Traditional art 2019
Describe your image
Describe your image
Describe your image
Below you will find my art pieces from 2019
Nanna's Apartment
Nanna's Apartment
May 2019- June 2019
acrylic on canvas
Grade 12 University/ College Visual Arts
This piece titled “Nanna’s apartment” is inspired by European architecture and foliage. I was inspired to create this piece of artwork when my nanna travelled from England to visit me. During her visit, she showed me some pictures of the exterior of her apartment complex as well as another apartment complex down the street. When she showed me these pictures I was inspired to create a painting based off of the beautiful building exteriors in Europe. Since my Nanna did not send me these photos I decided to find a reference photo. My reference photo is from an app called vsco. While the reference photo that I used is not what my Nanna's apartment actually looks like, it is a very close representation of what her apartment actually looks like.
When one looks at my body of work this painting does not quite follow my usual style. While the majority of my body of work consists of very colourful drawings that fit the modern aesthetic, this painting was created using traditional painting techniques. When I painted this acrylic painting, I used techniques such as the broken colour technique that was used by famous artists such as Claude Monet. One can see this technique was used on the surface of the building to create a stucco-like appearance. I also used more abstract techniques to paint the flowers on the building so that there would be a contrast between the realistic building. I also used this technique so that it would not take as much time to paint all of the flowers individually onto the canvas. While I was creating this painting I learned a lot about acrylic painting and techniques that go along with the medium. This painting was also a very experimental piece for me to make as I have not made many acrylic paintings prior to this one. If I were to create this painting again, I would likely have added something in the bottom right corner to add more interest to the painting and fill the empty space. Overall I am very proud of this final piece and will definitely be hanging it up somewhere in my house.
Golden Hour
Golden Hour
Acrylic on watercolour paper
May 2019
Grade 12 University/ College Visual Arts
Even though this piece does not have any meaning to it, I did learn a lot by doing it. My original goal of completing this painting was to improve upon my flaws that I have when I have worked with acrylic paints before. I mainly wanted to improve upon my blending and colour theory use within my paintings, as in the past I have not been very successful at doing this successfully. This piece not only helped me develop my acrylic techniques but also lead me to find joy in using acrylic paints.
I found that at the beginning of this painting I was not letting the brush move on the paper and do the work for me. As a detail-oriented artist, I feel like I struggle with this concept. Especially, when it comes to painting. I found that near the completion of this painting I started to let go and began to realize that letting go is what makes a piece turn out better.
Overall, I am very pleased with how this piece turned out and if I were to do it again I would likely make the colours richer.
Exploring a new technique:Acrylic Pours
Materials Used.....
- Liquitex acrylic pouring medium
- Liquitex acrylic inks
- Isopropyl alcohol
- Canvas
- plastic cups
1) Add approximately 50ml of pouring medium to the plastic cup, dilute with 25ml of water, and add 3 drops of liquid acrylic inks
2) Set canvas on top of 4 cups over a plastic sheet
3) Take cups and pour design over the canvas and repeat this process with the other colours
4) Pick up the canvas and tilt it back and forth to create a marble design
Technique...
Harmony
Harmony
acrylic, liquid latex, & isopropyl alcohol on canvas
May 2019
Grade 12 University/ College Visual Arts
For this piece, I decided to try another medium and style that I do not usually do. This piece is different compared to my other pieces because it is abstract and did not have a sketch as to what it was going to turn out like. In order to achieve the final paintings, I experienced lots of difficulty working with the medium. The mediums which I was working with had to be measured out in the proper proportions otherwise the process would not have worked. Based on this challenge, I did end up creating a few mediocre paintings before i created the final three paintings in front of you. Since this medium is so unpredictable, the painting definitely evolved as a played with the different sections of paint on the canvas. Originally, all of these paintings consisted of perfect circular puddles of paint, however by tilting the canvas I was able to achieve a marble like effect. Overall, I am very pleased with the final pieces and am interested to incorporate this technique into my future works of art.
Other acrylic pours...
Experimenting with materials
The top two paintings were made using tube acrylic paints while the bottom one was created with the acrylic inks. As one can see the bottom one is much smoother in appearance.
An Artist's Desk
An Artist's Desk
coloured pencil, acrylic paint, watercolour paint & ink on rag paper
May 2019
Grade 12 University/ College Visual Arts
Throughout my high school career as well as my life, my favourite subject and past time has been art. I started to paint and draw at an extremely young age and still continue to produce works of art frequently both in the classroom and in my quaint art corner in my home.
Since this assignment was to create art for the hallways of St. Michael’s, I wanted to make a piece that conveyed both my love for art and also showed off my skill set. This art piece will eventually go outside of the art room in St. Michael’s right beside the locker that I have had throughout my senior year at St. Michael’s Catholic Secondary. Last year, I made a piece called “Oh Sugar, Sugar!” which was a defining moment of my art career. That piece became very popular within my school as well as art classes in other schools. I quickly became known as “the girl who drew the candy” and since then people have known me for drawing detailed images like this with a high amount of colour saturation and contrast between the objects. I thought that people would immediately associate this piece with me and this is when I knew that I had to make it for my school.
