and realistic self-portrait. I learned that I tend to work harder and longer when I actually like the artwork I'm working on, that's actually universal for all my classes, I learned that if I like what I'm doing I'll work harder and longer and the final product turns out way better. That's why you can see some works that stand out and look really good, but you also see others that you just, don't really want to look at.

I think I have massively improved as an artist but I have to attribute almost all of it to Mrs. Medsker for really changing my mindset, nothing has to be perfect, talent in art isn't defined by how realistic you are able to draw something, and every mistake is fixable. She also allowed as much creative freedom as she could which I am incredibly grateful for as those projects that I had the most creative freedom on were my best. I think my most challenging project was the duck stamp, and that was because I gave up really early. It wasn't coming out the way I wanted, it wasn't realistic enough, and there were too many guidelines, so I gave up and only tried to finish it, it's definitely the project that I got the worst grade on.

I am most proud of my carved linoleum block and prints because I was very successful. I admit that carving was not my best work, but it turned out pretty okay. I think had just the right amount of ambition for this project as well, I knew beforehand that I wanted to do a two ink color print and I was definitely successful in that, that print was also my favorite. I also enjoyed this project because I caught onto the process rather quickly. My first print was almost perfect, I didn't struggle with this part of the process at all. The hardest part was finding the most perfect one because all my prints were good, although I can admit I could've been more creative with the Non-traditional material, and extended prints.

My artistic goals for the summer and future are to continue to recognize artists that I have seen in bellringers around me and in my environment, and also to draw inspiration for future projects. For the future, I am planning on taking at least one art class each year and possibly going into AP art and design but I'm not 100% sure about that yet. I also learned the importance of art classes in general, it's a different way of learning and it's a different way of using my brain and I really appreciated that this year.