Over this past year in Art 3, we have explored many different mediums and techniques, as well as different facets of art history and what it’s like to be an artist today. This year has given me a much deeper understanding of the processes and principles of art.
I learned just how important patience can be in art making. Prior to this year, I had never done a long-form project or made any piece of art that took longer than a few weeks to make. By exploring woodcarving and indirect oil painting, two mediums that can take an incredibly long time, I learned the value of patience, trusting the process, and consistent work when making art. I also value the techniques that I learned in oil painting and wood carving, as I had limited experience beforehand. Our self portrait projects taught me how to pay extra close attention to detail, and the impact that an artist’s technique can have on the way their art is perceived. Additionally, this project introduced me to many new artists like John William Waterhouse and John Everett Millais, and sparked my interest in art history. I also loved learning about the history which we learned about through Coach Hall’s lectures. Other topics that we covered, like how to advertise yourself as an artist and art documentation, have taught me many valuable skills.
Looking back on this year, I think that I have experienced the greatest growth in my ability and willingness to experiment and make mistakes. I have often been prevented from making art by my fear of making something ‘bad’, but this year has encouraged me to persist and have fun even when I don’t feel confident. This is because I worked with so many different subject matters that I haven’t learned before. Our play pages have taught me to explore and have fun with new mediums even when I wouldn’t choose to use them usually, while also helping me practice materials I do like. I also feel that I have experienced growth in my personal style, as the experimentation that I did with watercolor showed me how much I love the medium and different ways to use it.
In the future, I still need to improve on my consistency, my patience, and my precision. While we worked on art every day in school, I didn’t make as much art this year in my own time as I would have liked. There have been times where I have felt motivated and inspired to draw and paint every day, but the majority of the time I am inconsistent and rarely make art after school. Consistency will allow me to improve my techniques and explore my style, as well as the themes I want to pursue. I also need to improve on my patience and my precision, as those are two major areas where I still struggle. I experienced this a lot in my oil painting project, as I tended to work quickly without thinking about specific marks, which made it much more difficult to make my portrait realistic.
The work that we have done this year with our projects, our play pages, and the material we learned will greatly influence my independent work next year. I want to pursue watercolor, and work with it at a larger scale than just in my play pages. I also know now that I don’t like indirect painting with oil paint very much and that I love doing abstract paintings with acrylic, so I may choose to work with acrylic more in the future, or experiment with different oil painting techniques. While not directly related to my own work, I would also love to learn more about art history and pursue it more in the future because of what I have learned this year. Other skills that I’ve learned like proper art documentation will also help me a lot in the future.
I loved being able to explore so many different topics this year, and I can't wait for Art 4!
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