May 05th, 20235/5/2023 Final StridesThe last painting in my seires, It's almost hard to think that the end of the year is already here. With the last piece, I needed something to incoporate into the dimensional part of my project, I decided to do a painting stricly of planets, but with my art style twist. Doing this last piece I haven't had any issues. I've more Ivolved in my concepts, and teqniques as the paintings carried on, it's clearly showen in my art. But some people may be bothered by the fact that all the paintings are just a little different, but I'm quite happy with how they all turned out. I wanted them all to be different in their own way, but all stay connected in their own way. With only a few weeks away from school being over for me, I've reached my goal if not more, and I couldn't be more pleased. Final PhaseFrom being behind to ahead, I Finished painting number 3, and with time to expend, I'm doing a fourth painting. Using my immagination and using some brainstorming, I was able to come up with a concept to make a fourth painting. I did want to follow the "celestial" route. That being said, I wanted to do something in the realm of space or something more dimensional. Also following the planet like pattern of the other three paintings. I do believe this painting will be more soffisticated and will be more of an eye catch. I'm not entriely sure how long this last painting will take me, but I am going to paint and see where it takes me. Continuing on..Throughout this painting journey, I’ve been stumped, There has been a few challenges with this last piece, and i’ve barely started it. The first challenge was finding a bored to paint on, I was behind this week, And being behind is not my favourite. I found a bored, but that had already taken most of my time, then it was finding the time to gesso and get the first layer on, then it was sketching out my design, and that took majority of my time, and lastly just making my concept to where it makes sense and flows with my other two paintings. From now until the end of may, I’m going to finish this last painting, along with add more detail and add more pattern and flow to all the others, to make them more consistent and cohesive. New StridesThroughout the month of march, with completing painting number 1, to starting and just about completed painting number 2, there's been a few challanges, one being the animal in the center. I knew I wanted a wolf incorproated, but I didn't know how I wanted to show it. But running with the theme of the blue and angelic, I wanted to make it mystical but in the relhm of realism. being just about done with the painting, It just makes it all the more exciting for the last and final piece of the series. This piece to me is important because it shows the dominant breed but showing the fragile and beautful side, majestic and showing the freedom. It's also symbolic to my spiritual path, choosing and deciding where I want to go and what I want to do. It's symbolic to where I am currently in life, A highschool senior, about to graduate, and about to be in early adult hood, and start my life. this painting and series just shows phases of my life, spritual journey, and where I am and what I should do. Month 2.5Finishing painting one, starting on number two! Throughout the process of finishing painting number 1, I've wanted them to be synced, more a less I wanted the paintings to connect, I've found that I can do that by making the background, along with the sphere's a unison image throughout the paintings. Visually shown, my teqnique has improved, but these paintings are more far apart in the process. Right now, I'm more ahead then I thought I would be. With a couple more months, not even, I'm going to accomplish my biggest project. and not to mention the most important. By unifying the colors, and most symbols, These pieces are unified. Month OneThroughout month one of the creation process, there have been struggles and successes. Flaws and achievements. Throught the month, from the very beggining of the project i've had my doubts on what the outcome would be. I've throughout this first month have gone from mapping it out to getting the background practically finished, to starting the center to having many more aspects to do, there have been a lot of trial and errors. For where the project is at now, I believe that I don't have much more to do. I'm happy with where it's standing right now. I still have about a week or two of this first canvas, where I will be completing the center, and the finer detail, symbols and more personal elements. There are still many elements to be done, but I do believe i'm on track with this project and can be accomplished. The beggining of a New ChapterWeek 1: February 9th Throughout this week, it’s been for the most part the planning stages of this big project. I’ve been sketching, drawing my ideas, and have officially started the process. My sketches were just fragments of my imagination along with researching references to use. I’ve worked on the sketches for about 2 days. Before the sketches it was my planning bored. My planning board was just images and color theories that I thought would work well with my project, also giving me more of a background and sources