Sustained Investigation #5

Inquiry Question: How do trees have an impact on communities, including their own and others?

• Inspired by personal experience with "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein 

• Included personal pieces like the stuffed animal and shoes for connection

Reflection on Work: 

When deciding what I wanted my fifth piece to be about I looked at my own background and how trees have influenced me. I’m an avid reader so incorporating my love for books and how trees can affect that was something I was excited to try. Of course, the first book that came to mind about trees was “The Giving Tree” because I loved it as a child and still find the story heartwarming now. I checked out the book from the library and decided to use inspiration from Silverstein's pen work and the colors of the book cover. This piece was very different from my past ones but I enjoyed stepping outside of my comfort zone. This piece is really about how trees can teach humans different things. In this instance, it's how using trees as a symbol during the book taught kids about what it means to give and also how to receive. I chose to use real cutout book words because I wanted to make it more impactful and because the words came from another childhood novel I loved. This was a very personal drawing for me because I used my own toys in the kid's playroom which felt like a nod to little Mattie. 

My piece shows evidence of practice through my media testing. I took a whole class period to pick out the paper I thought was closest in feel to the paper of “The Giving Tree,” and also to use different markers and colored pencils to see which would get the desired effect. This was the most media testing I’ve ever done for a piece and you can see how it helped because the colors are very vibrant and go well with what I wanted to convey. Revision was used and seen in my sketchbook because I made many thumbnail sketches and changed the ideas of how I wanted things arranged and the space. 

This piece was a great one because it showed me I can branch out and do different things while still fitting into my inquiry question. It's very different from the other pieces I’ve done both color-wise and conception (there's less of a tree in this one) but I think that's helpful for my portfolio. For my next piece, I want to move into something more personal. This last piece had bits like the dog and shoes that connected to me but I want something even more connected next time around. I don’t think I want to use acrylic for the next one because it was just spirit week and I made so many murals that I’m burnt out from that. Maybe I could use paint pens and markers again because I had fun with them in my fifth piece. 

Visual Art Journal:

Shel Silverstein: Illustrations