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Semester 1 reflection.
This semester I have branched out in many more mediums, I have experimented in oil pastel, charcoal, woodburning and all maker for landscapes. this has added more artistic perspective to the rest of my work. I have added more layering and atmosphere to all of my art pieces as this is apart of my Sustained investigation. These atmosphere comes in the form of atmospheric coloring and layering. This addition of more atmosphere has made my art more successful with more of a cosehive feel and life like look. I have struggled with documenting my process and thinking that i put into my work. This is because i like to work quickly and free flowingly. My artistic goals for the second semester consist of slowing down my work process so I can show my process and thinking better and including more design elements like clearer color blocking.
FINAL SUMMARY PORTFOLIO REFLECTION
My artwork shows improvement when looking at the amount of elements of art I incorporated into a project from the beginning of the year compared to the end of the year. All my pieces throughout the year utilize elements of art, but not always a broad spectrum of them to create a well balanced piece of art. For example, My third drawing for my Sustained Investigation, Higgins Haze, uses lots of shape, value and line to create a very unified piece with lots of depth. However, there is no set subject, no use of color, and no intentional use of form or space. Compared to a later piece like my marker drawing Finn Dunham where I incorporate line, color, tonal value, shape, space and, form; my earlier work pales in comparison. My artwork has received the comment that many of my pieces have a similar look to them. This is partially from my own personal style which I take to be a strength of mine, but it can also be a weakness. It can keep me in an artistic rut without me even knowing it. I’ll still like the work I am producing but it won't have any forward motion. I won't be progressing if I'm just sticking to one style. This also happens when I am uncomfortable with a project, I make it into something I am familiar with. Yet again this is also a good thing as I can produce consistent art work with a similar style. This is evident when you look at multiple works in my Sustained Investigation. Many have the same theme of a warm image. They turned out great, but I wasn't pushing out of my comfort zone as much as I could have been.
My most challenging project of the year was working with A wood burner and charcoal on Mahogany. I am generally a fast paced artist, I like to move quickly because it helps me to not overthink a piece and for me it brings out more emotion. Wood burning does not fit into that bracket though. Starting out, my wood burner was just not hot enough. Once I had gotten it to a higher temperature I started to try and draw on my image, tracing over what I had sketched onto my wood. I had pictured thick black lines like a ‘smokey’ sharpie, but they showed up barely scorched into the wood. I realized afterwards Mahogany is an extremely hard wood, which was not a wise choice but I also just had to slow down and use lots of pressure to get a strong burn line. Even after slowing down and using more pressure the weight of the lines was not meeting my expectations. So, that is when I used charcoal over top to create stronger shadows for my landscape.
I am most proud of my exhibit for the art show at the end of the year. I made the vast majority of those photographic images over the course of the school year. The process has been that I take the photo and edit it and then it ends up on a hard drive. They don’t see the light of day. If I had more time (and money) during the school year I could work to get my favorites printed more regularly, but this has not happened. This is the first time I have been able to see my photographs selected and printed by me, on a large scale and shown to the public. It was extremely rewarding to get compliments and a few critiques. One positive response was from a well-known curator of photographic exhibits in Maine who came to the exhibit. One person wants to buy one of my pieces. Most rewarding of all was the comment that my photos lent a sense of nostalgia, which I received a few times. Nostalgia is a big part of my photos. I look to TV shows and movies from the 90’s and scenes I remember from my early childhood as inspiration for many of my pieces. It’s also my favorite emotion or feeling. So, to hear that from strangers is really validating and makes me more proud of my art work than I have been in any other school year.
My artistic goals for the summer are to make more art consistently. In the past I have found myself affected by my location or even the weather. Having cruddy weather or being stuck in the same location for a while can be really uninspiring. So, this summer I either want to adapt to my setting, finding inspiration from the mundane, or change my setting by traveling or using a prop as a subject to draw or photograph. As I am looking at art schools and their portfolio requirements I am realizing I want to produce a lot more art this summer, to have a plethora of pieces of artwork to choose from when applying to schools.
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