Art 3 Reflection

This year, I have done a lot of different things. I have done digital art, photography, creating art with flowers, wood wire and plaster sculpture, abstract painting, art with found objects, painting with food dye, oil painting, whiteboard marker art, watercolor and ink. Each project I did referenced things that interest me or that are important to me. For my Fantastic 4 project, I did my cat Rover for my heart, and I depicted him in food dye and ink. I think I preferred that to my head project, which was the concept of adrenaline, in wire and watercolor. Because adrenaline is more of an abstract concept, it was more difficult. I have learned a lot about myself as an artist, especially that if I am not wholeheartedly interested in a project, then it is not worth completing at all. I have also learned that I enjoy completing multiple small projects, rather than one bigger one. I think that stems from my short attention span.

I think that I have seen the greatest growth in my ability to plan projects, and actually stick to my plan. I tend to kind of just wing it on everything in my life, but this year, especially for the memory project, I completed it true to my plan, and completed it in multiple different work periods. I am really pleased with the execution of that piece, it is much better than the botched self portrait from the beginning of the year, where I didn't spend enough time outlining because I wanted to go ahead and ink, because the ink was more fun. 

I think I need to improve my focus and patience. I tend to get wrapped up in the artwork, or get ahead of myself, and lose track of the bigger picture. I was so focused on the sculpture for my memory project, that I didn’t pay attention to the base, and I just left it blank. I need to work on not just completing the part of the project that I am excited about, but completing the whole project. 

While I enjoyed using different  mediums for my fantastic 4 project, I don’t think that I want to do any of them for a full year, except maybe possibly ink. I am also interested in doing something with my horse, maybe photography or art with horse hair, but that is a little less concrete of an idea. I could do more artwork about my cat Rover, but I don't want my house to become a shrine to Rover when I display my art. 

This year I took a break from miniature modeling. Usually, when I take a break from something, I lose interest. Instead I keep finding myself wanting to return to painting models and making miniature things. I have been interested in models and miniatures since I was a child, starting with my Breyer toy horses. I keep being called back to making more model horse equipment, and wanting to learn how to do the leatherworking required to achieve that. I named my model horse based art “Honey Grass Stables” or HGS for short, and I keep wanting to finish the projects I started with my model horses.  I think I want to return to that as my art 4 medium, but I will continue thinking about it over the summer. 

• Cam:)