In-Depth Blog Post #6

“Make bold strokes” – My Grandma

Progress Report
These past few weeks I have been working on my final collection piece as well as finishing up the abstracted photo I showed in the last post. Here is the final product of the abstracted photo:

The final collection piece I have been working on for a bit now. So far, I have a black background with texture and horizons made with an off-white colour. On top of this, I taped off sections with masking tape and collaged and drew inside. After I did this, I took off the tape and collaged a few darker colours and lighter colours around the painting to bring the painting together more. The next step will be to draw a semi-realistic object over top using a posca pen or a carandas crayon.

PRO TIP: When using masking tape as a barrier, paint a coat of medium/gloss over the edges of the tape to seal it and create a finer line when taken off.

Reflection Questions for post #6:
What was a highlight for you and why?
I think a highlight for me was the ability to bond with my grandma over an interest we share. My grandma and I have always loved to do art, but I have never really gotten the chance to learn from her. This project was a great opportunity for me to learn a skill I have wanted to for a while and share something we both love with each other.

What was particularly challenging and why?
One challenge I faced throughout the whole project was having to be online. My grandma doesn’t live very close to me, so most of our meetings were online. This was difficult to get feedback on my work while working on it and it made communication take a lot longer. However, I was able to go over to my grandma’s house a few times during spring break and create my collection of six paintings. I found that I learned the most during this time and I really improved my skills.

Where might this skill take you next?
I think this skill will allow me to improve my art skills in many areas. I did photography for my in-depth last year, and I have found that I have learned skills from that In-depth that has helped me with this project and skills from an abstract painting that will help me in future photography. The biggest part of this project was learning how to “see the world differently”. This makes you look for shapes, patterns, values and how colours interact with each other in the real world and bring them into your paintings. I think this will be very important in helping my art in the future and growing my passion in that area.

What elements will you capture?
My station and gallery will show my comfort level in the various skills I have learned throughout this project. For example, colour theory, mark-making and bold strokes. The format of the learning centre best shows my improvement in what I wanted to improve the most, the use of colour and value. It will show the progress over time and how I have improved in those two areas and have found my style surrounding them. Overall, I hope that I can demonstrate my skills and capture the improvement I have made over the many months.

How will the audience interact with your learning Centre during in-depth night?
My learning centre is going to be in a gallery format. This will have all the pictures I have done, hung up on my table so people can see my progress over the five months. Having my pictures on display allows me to show people my process and show them what I have learned from each painting. At the same time, I will have a little station set up for myself where I will be painting and giving a live demonstration of my journey.

Thank you for following my journey of abstract painting!!