This year I have grown as an artist more so I think than any other year in my life so far. In addition to my skill development, I’ve also developed my artistic behaviors. Creating original artwork was something that I used to struggle with in the past; I had always just re-created photos or pictures that someone else had created first instead of coming up with an original idea. While it was great practice for developing my art skills, it wasn’t so helpful when it came to selecting pieces from my old sketchbooks to put in my portfolio. I think I really communicated through my concentration and got my idea across; I wanted to show how special and unique dogs are. This year I was also lucky enough to participate in Art Allstate, which gave me an amazing experience in collaboration. My group worked together to make a great installation we were all very proud of, while solving problems at the same time because we had limited supplies (gloves, waterbottles, and rubber bands). In most of my artworks, I tried to take risks as much as possible by using new mediums. I used acrylic paint for the first time (successfully) this year in several of my dog portraits. This year, I did a lot of reflection on my artwork and it’s meaning when I did the blog post assignments and when I came up with my concentration statements. Lastly, I had a global awareness in my artmaking because I put a meaning behind my concentration that was universal--a love of animals--while also having a deeply personal meaning to me.
Speaking of a deeply personal meaning, my favorite project this year was the painting of my dog, Chopper, after his passing. It started as just a Christmas gift for my mom, but I felt so strongly about it that it ended up inspiring my whole concentration. All of the pieces in it were heavily inspired by that one piece as well: with the techniques in painting fur, expression, and a few different background ideas were mostly repeated with the halo of light around most of the portraits. The painting of Chopper is also the piece I was most connected to, and the piece I feel reflects who I am as an artist as well. I typically choose subjects that mean a lot to me, and then try to render them in a way to express the love I feel for that subject; and make the viewer see it the way I do.
Speaking of a deeply personal meaning, my favorite project this year was the painting of my dog, Chopper, after his passing. It started as just a Christmas gift for my mom, but I felt so strongly about it that it ended up inspiring my whole concentration. All of the pieces in it were heavily inspired by that one piece as well: with the techniques in painting fur, expression, and a few different background ideas were mostly repeated with the halo of light around most of the portraits. The painting of Chopper is also the piece I was most connected to, and the piece I feel reflects who I am as an artist as well. I typically choose subjects that mean a lot to me, and then try to render them in a way to express the love I feel for that subject; and make the viewer see it the way I do.