Semester 1 Reflection

I believe I have learned a lot throughout this class, and I think my most successful artworks would be any of my paintings using acrylic paint, such as stars and stripes, donate life, duck stamp, and all three sustained investigations. I think this is because I used my favorite media, making me enjoy painting my artworks, and also because those specific projects had certain requirements that I needed to fulfill. For example, the stars and stripes project had to include the colors red, white, blue, and black as well as stars and stripes. I think that having requirements made me feel more comfortable making artworks because I knew that it couldn't be "bad," and the only way it would be is if I didn't meet the criteria. It also helped me create ideas in my head that still followed the requirements and overall I felt more creative with my work. In the sustained investigation projects, I needed to make sure all three paintings connected in a way, and I got to make my own statement that followed around my projects, and that boosted my creativity a ton by pushing my composition way further that I normally do.

One project that I'm not very proud of is my inclusion project and that's because I wasn't motivated at the start. I had no idea what I wanted to do for my project, and my mind was blank. I think that's because there weren't any big requirements needed, except for it to show inclusion, and I had no idea how to portrayed that. That project made me start lots of drafts, which I have never done before. Once I got to my final draft, I wasn't even happy with my idea, I just wanted to turn the project in and get on with the new one. The same thing with the find your voice project, I knew I wanted my message to be abortion, but I had no clue how to show it. So, I tried to whip something up quickly to get the project done because I just wanted to start a new topic, my motivation was gone.

For the elements and principles of design project, I was a bit skeptical and unmotivated. I didn't think this would be a fun project, especially after making an array of smaller designs before getting to the big one. All I thought of were lines, shapes, and patterns, and I didn't believe that I would create a good project that I was satisfied with using those elements. Once I actually got started though, I really enjoyed it. I thought it was a simple project, but I was extremely happy with my artwork at the end, and I learned so many new elements and principles of design, and making both projects connect in a way seemed so cool to me. My un-motivation got the best of me on past projects, and it did on this one, but I didn't let that get in the way, and my project turned out to be satisfying. My artistic goals in the future is to only think positively because art is supposed to be something fun to explore your creative mind, and I let art seem like a chore for a few of my projects which I regret a lot. I bet if I had a good mindset, I would've created artwork that I was proud of. I'm hoping that in the future when I take art classes, I will have a positive mindset so I can have fun with every project and enjoy art class because It really is such an amazing class to learn from, and you can still have a fun time with it.