“My Sister” is a piece of art I created that holds great value to me because it captures my older sister’s vibrant personality. I was drawn to the idea of drawing my sister, Leslie, because of her outgoing personality that never fails to brighten any room. For this work, I chose to create a mixed media composition that contrasts greyscale with color. In it, you see her facing towards the colorful sections of the composition while the rest of it is grayscale. I did this to show how she adds vibrance and life whenever any situation feels hopeless or dull. I made sure that the colored sections mimic the liveliness of cherry blossom trees since those are her favorite. I used graphite to draw the grayscale areas of the piece and colored chalk pastels for the color-saturated areas. The contrast of the two strongly contributes to the main purpose of the piece.

Since the pandemic began, creating art has changed the way I think. I started to self-reflect and identify different people within my life that changed the way I viewed the world. I taught myself how to use more mediums that I was unfamiliar with and I drew more portraits. This expanded my artistic abilities and forced me to step out of my comfort zone. Self-isolation during the pandemic made me realize how important the different people we interact with affect our lives. I consider art as a second voice that helps me illustrate the concepts that originate from my mind.