Visual Vocabulary Reflection

I had a lot of fun with this project because it felt like a chance to explore new mediums and learn more about myself as an artist, without the pressure of having to create a perfected final piece.  At first, I was hesitant to lean into the weekly attendance assignments, as they were often so far out of my comfort zone that I couldn’t process them. However, once I got over my initial fears I began to really enjoy them.  It was a fun chance to make art each week without the pressure of a final product in mind. This was freeing in a lot of ways, and I am proud of myself for allowing myself to enjoy them for what they were. Using mediums that I was not familiar with forced me to push myself creatively, and while they may not be my preferred mediums, I feel like I will be able to apply that creativity to my future work.  These prompts allowed me to have a lot of fun with my art, one highlight being when I took bites out of an apple to replicate a guitar.

At the end of the semester, it was interesting to look back at the body of work I had created all at once, and take note of what stands out most.  I noticed many commonalities in my style, as well as some stand out motifs in terms of subject matter. While most of the prompts were based around self portraiture, it was still interesting to see what aspects of that I tend to gravitate towards the most.  It was also interesting to try and understand how I saw myself, and if this was an accurate perception or not. I noticed that, when asked to create a self portrait, my work would tend to skew abstract, which I found interesting because portraiture is one of my favorite subjects.  That being said, drawing self portraits is highly uncomfortable for me, so it makes sense as to why I would distort it in a way that felt more comfortable. I also noticed certain things about my drawing style, such as the way I move around a composition. When sketching, or doing quick assignments such as these, I tend to move rapidly around a page, and my pencil does not disconnect from the paper often.  This results in a compiled composition of layered and overlapping drawings.  

I took these ideas into consideration when making my final piece of the visual vocabulary project.  Since a big part of these weekly assignments was exploring mediums I was unfamiliar with, I decided to do this again with the final.  I printed on acetate, which I had never done before, but I found it to be very enjoyable. For my final piece I wanted to create something that allowed the viewer to see my work all together, but also get a closer look at the details.

I played with light in my final piece, and received feedback about how I could push this idea further, I appreciated this as it is something I want to do in the future.  Playing with new mediums is very exciting, and I want to be able to push myself to do more in the future.

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