Foundations of Art

A major challenge I faced this year was using charcoal correctly. I found the charcoal project to be most difficult because I have never used charcoal before and my first time trying it out was very surprising because I did not expect it to go on paper so easily. I have learned that there are many different types of charcoal and you can use different kinds depending on the type of art you are doing. For my project, I chose to recreate a picture of my dog. I had to set this photo in black and white to make it easier to complete. Something that stressed me out while making charcoal art was finding out how easily charcoal smudges. This was a major problem that I faced because every time I got charcoal on my hands, I would need to wash my hands which was not an efficient way to complete this art. I did face inconveniences when I smudged the charcoal and places that it was not supposed to be. I solved this issue by using a moldable eraser to lighten the marks that I made. I will not do this project outside of school but I think it was something that I needed to learn in the process of art.

One of my least favorite art projects this year and a piece of work that proves that I am not very good at a technique I have learned is wire sculpture. Wire sculpture is a weakness that I have because I find it difficult to connect the wire pieces and it is difficult for me to understand the way wire artworks and how to make my wire sculpture look realistic. Recently, a project that was assigned was to make a sculpture out of wire using an object, and I chose a cheese grater. I noticed this project was very difficult for me but was a strength for some other students. Another weakness I have with art is painting realistic pictures as I experienced with my duck stamp. I had trouble combining paint colors to make it look realistic and showing the different values of color throughout an image. On the other hand, A strength I have accomplished during this past year of art is scratchboard design. Although I did not enjoy making scratchboard designs,I have been able to take a photo of my dog turned into a realistic-looking drawing on scratchboard paper. From the beginning of the year, I have never done scratchboard before but now that I have done it has brought new inspiration to the rest of my art.

I am most proud of my realistic self portrait project. From the beginning of this project, I thought my self portrait project was going to be the most difficult one of the year. As I have learned a new technique by using a square piece of paper 1in by 1in with the center cut out, I found this to be a lot easier than expected. I had to measure my workspace which was a piece of Pastel paper 11in by 14 in and then I could use the square piece of paper as a focus point for the rest of my project. I do not think I could have completed this project as well as I did if I did not use this technique and found it to be a strategy I may use in the future. I only used graphite while making this project which was a little bit of a challenge with such limited material. I think I did a good job using contrast between the different shades of graphite and eraser marks to add highlights. The reason I am the most proud of this project is because I had no experience of making self portraits before I made this one. Overall, this project was slightly difficult but I managed to maneuver my way around struggles that I found which was a learning experience.

I am hoping to continue making art throughout the summer as a side hobby for when I'm bored land have nothing to do. I think it create a sense of relaxation for my mind to be cleared from anyting that I have going on and is a great way to show your creativity. I'm grateful to have A mother who also does art so it will be easy to access art materials and painting supplies when I need them. I am hoping that by the end of the summer I will create landscape art pieces and other subjects of art that I have not yet learned. I think this class was very helpful to take because it set a base for my future art classes in high school. I learned a lot this past year in my art class between things that I didn't have any experience with and things that I have previously tried out. Both of my siblings took art classes in high school which is helpful if I need assistance on something or need inspiration for a project. Next year, I'm planning to take a Ceramics class which will allow me to be more creative while using clay which is something that I have been looking forward to doing ever since I took a pottery class when I was younger.