Reflection post

When reflecting on the work I have done over the year in this class I feel like I have learned a lot about experimenting with new mediums, especially oil paints. I had never worked with oil paints before, and it was a medium that I enjoyed compared to acrylic paints. This is probably something that I would never have been able to try without this class, and it was very fun to learn about. I also learned a lot about how to “properly” paint abstractly and how to look at abstract paintings. I have never seen abstract paintings with a lot of value before, and this class helped teach me about the value of abstract paintings and the important elements in them. Along with teaching me how I can paint abstractly, what elements I should incorporate, and how to tell what an artwork needs.

In my opinion, I have seen the greatest growth in the composition and ideas behind my piece. At the beginning of the year and last year, I did not consider the composition of my pieces very well, and it shows in my art skill inventory because my drawings are small and in the center. I improved my self-portrait and oil painting by making my compositions dynamic, following the rule of thirds, and making them interesting to look at. Along with painting/drawing large, and filling up the whole space while still being conscious of negative space. I have also seen a lot of growth in the ideas behind my pieces as I feel like I think more about the themes of my pieces. I think my multi-media sculpture harnesses this because it has a deeper meaning behind it which is something I would not have been able to think of before this class as I have grown to think deeper about art processes and themes.

I need to improve the most in my craftsmanship and proportion. While my craftsmanship is not terrible, I do think I struggle sometimes with trying to make it perfect, and not knowing when to stop. This happened to me in the self-portrait project as I feel like I overworked some parts of the drawing to the point of messing up a little bit of the features. This can lead me sometimes to overwork a piece and end up ruining it or making more work for myself. Another thing I struggle with is proportion, and I saw this a lot in my oil paintings as I could not figure out how to paint one object in my piece that was at an angle; it was a compass holder. I also struggled with proportion while we were figure drawing, and I struggled to make my figure look accurate like how we viewed it in real life. I could not understand how the angles worked and how to line everything up to make it look accurate, and this is something that I am going to try to work on over the summer as I feel correct proportions are very important to an artwork. I think the main way I can improve my sense of proportion is by practicing drawing people and objects at angles over the summer.

I have learned a lot about new mediums like oil painting, and in my independent work I would love to start experimenting with oil paints as I enjoyed using that medium, and I think the project was overall pretty successful for me. I also have further grown my ability to create deep meaning and ideas behind my pieces which was shown through my sculpture and my head projects. I think I am going to further my deep thinking process behind artworks next year in my independent work along with using some of my head ideas actually in my artwork next year. I have also learned to paint abstractly which I find is an interesting way to paint, and I would love to include abstraction in the background of some of my pieces to give them a more surreal feel which hints at some of the ideas I want to express in my paintings about the self, and how we view ourselves.