In my final piece, the acrylic paint went very successfully. I have used in the hair and the dress, also some parts of my symbolism. It created a bumpy and rough texture which represents my feeling when I go through a tough time. Also, the brushstroke I have used has made both of the categories look realistic, and a little bit of moving mode. I created a little bit of lighting, the tonal contrast makes the object in my artwork look more 3D and realistic. I have added a natural lighting feeling in the hair, because it went pretty well with the brushstroke and other shades in the hair, additionally having an amount of lighting part in all this subdued, cool, color makes the theme more depressing. Another thing that went well in my final design is about the focal point, my focal point is the face in the middle of the painting, so I drew it by charcoal, to create a dramatic contrast with the acrylic paint and water color on the background, because of one being earthly and the other having a dull color. But on this case, I have also made parts that are light and a actual texture with gray led pencil, which are on the papers in the hair, this lead the audience’s sight from the face to the paper then the arms so the composition is more resolved which all have the same art medium and tone. I also felt that the closed composition creates a claustrophobic and negative feeling which is great On the other hand, there are also places that could be done better. For example, the dress, I feel like I made it too deep in places, I should add more detailed line on the sleeves, so it doesn’t look like a blended in shape. Also, it could be matching chaotic theme in the dress, collaborating with the symbols besides it. Overall, in this final product, there are strengths that I have worked well on, but there are also improvements that could be fixed.

Analyze:

Throughout this unit, I have become a much better artist. Now, I am able to express my feelings through my artworks, for example, how to show joy through vibrant contrast with exciting colors or brushstroke, or negative feelings through a hard texture with a cool color scheme. Also, now, I would consider about the symbols and focal point of my artwork, including the expressions I want people to feel. How I could need to think of the pose and use of space, the art medium I use and the brushstroke I do while creating. Those are all very important categories that could improve or make a shift in the completeness of my artwork. The knowledge I have has also changed my view in art. Now, I think that art can be a very expressive medium that sends out very useful or personal messages to the audience. Also, how there are many different kinds of artworks. For example portraits, the portrait with a pile of candy not even having a face by Félix González-Torres, made me understand how portraits doesn’t need a face to represent, it could have objects that symbolize that person. Also including two they don’t have to be realistic, and chaotic sometimes, such as the portrait that creates a moving affect by Salva Ginard, and where drew out from small parts then connecting with each other to create a whole. Overall, I have really improved as an artists, while learning lots of new knowledge about kids of arts.

In my final piece, I had both successes and challenges while creating it. The watercolor worked really well. It gave a strong base and made other mediums like colored pencils and graphite pencils stand out with good contrast. The watercolor also created an interesting texture that added to the overall look. The texture was both rough and smooth, which matched my artistic idea. However, I had some problems when I used too much water. This caused the paper to tear. Because of this, shading became difficult. The torn parts absorbed more led, which made those areas darker and uneven. This affected the depth and made some parts of the artwork look flat. To improve, I would use less water and let each layer dry before adding more paint. This would help protect the paper. Also, I noticed my composition didn’t have enough negative space. Negative space is important because it balances the artwork and gives the viewer’s eyes a place to rest. Next time, I will add more negative space to improve the balance and overall design. Overall, my final piece has strong parts like texture, layering, and contrast, but I need to work on my technique and composition.

Analyse:

Throughout this unit, I have improve as a artist because now I am able to express my emotion not only through facial expression but with colors, for example if I want my artwork to have hope, to be happy I would most likely use the color yellow and if it's for sadness or depression the color I would most likely use the color blue and grey. Not only this I could also express emotion through texture, composition, brush strokes. Also, I am able to tell a story through hidden meaning within different elements in my art work. I learned that using different mediums, depth, compositions, color schemes can create powerful messages, hidden meanings, and evok emotions. through out this unit I have significantly improved as a artist by learning and using these art skills.

In my artwork, I was able to incorporate the different elements of art using texture, color, and techniques that resulted in a meaningful and in-depth artwork. An example of this would be the background, I used slightly duller colors by mixing in gray and a bit of brown. I was also able to use lighter blue and purple in a swirl motion to capture the chaotic sense and add depth to the back. I liked overlapping multiple elements like the rom duol & the tree (focal point) as it adds to the sense of messiness and distorted feeling (not knowing what is happening). I also like the backgrounds for the palm trees & the Angkor Wat because I wanted to use nullified shades of blue for a feeling of the past contrasting strongly with the future, chaos with calm. Looking back, if I had more time, I would like to add an even duller tone to the back with harder swirls to create an exaggerated feel of loominess, unease, and distortion between me and the audience. (Except for the background of the caves). Although I do wish to go back and change parts of my art to match a dull, disorienting feel, I am happy with my art now and feel that I have portrayed most of what I wanted to.