to use ideas and create a piece that is unique to my style and my art. The second image is the board and my design that I have mapped and sketched out, I had gessoed it as well to give me a base Beggining of the process, It was a lot of skeching and figuring out the layout of the piece, I mapped out the start of the bored with some basic sketches, and I also got the base painted with gesso, to give me a better base and start. The End of Chapter 2 of VAM This year, has been quite the year. full of tears. laughs, and just a lot of emotions. Finishing grade 11, on such a strong note, it's a bitter sweet feeling. VAM this year, it was a change, from last year getting more direction to this year starting to become more independent, it's definitely a different sensation. This year I can see growth, and my art style changing. I personally enjoy the VAM academy, and the people around me. Being in the academy, It's like I have my own family. I see everybody everyday and I've noticed I've started to take on the mentor role for my younger classmates. Or as they say, I'm there "mother figure" But that's just a running joke. But to be able to build the relationships I have, it's an honor to be able to be apart of such a class. I can't wait for what next year brings. Halfway Point!This is my second Independent project. Beginning this project, I knew that I had my work cut out for me. The sheer size of the painting would be my biggest one yet. There are challenges that have arisen, The amount of paint I have to use isn't even the struggle. It's just the amount of detail, including the shading, the color, the texture. There's a lot going into this painting. In all honesty the sheer size of the canvas at the start was very overwhelming. My mindset has changed three times, before in the planning stage, painting the beginning and where I'm in it now. I feel that I'm following my schedule very well. Some people may say that I'm behind, but in my mind, I'm where I need to be. The timing for this project is more than giving, and I feel that where I'm at now, I will be able to complete this project on time. Knowing me and how much of a perfectionist I am, I will be working on this project until the very last minute before it's due. Celebration of Learning BlogThis year the VAM 10’s and 20’s partnered up for a design challenge, It was an architecture design challenge. The VAM 10’s and 20’s both collaborated with each other to create an original idea. The VAM students all created amazing pieces in the timeline that we were given, and made an amazing piece as a whole. This year's art show was a very fun and exciting experience. I believe that our celebration of learning being the first one in years, was a very successful and very exciting experience. It was a place for all of the academy students to showcase their work and it showed not only our families, but the staff at the school showing how much work and effort everyone puts into our work and that we are all proud of the work that was put out. Throughout the show, I do believe that the work we put out was our best work yet, as we all got the option to choose what we wanted to show. I do believe that everyone, especially myself, was very proud of the work we put out. The coronavirus had put a hold onto many things, and many events. I personally loved the celebration of learning this year. It was amazing to see what the other academies showcased, along with the reactions of the parents and staff looking at all of the hard work. It was nerving at first, but that being said, once everyone had their groove, we went by without a hitch. I also do believe that it brought many of the students in the academies closer once again. And I can’t wait to see what else is in store for the remainder of the year. Architecture Design Challenge StatementFor the Celebration of Learning this year, the VAM 10s and 20s partnered up and each designed a tower of their own. This is our tower, and this is how it was made. Gemstones were our inspiration for this tower; the basic concept was a diamond on a stand, with more jewels going upward. We used design principles such as repetition and geometric shape. The jewel shapes going skyward are the exact same shapes together, repeating until the top and becoming smaller; and the tower is mainly made up of shapes that are sturdy and sharp- this helped our tower to stay stable. The few round, curved shapes are simply there for aesthetic purposes. We faced several challenges while making this tower, however. The main problem was the amount of time we had; 4 days was difficult to work with. Keeping the tower stable was not too hard, but rolling up the paper tubes and gluing them in the correct places was time-consuming. As a result, we had to be efficient and couldn’t take time to make every aspect of the tower perfectly even. We had to leave out some of our extra ideas as well. Despite the time crunch and general challenges, we were able to finish the tower and for how hard we worked on it, we’re satisfied with the final product. The Final StageThroughout this process, there have been the good days, and the bad. This project has taught me many things. Those things include, patience, The saying " Patience is a virtue", I come by