You've got style

The several behaviours that are shown in the apex high school's rubric include some of my weaknesses and strengths. Most of my art comes from an idea that sparked in my head from seeing something else, like for example my mural I'm creating in art. I saw a post about a type of sketch called a mandala and I thought it had to be one of the coolest things ever. Like something that seemed so simple actually turned out quite hard to do as you want the entire piece to be somewhat symmetrical. So most of my art consists of being something that was triggered in my head from seeing something. 

I like to try to expand and develop my art making skills as I like to learn a lot about the different materials and techniques but to also study those of the greater artists in the word and see exactly what else there can be to learn about the different styles. 

One thing I think is a weakness for me is my communication though my artwork. I know that a lot of the time I'm just creating a piece just because I feel like it and not having any meaning or message. What this tells me is that I have to improve on this in my future in college.

Taking risks- another weakness of mine. I like to play things safe. I do this because I want things to turn out the way I pictured them and taking risks can either make or break that vision. Part of being an artist is all about taking risks and learning from your failures and I'm attempting this more often now with the pieces I am creating. An example would be the sculpture I tried to make this semester. Although it started off fine, the more I worked on it and the farther it progressed it got farther and farther from what I wanted to to look like. The proportions were off and the final look bothered me A LOT. Although i don't really like the piece I can look back on it and see it as probably one of the first risks I have taken.

Collaboration is something I dislike to do in a way. I'm okay with getting together with someone and sharing ideas and helping them and stuff like that but when it comes to the critiquing part count me out. I don't really want to hear or give negative input on someone else's work as it can really effect a person. I know I would absolutely hate it if someone said my art sucked. This is like this for everything though, not art. Nobody wants to hear the negatives about something, especially from other people around you. Criticism is one way to grow as an artist and hopefully one day I can learn to accept what people have to say (if negative) process it and then improve.

Solving problems- I'm getting better at this! I used to just abandon any project that would face me with a problem but now I am able to sit there and think of possible ways to fix it. Once again an example of my cat sculpture ( this piece was horrible but it turns out I'm learning a lot from it¿) the biggest problem I encountered was when the clay dried. It cracked and it broke. The frustration was so real when this happened. I tried to fix it with many things and unfortunately nothing really worked, but hey I tried right? In the end I tried my best to fill the cracks with more clay hoping it would eventually build up a lot and stay nice but it didn't so I had to go to my backup plan and just paint it in attempt to hide it. 

Reflecting- in a way what this post is, is reflecting so I guess I can do this alright. As an artist I'm able to look at my pieces and see what went wrong and what went right. But I can also take what has happened to me in the past and use what I have learned to apply it to my future work.

I tend to think I understand art in the world but do I really? Does anyone really? Like the artists of the past you can look at their work and see what they've done but you can't actually talk to them to know EXACTLY what they were feeling at the time, or what was going on in their life or why they felt like creating that piece. With artists of the current century it is a lot easier as you can actually ask them these questions and hopefully get an answer. Luckily with the age that we are in, we have a cool thing called the Internet. Where you can look up anything and get some sort of answer. This has been helping people ever since it has first come out, educating millions about the many different things happening around the world!

My priorities when I make art is I do something that I enjoy. I want to enjoy what I'm doing because if I don't I find the work that you're creating can get boring extremely fast and that makes the artist start to not car how the finished product turns out - sometimes makes them not finish their artwork! So when I'm about to start some sort of artwork I think about something that I'd really like to do and that I know will keep my interest long enough so that I won't give up on it. An example of this would have to be when we were starting our series assignment and we were all asked to choose one topic to focus three creations on. I know I don't have many things that I am enthusiastic about but one thing I was, was definitely cats. They are such a big part of my life it's crazy. So thinking things over like that I find extremely crucial when it comes to making art. Another priority is that I want my art to be perfect and to have it look exactly the way it was in my head. Although this is extremely difficult and can take up a lot of time. It has worked sometimes but some projects I have done this year did not follow this at all and it made me so so frustrated I basically gave up and tried finishing it as soon as possible so I can move on to the next project. You may have guessed my cat sculpture and if you did, you are correct. When certain things don't go exactly how their supposed to we all know it can make us angry. Another priority is definitely time. When I'm doing art I need a lot of time. And I mean a lot. I get so easily distracted my attention span is like a goldfish. Some days I can be right into my art and like so focus and other days I don't even feel like doing it. 

When I create my art I try to express feeling through some of it. By this I usually mean happiness. I haven't really done any pieces where I had to communicate something to an audience. Quite possibly in last years grade 11 class but not this year have I had to do something on an emotional level to connect to people. With all pieces I have created this year I've tried to have like a happy vibe to them as that I how I want to feel when I look back at the pieces I have created.

The materials that an artist works with are extremely important when it comes to communicating effectively. I say this because all materials that have ever been used to create something in art, are all used to express and communicate different things. One thing I do when I'm creating art is that I like to know I'm able to use a material properly and have it work with any techniques that I'm using. Like I dislike working with things like charcoal as an example because it smudges so easily and it can wreck the look of a piece by one little slip of a hand. So I like to stick with materials like pen, pencil, marker, & paint that have some hope to fixing. Understanding how a material works and the different ways you can use it can really help and artist with how to communicate something effectively. Every technique an artist works with matters. This is because some techniques don't work out for some artists where as for others it does. It's all about getting comfortable with what you like to do and what you feel works right and makes your creation the way you want it to be. I'm like 100% that any artist wouldn't work with just any material, when in the creating process a big part of it is taking your idea and think what materials and techniques would work best to be able to create your vision.

Proper presentation - probably an extremely important thing. When your work is finally done you want people to look at what you've created and just be like "wow" at least that's what I want people to do when they look at my work. And I mean this by not the forced "wow" I want the audience who looks upon anything I create to be amazed by it. All artists are like this too, as it sometimes is what they were looking to achieve. Only when the piece is finished can it really give a feel to the work. Proper presentation is a huge thing when it comes to being an artist. Like sure your artwork might be complete and all but the way you show it off to the world really matters. Sometimes art work can have a whole story/emotion in it from just looking at it and sometimes it needs a little help from the artist by possibly a brief description. All artists want people to think something when an audience looks at their artwork, whether they hate it or like it.