Reflection Essay

Over the course of this year I have tried many new forms of art and learned many critical aspects of making art. This year was my first time casting and using plaster-of-paris, as well as wood carving. I learned about sculpture, as I had never done it before. I discovered many different forms of sculpture, such as casting, carving, and assemblage. Although sculpture wasn't my favorite project, I learned a lot in terms of otehr forms of art. I learned how to create good compositions in a 3D space, and the use of different objects together. I also learned about a different form of painting, which was oil painting. I had never used this medium before, and I used a new technique, underpainting. I found this method very different from the direct painting I had done before. I found it easier to create form, but I also found it interesting that I had to glaze on top. I also learned a lot about art history and art movements. I learned about the Renaissance and the style of artwork in that period. I looked at works from Michelangelo, Raphael, and Donatello and explored their artistic voice. I learned through all the history we learned about how there were a variety of art movements and they heavily influenced the type of art created during that period. Throughout the year I had used a variety of new materials like oil paint, plaster, conte, and many new methods.

I saw the greatest growth in my compositions and form as they weren't things that I thought about much before. I remember in the skill inventory drawings, all my pieces had the subject in the middle of the paper. As I progressed through the year, no matter what type of project it was, I learned the importance of composition. I discovered the many different compositions like rule of thirds, L shape, and odd numbers. The oil painting taught me the importance of overlapping and having a good composition, as it makes the positive and negative space more interesting. It taught me not to put my still life in the center of the canvas, but rather zoom in on the objects. I also greatly improved my form, especially in the oil painting as we did a grisaille were I could only go off of shadows and highlights. Looking at the abstract art in my art skill inventory, I greatly improved in abstract expressionism. During our color unit, I learned about color schemes and how colors work together with simultaneous contrast. This really helped my abstract painting as I used bright colors that looked nice together. I also used a variety of brushstrokes and had more interesting elements in my final abstract painting, whereas my skill inventory was very flat.

Looking at my art now, I need to add more meaning behind my pieces, as they are very focused on aesthetic and composition. I know having a story isn't a requirement, but I think it would make my artwork more interesting. I also want to work on my figure drawings, especially on hands, as I struggled with making them realistic. In my self portrait, the facial proportions were slightly off, and I want to work on getting the proportions better. I have been practicing drawing hands throughout the year, and sometimes I feel they seem very alien like. I need to be able to see. the shapes and values in the hand and draw those, rather then focusing on what I think it should look like.

Next year I plan to use what I learned about color and composition in my independent work. I will be able to choose the subjects and mediums I make art with which will give me liberty over the colors I choose. I want to make sure I keep a color scheme and don't use random colors. I also want to make sure that my art remains interesting through the composition and the negative space. This year I also learned a lot about voice and how every artist is recognizable through either their process or mark. I want my work to be recognizable and be a reflection of myself, and I want to accomplish this through my style of painting and drawing. I want to use what I learned about artist marks, when we made the artist copy, and try to recreate that in my own work.