The goal of the “Hand Study'' was to create five hands using pencil as well as creating a background with colored pencils. I enjoyed studying my hand and trying to replicate it on paper. This piece helped me improve my understanding of shading. It was also one of the first times for me to create a work of art on a larger scale. Most of the time before this class I had just used sketchbook paper. This piece taught me a more in depth understanding of realistic art. For the background I experimented with a loose outline of the outside of the hands. The background ended up looking almost like water because the main color I used was blue. I then used pinks and greens to bring more vibrancy to the piece. For the hands I used sign language, they spell peace. I enjoyed blending different colors and seeing the new results. Overall, this piece was one of my favorites to create.

The goal of the “Shattered Value Drawing” was to create a realistic drawing with a pattern on top of it. Then, you would shade in the remaining pieces making sure that the same values do not touch. My idea was to base the drawing on the ballet “Swan Lake”. The funny thing is that my dance studio announced that we were performing Swan Lake after I started this piece! I am a ballerina and have been since I was 3. Dance has always been an important part of my life and I wanted this piece to reflect that. So, I decided to draw a dancer with a swan pattern on top. I found the shading incredibly difficult on this piece, but I believe it worked out in the end. I enjoyed experimenting with different values and using different pencils accordingly. For me, I found drawing the dancer to be the hardest part of this piece. I kept having to redraw the proportions over and over again. The dancer did not end up perfect, but I ended up happy with the results. This piece was hard, but I found the end results worthwhile.

The theme of the “Warm/Cool Balance Painting” was to create a painting with balance through asymmetry, symmetry, or radial balance. I chose to focus on symmetrical balance and a bit of radial balance in the flower. I used warm colors for the flower, such as pinks, reds, yellows, and oranges. I used cool colors in the lily pads and water, such as blues and greens. My favorite part of this painting was layering the colors. In the water I used a lot of different shades of blue. I added dark blues to mimic shadows and depth and I used lighter blues to show highlights. For the lily pads I used brushstrokes that mimicked radial symmetry. They always went out from the center. In the flower I used different layers of pinks to show depth and to highlight the flower as well. Acrylic paint is one of my favorite mediums to use and I am very happy with the results I created.