Gallery
"Tied Down"
My piece was made to present the feelings of being stuck in rejection, being tied down, and gasping for air. One of my art styles is to draw in a very childish and colorful way, but the center of the piece is a very dark concept. I think this can cause people to feel uneasy, as if it is supposed to be a very happy picture. For this piece, I originally wanted to add more 3D elements, like fake leaves for kelp. Still, because of an injury I had received, I ended up just doing this piece with alcohol markers for the base, paint markers for color blocking, and colored pencils for shading. For this project, my class was assigned to write 25+ facts about ourselves. These papers were then later randomly distributed. With the paper, I got a few things that stood out to me: rejection, feeling stuck, masking, and how much he loved the ocean and the color blue. This is how I tried to represent these facts!
"Hunting Innocence"
Since Uvalde happened in 2022, my interest and anger towards school shootings have grown. The idea of someone going into a school with the intent of killing prey that has no way of protecting themself sickens me. Children are the most innocent, pure versions of humans, making them, sadly, an easy target.
For this piece, I originally just planned on making a portrait of the kid with a deer head, but I am very glad I added more to it! The sign I added is actually a quick sketch I had made two years ago as an art class warm-up, the prompt being "your worst fear." This drawing is really a mash-up of concepts: school shootings, innocence, hunting, and the difference between the symbolism of deer and rabbits.
Charcoal
practice
"The Beauty of The End"
This is my first official charcoal piece, and if I'm being honest, it wasn't my favorite thing to work with.​ I usually like to work with pens, pencils, markers, etc., so working with charcoal, which is super messy and mostly permanent, was incredibly hard! I think I created a good piece, especially for my first charcoal piece. I got the idea of this piece by going on Pinterest for references, and seeing a blown-out candle charcoal piece, and I thought I could make something out of the smoke! I chose the dove so this piece could have multiple meanings. A dove can be symbolized as a new life beginning, a life ending, Innocence, and so much more, and I wanted to create a piece that would make people feel understood
I also decided to use a dove for my Grandpa, who is currently on oxygen. Every time we visit, we go to their church, which has the most beautiful stained glass with doves on it. I remember looking up to it every time we went while waiting for the Mass to start. I love this piece because, while it's so simple, it means so much.
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"My worst fear"
This piece is originally based off of a poem I wrote! My poem is about the constant fear of growing up, because as a kid I never felt like I got too. Entering Junior year has been very tough for me because it feels like i'm running out of chances to become a kid again, Which is why I added the details of the sand timer and melting candle. Originally, I was going to create a scratch-board piece of a seal because seal's are my favorite animal and because I've never done scratch-board before! With a little help from my teacher and my peers, I decided to do this instead because it was more meaningful and deep. This piece was very hard to do because I have a very sketchy style, because I usually just clean up my sketches instead of doing line art. Not being able to erase anything or sketch any guidelines was definitely a challenge! I think it turned out very well and I learned a lot!