it honestly. This project was such a big process, Everyday that went by, it got harder and harder. My paintings are based off of emotions, Unorthodox Emotions, I wanted to show emotions, but not your typical type, these emotions are emotions that don't occur in everyday life. and I wanted to portray them in human like, paintings. Human and painting to me is not my strong suit, It normally is one or the other. I can either paint, or I can either draw. But I wanted to challenge myself with this project. There are strong points in my painting, and it shows. When this project was over and I painted my last stroke, I felt relived to say the least, but i'm super happy with how my paintings turned out. The Mid-Way MarkThrough the last couple of weeks, there has been ups and downs to this project. There are good days, and there are bad days. When working on this project, it has definitely challenged me, in many ways. One being, people aren’t my thing, painting people per say. I find myself challenged by this task. Why? Because as an artist I have my strengths and weaknesses, my weaknesses being painting people, and for this project I have challenged myself to paint a series of hopefully six 18x24 canvas sur-realism, realism paintings. This project is an interesting one. It’s something i’ve never done before, ever. But hopefully going these next couple of weeks will show improvement not only in the paintings, but in my artistic skills as an artist. Down below are some progress photos, and I hope you all follow my journey with this series. The Beginning of a Long JourneyIn the VAM academy, we’re assigned a big art project. This project will take time, over the next two months I will be working on a series of paintings. Covid has been hard on everyone both physically, but mentally as well. My art series is based on emotions, I’m not talking about your typical happy, sad, anxious emotions, but the unorthodox emotions that not many people knew even existed. My Project is called Unorthodox Emotions, I have personally chosen six emotions that I am going to transform into different portraits. I am going to use acrylic paints, along with many 18” by 24” canvas’. I have decided to name my series Unorthodox Emotions because I wanted to label my project, not only for myself, but to get into the groove of being able to name projects, and not only by my name, but for the real world. It’s also called Unorthodox Emotions because, I wanted to name it better then let’s say, Weird Emotions I wanted it to be interesting and not boring. I am beyond excited to start this project. And I can’t wait for you all to see what the future brings! It's Okay to make MistakesThroughout the presentations, there were a variety of different types of presenting. Everyone involved in the presentations and who presented were very professional and had a strong and compelling voice. Even though everyone was very nervous, everyone stayed up and pushed through the presentation. The presentations were about the different art movements and periods throughout history, and how they impacted and influenced the world today. Being an art student, you should be influenced by something, that something could be an artist, a painting, a movie etc. but there is always a start to an era. When saying that, I myself am influenced by art, I find myself doing the realistic scenery, or portraits. Art influences everyone in their own way, there are many different perspectives and many different views, and that’s what makes it so unique. My colleagues and I all did certain things to capture the audience’s attention, could be catchy quotes, photos, or funny jokes. But what I find very interesting is the fact that they were all different. When presenting in front of many people, you find ways to try and hide or run away, but at the end of the day it pays off because you put yourself out there and put yourself in the spotlight, Learning these life skills when your young can help when your an adult, and it’s a part of your job to give speeches or to talk infront of many people. Everyone did an amazing job, and they should all be proud of the work they have accomplished. My presentation was better than what I anticipated it would be. I feel like I did very well with my presentation portion of the project, meaning I was more confident showing my piece then actually talking. That being said there are many things that I need to work on for the future. One being the fact that it’s okay to make mistakes, we're still in our youth years, and we're in school, and school is a place of learning and correcting your mistakes. Even though I stumbled, and studdred and shook like an earthquake was taking place, I didn’t give up, I stayed up and kept pushing through even though it was difficult. Practice is a key skill that not only myself should know but everyone should know. I don’t want to be cliche and say practice makes perfect but in some cases it does. I know for the future I need to learn to take deep breaths and pause if I'm stuck. There are many things that I would do differently. I would’ve liked to make my artifact more pronounced and more clean and professional, and having to learn to keep it simplistic, but organized and not cluttered and too much