Reflection/Analysing:

Throughout the unit, I was able to view art differently, whether through expressionism, feeling, or theme. Throughout semester 1 & 2, I learned to incorporate deeper meaning into whatever I do in my art, like the symbols for my bathtub. I also learned that a portrait does not have to be a face, as long as it is a part or something that resembles who you are. My view of art has changed, and I found adding less or more will contribute more the the meaningfulness and depth of my art. I have become more thoughtful of the things I do in my art by being aware of the negative space I use to accentuate my focal point. On the basics, I learned throughout the unit how to draw different types of art, such as inanimate objects or faces. I also was able to learn how to draw using different mediums as of now, although my favourite would be watercolor. I cannot only shade according to the light, but also shade with multiple colours without fear, like before (which adds more depth). Overall, throughout these two art units, I was able to grow as an artist and learn new skills I didn't know before through trying even when it feels wrong and continuing to do something even when I kind of don't know what is happening.

My strength are that I have shown my stuggles in life and the things that have happend in my life and a little flashback to my past to show how i miss my childhood and also repersents the differentences between my past and my present. My artwork has a lot of deep features to make it look more depressing and sad. and also very intense in a soft way and stong to repersent how I feel and the dramatic details in my arwork. My artwork is supposed to tell the people looking at it immediatly know what my artwork is about right when they look at it the people should know what it means or the idea of my artwok. I have added these features to my artwork to give my artwork drama but also the things that has happend in my life lately that affected me in a silence but also painful and hurlful way. On the left side of my artwork is supposed to repersent my late grandmother that passed away recently but also not recently. It shows her looking over us in the sky and her as an Apsara because it repersents an angel and it is her being an agle looking over us. on the bottom left is my mom. She is giving flower to my grandma to repersent peace to my grandma. I have added green and yellow to her dress so that she would know that it is her. My flacons shirt repersents that I love supporting my favorite team and also repersenting hard work because I have a lots of falcons jerseys and to show ho hard i have tried in every sport play and aslo repersenting teamworks as the "teams" do ahve teammates.

Challenges

The challenges I have come across is the hair part because I thought that using acrylics will make my hair look darker but I realized in the middle of paninting the hair it was TOO dark. I got anxious because I thought it was going to ruin the whole artwork because that middle part was supposed to be the vocal point in the whole artwork. If you see the corset my gradma is wearing you can tell that one of the flowers are messed up due to ading too much water and i tied everything to make it look good but i decided that if the color is still there people would khnow its a flower from the traditional khmer dress. I have learnt from these challenges by being more careful and think twice next time.

When expressing my identity through my self-portrait, I faced various challenges and strengths. For instance, a strength that I had was that I had many complex elements that made the artwork interesting to analyze. Additionally, I believe I did a great job with varying the sizes and proportions compared to when I was creating my Frida Kahlo bathtub artwork. For instance, I am the focal point and the biggest element in the composition, whereas the mirror is a lot smaller than me; this created a sense of distance, which creates depth and perspective. Another strength that my portrait had was that it used strong contrasts. For example, my butterfly wings are a vivid orange colour, which contrasts strongly with the deep blues and greens in the background, and they are complementary on the colour wheel. 

Although I had many strengths, I also faced many challenges. If I had more time, something I would have improved and spent more time on is my sky; this is because I believe that there is a lack of clouds in the sky. This makes the sky look flat and lack depth and dimension. By adding clouds to my layout, I would create a more interesting and realistic composition. Furthermore, something else that I could improve is varying my medium to make the artwork look more appealing and unique. When creating my portrait, I mainly used watercolour, coloured pencils, and pencil. However, I believe that it could have been more interesting if I had included other mediums, like oil pastels and acrylic paint. By doing this, it could help attract the viewer's attention to specific areas, such as my focal point, or it could add to the overall aesthetic, creating a visual impact of the artwork. For example, I could have used oil pastels on my wings, which are in the foreground, could create a striking contrast to the watercolour grass in the middleground, making them stand out compared to different components of my artwork.

During this time, I have become a more thoughtful artist. This is because at the start, I didn’t understand the importance of symbols in a portrait. However, now my views have changed and I understand how a portrait can use various different secretive symbols to tell a story. As an artist, when I was given the chance to try this, like in my Frida Kahlo's bathtub portrait I created a complex boat symbol expressing how I felt about my family and in my self portrait where I drew beautiful butterfly wings, showing hwo i was hiding my true feelings, doing this made me feel like I could express my feelings, but in a way that is not very obvious, making me feel expressive and freer. Additionally, believe that creating a composition felt strikingly similar to writing and expressing myself in my journal, as an image can express thousands of words. This unit has immensely changed who I am as a person and helped me grow as a learner while finding my true self, this is because I was allowed to think about the things that I never really had the time to think about like how I feel about my family and what I likes and dislikes are, which has made me feel more connected to myself. When creating art now, I can use more secretive signs to create more expressive compositions.

I have become a better and more thoughtful artist because I have learnt to use symbols and made it more secretive. This unit has helped me realize that art isn’t just about making something look realistic, it’s about expressing something personal. I used to just focus on detail but now I'm more confident using bold lines and expressing feelings with different colors. This project has helped me express things I normally wouldn’t say out loud. It has changed how I see art, not just as a final product but as a process of reflection and expression.