​ This quarter I completed four art projects. First I paired up with my friend Rosalie Swana and started sketching out a sample for the ceiling tile we created. She wrote out the Arabic word for peace (the word/phrase also means other things thats just paraphrasing). After we stetted it on the paper and had it approved by our art teacher we transferred it onto the tile and started painting. Truth be told I didn’t do much other then painting, and touch up colors.

After that was finished I free-hand painted a sunset over water. Without and real purpose other then to paint a killer sky. After about forty minuets I somehow painted the sky to appear like it was bleeding. At the time it really spoke to me and came off as beautiful, although the longer I look at it the less beautiful and more garish it comes off.  Another thing I created was, one sharpie sketch of Jack Skellington’s face. The original idea was to use that completed sketch as a stencil to carve my jack-o-lantern. Later on in the process of putting the stencil on my squash I realized that it was way too small, and the stencil walked all the way up the sides. That combined with having to cut the top off made it seem completely unrealistic to carve that on the squash. Instead I just carved a star on it free-hand. I thought that it would look nice, and would be fairly easy to fix if I carved it too small. 

After that I was supposed to sketch a self portrait. Although I didn’t do that I did take a self portrait. The picture is grainy and its obviously not drawn, but it is black and white and I figured that was better then nothing. The real reason I didn’t sketch the portrait is because I can’t draw faces, or even humans really. So I just gave up before I started. 

Really the only thing that inspires me for my visual art is what I see and feel in the world around me. I guess the reason I can’t draw people or their faces is because I try not to look at them while I’m out in the real world or on the streets. Not because I dislike people or have an issue with noticing them, but really because so many people in the world can only see themselves and the people around them, so I try to look beyond that and see the things around everyone. Seeing the background makes everything seem less chaotic, and more simplistic, so I try to zoom in on that and use interesting colors to make them stand out as much to everyone else as much as they do to me. 

In Quarter 1 of advanced art we had a lot of freedom to express ourselves through different pieces of art. Thats the beauty of art itself, being able to create or recreate anything possible. There was multiple assignments where we could express ourselves through art in which we chose to make. During the process of these tasks, it was hard to figure out what exactly I wanted to do and how I could do it to the best of my abilities. My art could be for anything and everything. Myself, or no one at all. Art is the best way to express yourself and take your time in putting as much effort as possible, good or bad work its all in how you chose to represent it. My favorite piece artwork was the ceiling tile because not only do I love to paint but that was an opportunity to recreate something that has a representation of a strong meaning. 

During these 10 weeks, we've had a lot of time to create. From charcoals, to watercolors, i've enjoyed this learning experience. The assignment I enjoyed the most was painting the ceiling tile, and also seeing everyone's together and how it really makes the room look a little brighter. The most challenging of these assignments was probably the self-portrait. I expected the self-portrait to be easy and fun, but the essentials to a good portrait slipped my mind: Proportion, shadows, and concentration. Although my self-portrait looks a bit like an alien version of myself, i'm proud of seeing how my portrait drawings have improved over time. 

This quarter in Art class, students worked on assignments with a certain amount of freedom. While we did have guidelines and specific pieces to complete, how and when we did that was left to the individual. We started the quarter with work in Art History, something that almost none of us had exposure to previously. Though I have always loved art, it has never been something I have considered myself ‘good’ at. However, this quarter, I realized that that’s okay. I don’t have to be naturally gifted at something to enjoy it, and it’s difficult not to enjoy art. This quarter, we covered everything from pumpkin-carving to charcoal still-life to painting ceiling tiles, and I enjoyed every bit of it. I teamed up with one of my classmates, Leah Petty, and created two ceiling tiles this quarter, as well as learned how to carve pumpkins with her. Unfortunately, one of our ceiling tiles is put on hold for a moment until we can bring in some more paint! The most challenging piece for me was absolutely my self-portrait. I’ve never been good at drawing what I see, so trying to draw what I couldn’t see was even more difficult. I look forward to the rest of the year in Art class, I can’t wait to see what other sides of art we explore and I look forward to learning even more.