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Throughout this year, I gained experience in many different styles of art. Foundations of Art opened doors to many different strengths and weaknesses I have in art, and really shined a light on those. It was part of the reason new doors opened in my life. So, in this reflection, I will talk about how I improved through the year, the challenges and strengths, and what i’m proud of in the end.

It’s easy just to say that I improved in art, but so does everyone over the course of a year. Whether it’s the most minuscule of difference, or an extreme growth in talent. But, if your someone who wishes to improve at art, one of the main struggles is being unable to see your improvements. It can be easy to mix all of your art into a “bad” category, and to cast that art away into the depths of your closet. But, this art is vital to improvement, no matter how terrible you may think it is. So, when I say I improved, it can be understandably difficult to elaborate on what that means. Heres an easy way to see your improvement. Take a look in the back of that closet, and pull out the old art which lies buried there. Bad, right? Instead of tossing it, sulking about it, being embarrassed, think of what this means. If you think it’s bad, then you must think that you can draw better now. If the thought shoots across your mind that “I can draw better now.” Bam, improvement. It’s because you can. But, for pure learning, I had never touched a scratch board before this class, I hadn’t really even touched paints. This opened new ways to improve on my art, and will continue to stick with me through the next years of art. It most certainly showed me the foundations necessary for a future life of art.

Now, when someone who is new to art, the words I constantly hear consist of “Impossible” and “Challenging.” Art is quite interesting. It’s a never ending labyrinth of twists and turns, dead ends and hardships, where the center is promised to exist, but none can find it. And there’s those who sees others much farther ahead, and they give up, thinking they’ll never make it to where they are. Now, little do people know, there’s a little trick to overcoming this endeavor. This, would be understanding that the center isn’t the end goal. Every step, corner turned deeper into the labyrinth is an impressive feat, which merely brings you one step closer to your goal. Now, when placed within a class, challenges erupt from there. Challenges such as time management. When placed against the clock, your art may feel rushed. This leads to a possibly sloppier project than what you once wanted, and can lead to art feeling like a hassle instead of the promise of joy it radiates. But, even though this challenge is quite the endeavor to overcome, the skill given from it is tremendous. It allows you to overcome this art block, and make something great from a situation which once felt trapping.

Once completing the art project you just finished, trust me, take a step back and look at your accomplishment. It’s okay to feel great after finishing something that took time and effort to complete. You earned it, sit back and feel like an artist, that’s what you are. When I read the question of my proudest accomplishment, I don’t feel like pitting it onto one piece of art. I’m sure that when you read this question, you thought about all of the art you’ve done before. Let’s go back to the closet idea. You continuously bury all of that art into your closet, fearing judgement and being embarrassed. But, as the year continued, you continued to create your art to the best of your ability. That’s something to be proud of. Even though your art isn’t the greatest, you stayed and passionately continued. You might have that piece that you treasure, and are truly proud of. Something that takes time to realize, is that your skill created that piece. Be proud of yourself, and feel confident in your next art project.

As I finish up this reflection, I want to take a look at strengths and weaknesses as a learner. Something important in art, is understanding what your being taught. There is two pieces of understanding art. Having someone teach you, where is can make the art look much easier, and you can think you know it all. But, doing it yourself is a different story. Understanding what you’ve been taught and applying it into your work is the true challenge. A specific strength where that I have is the visual learning. Seeing shapes, and how they apply into a picture allows me to understand how the piece is done. Applying from scratch however, is a true endeavor. As the year continued, my strengths honed and my weaknesses really showed through as well. This allowed me to really work on what I needed to work on.

This reflection was a chance to express my feelings of art onto paper, and it really helped understand my strengths and weaknesses. This class was extremely beneficial, and will certainly help me continue throughout my art future as a high school student, and even beyond that.