For this project, I had to learn more about values and shading. I already knew quite a bit from previous classes and my own experiences, but I have gotten better at seeing the lights and darks and have learned how to shade accordingly. 

I started making my diorama by cutting the flaps off a small cardboard box. Then I layered pieces of paper and glue to make higher and more bumpy ground. I painted it green and printed out a photo of a mushroom cloud for the background. I made the billboard sign with a cardboard rectangle and popsicle sticks. Then I painted it and glued it in. The red streak crossing out DON’T is supposed to look like spray paint. I made the needle and syringe with a mechanical pencil. I used 2 of my own medicine vials, testosterone, and saline. I cut a section of a newspaper and folded it to make it look like a miniature version.  

My idea for my diorama is supposed to look post-apocalyptic. After a riot, protest, or war regarding trans people. In past protests, people have been sprayed with gas and shot at, which is why I painted a gas mask on the billboard. I really like how my diorama turned out, but I think it looks more like a covid art piece. 

The light source in my drawing is supposed to come from the mushroom cloud explosion in the background. I pictured the point of view of this piece as being taken from a hill somewhat far away from a burning city. I made the shadows come towards us, as the light source is behind. I really like the shading around the newspaper and billboard. 

I changed the angle I was drawing from and how I cropped it. I originally looked straight on and cropped the sides out. My teacher recommended the view to be higher up and at a slight angle, looking from the right. I also moved farther back. My classmates and friends helped me figure out the shading on the clear objects, the syringe, and the vials. 

For this project, I first learned about linear perspective. I chose 2-point linear perspective, which means there are two vanishing points that the lines in the artwork go to. The horizon line or eye level is also where the vanishing points are. My drawing is an ariel view. Then I learned watercolor techniques and the best ways to use them. I don’t use watercolor that much and never learned how to use it properly. The best thing I learned about watercolor is to paint a very light layer first and get darker with each layer. 

I love dinosaurs. My favorite is the Brachiosaurus and other Sauropods. I thought a city would be a nice area, and would also have plenty of lines leading to my vanishing points. I don’t think a dinosaur, especially one of the largest, would be able to live in a more modern environment or a city, but I liked the idea and wanted to see how it would be. 

I started with more vibrant colors, but I didn’t want the background to be the brightest and take away from my focal point, so I dulled them a bit. Cities are usually very gray too. I wanted the Brachiosaurus to stand out. As I worked, I was thinking about what color to make him. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to use blues and greens or more realistic colors like a grayish brown. After painting everything besides him, I decided on blues. The background was already very gray and brown, and I wanted to make him pop. I added shading and medium values, and dark values. I’m happy with how it turned out. The hardest part of the entire project was drawing the sidewalk. There were so many lines, and all of them had to go to one of the vanishing points.

I researched and based my self-portrait on the later artwork from the artist Lucian Freud. He is well known for his work in portraiture and nude. His later and more popular paintings were realistic. His style is well recognizable though, the colors are “blocky” and aren’t softly blended. Faces or bodies appear melted, contorted, or droopy. Freud would only paint from live models in front of him, or from a mirror to paint himself. He would watch his models talk so he could see how they moved. When he painted, he would stand up using broad, loose strokes with a trimmed-down hog hair brush, or pallet knife to lay oil paint down thickly on the canvas to create a lively texture. He used earthy, cream-like tans, browns, and dull colors in his artwork. 

I looked into a mirror every day to paint from observation instead of a photograph of myself. I stood up while painting, mixed earthy dull colors, and used loose strokes with a trimmed brush and pallet knife. I did use acrylic instead of oils though. My self-portrait is similar to Freud’s style because it is realistic, melted, and slightly contorted. 

I am really proud of my painting. I think the proportions are correct, the shading looks nice, especially the jacket, and the colors work well together. The meaning of my portrait is sort of tired or disassociated, looking off into the distance. I wish I had made it more “wet” looking, and used more values like Freud did. I didn’t use as many in-between values with the shading like I planned, but I do think it resembles Freud’s art style and I am very proud of it. I wanted my portrait to be realistic, droopy or melty, and contorted. I do think I did well on this and will definitely come back to this in the future.

I added more detail to my work that I didn’t originally plan on adding, but I think they add a really nice touch to the artwork. I changed part of the hair to be poofier instead of curly because that’s what my hair usually looks like. My teacher and friends gave me ideas or tips while painting. My teacher helped me manage my time better so I didn’t spend all of my time trying to make a small part perfect. My friends helped me with the style and position so that the painting looked nice. I worked on my painting outside of class time at home. I do think I could have used more time in class if I was focused enough, but I’m still glad I was able to finish and work on it outside of class. 

I learned different abstract styles and techniques before painting to get ideas of what I wanted to do. One was making the subject larger and rounder in order to fill the space better, another that I really liked was combining two different images together and combining them into one subject. I’m not that good at abstract art and don’t enjoy doing styles that aren’t realistic, so I decided just to do a “weird” and “different” idea that (probably) wouldn’t actually happen. (I am actually a Brachiosaurus on a date with my Stegosaurus boyfriend eating leaves 150 years ago. \(^-^)/ )

My painting is of a Brachiosaurus and a Stegosaurus on a date 150 years ago during the Jurrasic period in what is now Utah. Besides the date, everything is scientifically correct based on what I know. I looked up pictures of what we think the environment and plants looked like, I used the correct colors on the dinosaurs and made them to scale to each other and to the plants in the painting. They’re going to eat leaves together :3 

I used clean lines all throughout the painting except for the dinosaurs. I used dull, brownish-gray colors that are more realistic than bright green for them. I thought it would be nice for them to be darker or bolder and have the background lighter and brighter or more alive. I tried to add slightly realistic textures and shading. I feel like the sky background could use a little more to get rid of some extra space. I do really like my painting, however. I definitely could have spent some more time on it. I spent a long time thinking of an idea and then sketching it out. I brought it home but didn't always spend the time I was hoping to. I'm definitely going to work on it during the summer to actually finish it. Even though it isn't complete, I still really like it.  

I painted multiple layers of opaque paint to make clean, flat areas of color for most of the painting. I added a little water to the paint for the leaves on the trees to make the paint a little thinner and more translucent. I went over the flat areas of color with more watered-down paint for shading and texture.