Throughout my life, art has always been a creative outlet. While I do not consider myself to be particularly skilled at any form of art, my inspiration in making art is simple: I do it to express myself and my thoughts. Throughout this semester, I hope to improve a variety of skills, but I am especially hopeful to better my ability to draw without references, as I feel that is one of my weaker skills. I also want to improve my knowledge of shading, blending, and all things to do with color and painting, as I have not really practiced that skill in the past. Without a doubt, improvement comes with challenges. I will likely run into many roadblocks, physical and mental, but one major one may be my desire for perfection. While this will likely prove to be a struggle, to overcome it, I intend on prioritizing growth over “perfect” art. Feedback is also a vital aspect of art and in the past has really helped me to improve. I use feedback as a tool to see what I can change, and by incorporating unique ideas and perspectives from others, I am certain I will be able to achieve many goals this semester.