Art II Final

1. The Sticky Situation painting was my most successful project of the semester. It took me a while to think of the idea of lips as my "Sticky Situation." The candy lips are a unique and relevant idea because they are sticky, but not in an obvious way like bubble gum. Also, the artistic element of repetition is displayed in both the repetition of the lips and the repetition of the black and white squares in the background of the piece. Using acrylic paint in this piece was an excellent decision because unlike water colors, the acrylics are vibrant and gave the lips a really bright look. One of my favorite parts of the picture is the black and white squares in the background because I think they contrast the colors and shape of the lips very well. Also, I like the lips second from the bottom because I used an extremely thin brush in order to get the tiny sprinkles. This project was my most successful because I overcame many obstacles along the way. The journey to this final piece was most definitely a bumpy road, but I think all of the trials and tribulations I endured were worth it. Overall, my Candy Lips were my most successful project of Art II.

2. The Scientific Drawing using contrast was my least successful piece of Art II for several reasons. First off, I took the idea of "contrast" too literally and simply used black and white. I should have dug a little deeper and created a better contrast between the various shades going from black to white. Secondly, the volcano did not end up looking realistic. My idea was to create texture with the lines of different widths, lengths, and direction, but it ended up looking pretty random and not similar enough to an actual volcano. I should have used other techniques other than simply drawing various types of lines. The final thing that made this piece my least successful one is that the clouds create disorder in the picture and break the overall sense of unity. I wanted to attempt to use the stippling technique in order to reach out of my comfort zone. Sadly, the stippling did not look like it belonged with the rest of the picture and I did not do a good enough job when creating the middle values. If I could do this project again, I would put something other than a cloud in the background. To summarize, the Volcano Scientific Drawing was my least successful piece of the semester.

3. The transformation from the simple box with pen and ink to the layered tomatoes in colored pencil are an accurate representation of my growth as an artist during this class. The box was one of the first projects we did and it is very flawed. I improved so much at blending my values well because in the box the values are quite layered. However, in the tomatoes, I was meticulous in making sure that all of the colors in each tomato were well blended together in order to prevent banding. Another area I grew in this semester was through my use of color. At the beginning of the semester, specifically in the first piece, I was afraid of using color. I thought that pen and ink was all I wanted to use because it was what I was best at. Art II proved that to be quite wrong because, like in the second piece, I found using a wide color palette to be exciting. Throughout this course, I learned to push myself out of my comfort zone in the subject of my pieces. The plain box is obviously a simplistic and frankly, quite easy idea to create. On the other hand, the tomatoes were incredibly difficult for me and required much more time, thought, and level of creativity. In conclusion, the progression from the simplistic box to the intricate tomatoes accurately portrays my positive evolution as an artist.



4. The oil pastel can and the colored pencil lollipop were the most beneficial in my learning for that particular project. First off, the oil pastel can was an eye-opening experience for me. In the past, I had never attempted to draw an actual object with oil pastel; I had only ever drawn simple shapes. Using oil pastels to draw a can helped me greatly because I finally understood and was able to appreciate how difficult oil pastels really are. Although in my final piece for this unit I did not use oil pastels, this mini lesson would have prepared me for success. The second piece that was most beneficial for my learning for a particular project was the illustration of the lollipop using colored pencils. Before this mini project, I had never used Prisma Colors. If we had not done this lesson, I would not have been exposed to the incredible blending capabilities these colored pencils have. I ended up choosing to use Prisma Color colored pencils for my final piece, so this mini lesson prepared me very well for success in that piece.

5. Mixed media was my favorite medium to work with for several reasons. First off, I felt like it was great to not be confined to one medium because using many creates a strong sense of unity within any piece. Secondly, I found that the mixed media project was one of my most successful pieces of work because I am not incredible at any one artistic technique. Rather I used my skills that I have gained throughout Art II in all mediums to create a piece that I am extremely proud of. I thoroughly enjoyed working with mixed media because I liked searching for pictures and feeling a sense of satisfaction when I finally found the one that worked well. Finally, I liked working with mixed media more than the other mediums because I was able to accurately represent myself. I included images of my family which made the piece unique to me. Overall, the mixed media was my favorite medium to work with. Ending the semester with this project is leaving me with a renewed love for art and an interest in a technique that I did not know existed before I began in Art II.