I thought forever about what my piece should be, and had a really difficult time coming up with something. I started a new project and then scrapped it every day. Finally it hit me. I decided to do a watercolor of a toad. I’ve settled on “The Valuable Toad” for my title because the simple sketch of the toad is made into something much more valuable when the watercolor is added. I really like the gold background because it brings out the beauty in the toad; a creature that is often considered ugly and warty. I was inspired by the illustrator of the Frog and Toad book series, as well as other children’s book illustrators who work with watercolor such as Brian Bowes and Amy Bates. For the theme of making something that is considered “ugly” into something valuable, I was also inspired by the photography of Joel-Peter Witkin, who photographs corpse parts into beautiful works of art. While I didn’t take from his art style, I tried to take from the principle of his artwork instead. I developed my art making skills with this project because I used a medium that was relatively new to me: watercolor. After this piece I feel a lot more used to watercolor paints and like I can manipulate them to create the different effects I want with ease. I also communicated through this work; I wanted to convey the message that even something as gross as a toad (personally I don’t think toads are gross but I know a lot of people who do) can be made into something beautiful and valuable. By selecting watercolor as my medium, I took a risk because I am a little unfamiliar with it. However I really think this risk worked out in my favor because I found out how much I really do enjoy using watercolor, and perhaps I will try to utilize it more often in the future. When coming up with the idea, I collaborated by showing my friend a picture of a toad that I caught over the summer. At this time I was still searching for a theme to draw, so I thought of drawing the toad, and it worked. I also collaborated and asked my peers for their thoughts on my piece while it was still in progress. I had to solve problems with this work because the original sketch I had made of the toad was on very thin paper, and I realized that watercolor doesn’t work very well on thin paper. So instead I solved this dilemma by just redrawing the toad on very thick paper, and the watercolor flowed so much more easily. I took several opportunities to reflect on my work at different stages, I added in tons of layers of gold, orange, and yellow to create a more interesting, three-dimensional effect to the background. Reflecting on your art is so important; it helps you think about what you could do differently to make the piece better and also what you can do in the future to improve your artwork. Having a global awareness is very important as well. My global awareness for this work is shown in the inspiration I received from the other artists and their techniques and ideas. I took from them but also made them my own. Overall, I ended up liking this piece a lot, even though it came out of a desperate attempt to think of an idea. I think that through this reflection I learned more about it, and it has become even more valuable that way. It has a new meaning to me.
I earned an A in AP Art/Studio Art II because I completed all assignments and gave my best effort during every class. I struggled a bit in choosing between a 2-D Design Portfolio and a Drawing Portfolio, but in the end went with drawing. The work that I am most proud of completing is my AP Portfolio, which took me nearly the entire year. I’m so happy to finally have an organized portfolio of my best pieces. My concentration was portraits with different Halloween prosthetics and special effects. I have always enjoyed painting portraits, but I needed a focal point...I found this photography series that contained a lot of photos centered around gender and sexual identity and halloween prosthetics and I was so fascinated. The pictures weren’t necessarily “beautiful” to look at, but they were so intriguing and deep that I wanted to create something with that level of depth as well for my own portfolio to earn a 5. My summer work was a good jumpstarter for this class, even though I wasn’t completely satisfied with the way they turned out. The two pieces were excellent practice in using value with charcoal as the medium, which is a very important theme in a lot of my art. I love working with shadows and highlights and incorporating them into all my pieces. The assignments also forced me to think more about composition, which is something I never really think about. Composition is one of the most important components in a still life drawing, because they are all about the way things are laid out in a way that’s aesthetically pleasing and interesting to the looker. I also struggled with composition in the self-portrait because I had to work with such a huge piece of paper; which I was NOT used to at all. I spent forever trying to fill up the whole space in a way that was comprehensible and beautiful. I think I spent more time on trying to figure out how to utilize the entire space than on the drawing itself (which is something I really regret). Throughout the course of the entire year, however, I improved my skills in composition greatly, while also improving my drawing skills so that I never have to compromise the picture just to have it fit the paper again. Overall, I’ve developed my own art style as well as valuable skills, I have created original art that I’m proud of and communicated through it as well, I took chances that in the end worked in my favor (or taught me a valuable lesson if they didn’t work), I collaborated with other talented artists in my class, solved problems with my art, and reflected on how I solved those problems, or maybe how I didn’t solve those problems. Most importantly, I gained a more global awareness in artmaking, and found my own voice through what I wanted to communicate through my art work.
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Authorjohanna carr Archives
May 2016
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