information. But overall I hope for what is to come in the future I can become more confident and more vocal and less shaky, and I can achieve that by more practice, and being more confident in myself and telling myself that if I screw up, don’t give up, just keep fighting through it. Throughout this process I’ve learned many new things about myself. I have found throughout the process of making this presentation, the most challenging aspect for me was to properly format a speech.I personally dislike structure. I love freedom, but this academy prepares you for the future and that being said, It gets you ready for what the real world will bring you. There may be times where you have to write a proper speech, and you have to have that structure, but that’s what school is for, you learn how to do, then your peers will give opinions, and that not only makes it become better, but helps you correct mistakes and it will be better the next time around. Smart Goals #2 Goals are a safe and efficient way to stay on task and to stay focused. Last semester, most of my goals were met. But there were a few that I still need to work on and improve throughout this semester. My goals were to maintain and stay on top of my assignments, and to achieve my best grades; for me having grades sixty and up was my accomplishment. I had achieved my goal grades and even better, I also stayed on top of my assignments, and if they were late or missing, I would work on the important ones first and then I would go back and complete the missing or late ones. I disciplined myself, stayed focused and stayed motivated. Last semester was a difficult time for me. It was hard, from coming to school person-person to then moving online and having no contact with my friends, teachers, or extended family was very challenging. Having to learn online and having to get into a routine, it was hard for the first couple of weeks. Online school just isn’t for everyone. There are certain people who can learn by themselves, and there are the people who need someone’s help. I’m the person that needs the person-person help. I need someone to help me comprehend, go through and even help me understand what to do. I know high school is a place to help you become independent, and to figure things out by yourself. High school helps you become an adult; it disciplines you for a purpose. Most people will disagree with me for saying that school is awesome, but I'm not lying when I say that school is awesome. I love being at school person-person. I love the teachers and learning. School sets you up for success for your future. English language arts is always a subject I've struggled with. Comprehension, understanding and being able to write have always been difficult or a challenge for me. Throughout semester one, we were learning how to dissect a movie, and learning how to write properly, and to create stories from a picture. Those were all challenges for me. My goals were to be able to do all of those to the best of my ability, and to finish them but also have a good grade at the end of the day. My goals were met, but for semester two I need to work on and make more goals for myself. My goals are to manage my time wisely, and to stay and keep up on assignments, and to also work on comprehension, and to have more understanding. The way I can improve or achieve these goals is to practice, asking questions and asking for help. I myself am suffering in silence. I don’t like to ask for help. Another goal I have is to be able to have confidence in myself, and my presenting ability, to be able to present with confidence, and to be able to connect with my audience, and not look at my cards and make it boring, to be able to speak confidently and with no mistake. The way that I can achieve my goals is to present in a mirror, or practice speaking in front of a few people. Visual Arts and Media academy is a brand new subject to me this year. Even though I’ve been in art for years, I’ve never been in an academy. Last semester, my goals were to be able to produce great art and to be able to progress as an artist, to be able to find my own technique and my own style. All artists have a tough and long time trying to figure out what works best for them, but for many people you know right away. For semester two I want to improve on my goals, I want to be able to manage my time wisely, to be able to be self-directed because I want to learn independence and patience with myself and my art, being able to produce a piece of art and display it confidently, without having to worry about what people say. In this academy, opinions matter. You need to be able to take criticism and what other people think. This academy is setting you up for success, and your future as an artist. The ways I can achieve these goals are to take the time to practice and take the time for myself to just breathe, step back, and look at what I’m doing. I’ve been told by many people that I need to take a moment for myself. I’m a person who doesn’t stop what they're doing until it is finished and done to perfection. But as a growing artist, mistakes will happen and there will always be flaws, but that’s how you learn; you can learn from your mistakes and the second time you come around you do