Making the art supplies look realistic was a challenge. Even though this is a very strong piece in my portfolio, I believe that there are still some spots to improve upon. I think that one of the weak spots on this piece is the drawing of the ruler. I believe that if I were to do this again I likely would have made the ruler a metal one instead of colouring it like a purple plastic ruler.
To elevate this artwork I decided to draw/ paint the objects in their own medium (ex. Paint an acrylic paint tube with acrylic paints). This was a departure from my other classic prismacolor drawings. Overall, this art piece is officially one of my favourite works of art of those that I have made throughout high school.
The process..
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Other works from this year...
Get well soon
Get Well Soon
watercolour & ink on watercolour paper
April 2019
Grade 12 University/ College Visual Arts
Even though this piece was originally just being made to fill free time and did not really have a meaning to me, I realized something very interesting about it after I made it.
To me, this is a very important bouquet of flowers. After painting this I realized that I had painted a bouquet of flowers that resembled the exact one that I received while I was being treated in the hospital earlier this year. In March of this year, I was admitted to the ICU and treated for a life-threatening illness. There were multiple times where both my mother and I, did not think that I would make it, however, I managed to beat the horrible sickness and rise above it. It is easy to say that my hospital stay was the worst experience of my life. I remember seeing people pass away and also seeing loved ones weep. After going through all of this I was given a bouquet of flowers from someone very close to me and burst into tears. After being in a white hospital room for a week, fighting for my life, I finally got to see colour; and life. To me, this piece represents perseverance and life.
Overall, I really enjoy how this piece turned out and I wouldn’t change anything about it if I were to do it again.
Work in progress photos...
Climate Change?
Climate Change?
Drypoint engraving, Intaglio print, watercolour
March 2019
Grade 12 University/ College Visual Arts
I decided to do my print about climate change and the effects/ impact of climate change on the environment. I am very passionate about the environment and have previously attended climate change marches to protest and raise awareness about this important issue.
I believe that this topic is important and meaningful because it is a topic that we can see in our day to day lives. There is a reason that the icebergs are melting. There is a reason why many animals are becoming extinct; all in which can be blamed on climate change. This issue can also be seen in our everyday lives through the patterns of the weather lately and past weather trends. Throughout the years the summers have become increasingly warmer; this is evidence of climate change.
I wanted my art piece to convey the message that climate change is happening but I wanted the message to be subtle. In my art piece, I included direct messages that indicate that climate change is bad such as “welcome to not so fabulous climate change” but also more subtle messages through elements such as the colours I used on the two final pieces. I decided to display two prints together; one brightly coloured (conveying a cheerful message) and the other black and white with hints of red and green (to indicate a sad, depressing tone). I also added newspaper clippings relating to climate change.
While I was working on my art piece my image evolved. I had to make adjustments during the engraving process so that the image would turn out properly. This included adding more texture to the smog in the sky with some sandpaper and also deepening some of the lines on the buildings. During the printing process, I experienced some troubles as my plate had many details in it and therefore it was difficult to ink and wipe and my print quality was inconsistent.
However, I decided to modify these prints with other media. To alter my images, I added watercolour paints, as well as ink. In the first print, I used colour to show the viewer that in today’s society we almost don’t notice climate change because everything essentially looks perfect. However, in my second print, I used a darker colour palette and also exaggerated the message that climate change is real and is happening, even though many political leaders do not recognize this.
I feel that of my three images the colourful print was the most successful because it is more representative of my personal style. My other works all have a very similar colour palette. On the other hand, the darker toned version of this print does not follow my typical style. However, I do like how they work, when displayed together, conveying a dark message in a playful way. Even though I faced some obstacles creating this work, and in my opinion, it is not my best work, I learned a lot from making it.
My thought process...
Golden Skyline
Golden Skyline
watercolour and black ink on paper
April 2019
Grade 12 University/ College Visual Arts
This piece is a watercolour painting with a black ink design drawn on top on the watercolour background. This painting does not really have much meaning to me so I would say that this piece is meant to be more aesthetically pleasing than anything. I believe that this piece was well done as far as the colours go, however, I think that I probably could have come up with a more original ink design. If I were to make this piece again, I would likely put more pigmented watercolours in the sides of the painting to create more depth within the painting. I would also make the lines thicker so that they stood out more on the canvas. While I worked on this painting it did change quite a bit. Since I was working with watercolour paints which is a very unpredictable medium, this piece changed as the paints blended together in the water on the page. While the paints evolved, the overall ink design did not evolve at all and remained the same as my original plan. Overall, I believe that this painting turned out very well and effectively represents my characteristic style.