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This year in Foundations of Art I knew I improved a lot from the beginning of the year. I really was not sure how much I improved until I got the time capsule drawings from the very beginning of the year back. One thing I noticed about all my time capsule drawings and most of my artwork in the beginning of the year is that I didn't really have any technique. I used no shading and did not really know how to use the elements of art. Some things I struggled with more than the others were definitely texture, color, and balance. I did not really know what colors to select to make my drawing the most visually interesting until the blind contour project. After this project I feel like I became more conscience of the colors I was using. During the multimedia project I learned how to use texture to make my artwork look almost photo realistic in some places. I think that project is when I realized that I had improved from the beginning of the year. The issue I had with balance I figured out how to fix pretty early on in the year because one of the main goals for us was to create a balanced piece of art. I feel like the biggest thing I have improved on is not drawing symbolic objects for observational drawings and actually drawing what I see. I was able to improve on observational drawings after the negative space and pure contour projects.

Some of the most challenging points in class this year were my technique and the surrealism collage. After awhile I started to slowly improve my technique, but it was still a challenge for me for a lot of the year. The project I just couldn’t make it look the way I wanted was the surrealism collage. I made a very complex collage that I was happy with, but I was unable to transfer the complexity to the painting. I think I did an okay job of matching the colors which was the main focus in the project, but my painting bares very little resemblance to my collage. In general, I struggled a lot with not being able to make things the way I wanted them to turn out. I would usually start over, but sometimes I did not have the time to start over. I knew that my work probably was not going to turn out like I wanted it. I would still to perfect the easy parts, but sometimes I procrastinate the challenging parts of the project until the very end. This was not good for me because if I liked my project I did not want to mess it up. I often did this and did not really learn my lesson to do the hard stuff first. My biggest challenge all throughout the year was planning. I do not like planning out my projects and I usually make it up as I go along. I did not like planning because I felt like I would have to stick exactly to the plan even if I had another idea come up. I learned to get used to planning, but it is still a challenge for me.

I am most proud of how much I have improved, and learned throughout the year. I have learned a lot of skills and techniques that I can now use in my drawings. After I learned the basics and sort of mastered them, I think that is when my art really started to improve. My two projects we did this year that I am most proud of is my multimedia drawing and my scratchboard drawings. I like my multimedia drawing because I chose a picture of my grandparents dog and the fur has really good texture. The texture of the fur almost makes the dogs body look photo realistic which I was really happy with. Also, in the multimedia project I really learned how much I liked to draw with charcoal and I liked how the result looked. I am proud of my scratchboard because one again I feel like I did a good job with the texture. I used a picture of my cat for this project. I found it easy to create interesting textures with the scratch tools. Also, I used a lot of different techniques on the scratchboard throughout this project. I am probably most proud of my ability to use texture with different materials and types of art.

Throughout the year I definitely struggled with the planning concept of the projects. Planning my steps and my end result is not one of my strengths as a learner. This is because sometimes I do not get the idea I am looking for until I have already started the project. For my best results that I have gotten this year I think I got by winging it. I guess that is how I best work so I can narrow down my ideas as I go along and not having to do it before I even started the project. I remember that I spent a long time planning the background for my art historical self portrait. I just could not narrow down my ideas so I spent all of class trying to create the pattern I wanted. When I got home I did not use any of my original ideas I just started drawing and created a pattern as I went along. My strengths I think after this year are observational drawings which I would not have guessed at the beginning of the year. With an image or something to base my art off of I feel like it gives me enough of a guide for my to thrive and I don't really have to do any planning. For me it is easier to draw what I see in front of my to draw an image in my head.

Overall, I am really grateful took this class because at the beginning of the year I liked to make art, but I never really liked my result too much. Now that I have learned basic skills and techniques I am able to create artwork I am proud of. After this year art has become fun and enjoyable for me. Thank you so much!