it better then it was before. Goals are just reminders for you and what your end goal is, they are there for you to check, and to look back to when you think you're stuck or if you don’t remember. Having goals is SMART! COPYRIGHT IN THE ARTS & MEDIAIn the beginning of the documentary, my initial thought was, “what the heck did I get myself into?” but after a couple of minutes watching it, I found it to be very educating, and very creative. There were many emotions in the film, I thought that it was very chaotic but very well done. The things that stuck with me most was the fact that everyone copyrights, there are so many different ways that people can copyright, musicians and artists don’t like when people copyright off of them, but in reality there the ones who copyrighted parts of songs the different artists who copyrighted off of others. It’s a big chain.It won’t stop. I myself would be copyleft, meaning I believe that people can use different songs and different ideas from others, but changing it in a way that it’s not fully copying the ideas, but changing it into their own. The relationship between media production and consumption is the sum of information and entertainment media taken in by an individual or group.Meaning it interacts with your television, listening to music, hearing the radio etc. To what extent should other artists use images of other artists? From my point of view, I believe that other artists, ( Painters, singers, etc. ) Should be able to use other artists, why? Because even though there is a lot of creativeness in the world there’s only so much people can use and claim as their own. But no one's ideas are truly original, with saying that, there could be one hundred portraits or videos of one single artist, and people using those ideas create them differently from one another. They could also be used or even differences by color, median, film etc. but there is one thing for certain, it is that there is an origin to where that artwork came from and there is always the one source. SMART GOALS #1In my opinion, goals are the best way to set yourself up for the future, and with saying tha, everyone uses goals in their own ways. Setting goals could consist of good grades in school, Personally for me staying up to date with assignments, and staying focused is my best for achieving my goals. It also gives me the discipline, determination, and motivation to achieve said goals. It’s important to get good grades in school because the better you do, the better future you have, and you make your life easier, you have the discipline to turn your assignments in on time, you also give yourself the pace and time management skills. Are you one of those people who sit in class and waste your time, and when your assignment is due, you don’t have it done on time? Or are you one of the people who are focused and determined in class, you want to learn, you want to get your assignment as soon as you can? Coming from my past experiences, I was the kind of person that falls behind in class, because I wanted to talk to my friends, I also procrastinated on doing work, but it was then that I learned that all of the work I do, it matters for my future.
Growing up, nothing mattered to me in school. But where I am today is because I turned my attitude around, turned my grades around, and turned my “ I want to learn” attitude on. When starting to tremble or starting to go in the darkest mindsets for school or in the real world, just remember that you have so many people who want you to succeed, everyone wants nothing but the best for you. Making goals you have to have a plan or plans to achieve them, even if it is baby steps. Think of your goal as if it were a marathon: you don’t have to sprint, you can do a slow jog, or even walk, you don’t have to rush, it takes time. In my mind, my goals are like a windy road, there will be obstacles and there will be setbacks, but once you have reached the end, you achieved your goal, or goals. My goals are as realistic as they can get, for these few months, or even till the end of the year, it is going to be a long and gradual process, but my goals are long term, they are goals that I will want to have for my future. The ways I want to achieve them are by disciplining myself, to focus on my work when appropriate. Even though I love my friends, I do believe that school is a workplace; you can save the chit-chat until when it is appropriate to do so. In art last year, I was in grade nine, but still knowing that I am a growing artist, knowing that I will make mistakes. One of the mistakes I made last year was, I let my peers dictate my work. I also looked around the room and discriminated against my work and compared it to my peers' work. I would tell myself “Why am I in art ?”,“I'm not good at art.” “why did I choose art.” But talking to myself that way wasn’t helping me, I just dragged myself down because I thought that I wasn’t good enough. But then I thought to myself, “what makes a good artist?” All artists have a story, bad past, or even good one’s, but we all have a story, and those stories make us what we are today. Making goals is just a stepping stone, one of many stepping stones, but all I have to think about is, One step at a time. |