A Place That is Special to Me

For a couple years now, my mom and I have been taking a trip to Block Island, Rhode Island every summer. The first time we went there, I fell in love with the island. It's a small, quaint island right off the coast of Rhode Island. You have to take an hour ferry ride to get to and from the mainland; therefore, it makes you feel like you're in a different country. There's cute little shops up and down the roads and beaches everywhere. This is definitely a place that I look forward to going to every summer just to get away from the stress of home.

Inspirational Photos for the Joy Series

After considering painting photos of nature that I took in the Poconos, I decided, instead, to paint pictures of jellyfish I had recently taken at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. My plan is to use watercolor as the medium for these paintings.

Thoughts From Summer

This summer, I went to the Pocono Mountains with my mom. The setting there was so absolutely beautiful that I could not help but to take several photographs of literally everything. My plan was to bring these pictures back to school and turn them into my own works of art. They may also become the inspiration for our first project- the joy series. This year in AP Studio, I want to create beautiful, unique paintings. I hope that this year's work will complete my AP portfolio to make it the best it can be. My final goal for this year is to just have fun and learn new things about art that I haven't learned in my previous three years of art classes.

Honorable Mention

I was proud of this. :)

Suspended - "Jazz Ensemble"

My goal in creating this piece was to create interesting shadows with the objects we suspended from the wall. I accomplished this goal by arranging the lighting so I could get raking shadows. My painting is about the theme we created. It has a 1920s theme that evokes a mysterious mood. The most difficult challenge I had to face was accurately depicting the shapes in the hat, trombone, and record. I met this challenge by squinting my eyes to see the correct shapes. I think the best part of my painting is definitely the colors and shapes painted in the hat. The biggest lesson I learned from this painting is that next time I need to make sure the sketch on my canvas is accurate before I lay paint down. My mentor in this painting was Edward Hopper. My painting is similar to the style and brush-strokes Hopper uses. From Audrey, I learned to find more shadows in all the objects. If I had a do-over, I would make the paint look a little smoother. However, overall, I feel my work is very successful.

Chili Peppers

Morning Fruit