Reghan

For this project, I chose this painting called the “Tango Heat,” because it was a very moving piece to me. It took a while for me to actually decide what I was gonna do for my figurative grid drawing. But once I had my mind set, the inspiration I had for this project really took over. I believe that the best part about this piece I did, was the color and contrast of the people’s skin. There wasn’t many colors in the picture, but it took a lot of colors to mix together to make the picture. I draw and paint as it is on my spare time, so if I made a mistake on my work, it always bothers me untill I fix it to better standards. Especially if someone else is looking at my work, I feel like I’m starring at the part of the picture that I think doesn’t look the greatest.

The hardest part of this project for me, would probably of been the media I used. I wanted this picture to challenge me. Make me struggle and think I couldn’t do it. I have a problem with “Going darker or dark enough.” I’ve never used oil pastels before in such a detailed manner. Contrast is very difficult for me. Especially if I draw with graphite, 9b is my pencil.

Drawing people alone is already a challenging task. I’m very proud of my work, but it’s not perfect. The faces of both the people wer very difficult, but I pushed myself to keep trying. Usually I loose my patients, then I have to put my work aside, and look at it with fresh eyes on a new day, but not this one. I was determined to finish this picture, and I feel like I finished it with success. If I were to have to go back an fix it, I’d probably just go darker for better contrast.



The reason I chose this particular theme was because of the learning aspect of it. Today there is so many teens making risky decisions and not realizing the consequence of what could actually happen. Speaking as a teen myself we are easily blind sided and naive with some of the choices we make. This theme represents something I don't ever want to go through, or see someone else go through.

For this project I literally changed my social issue three different times. I didn't know what to do at first, or even know how to do it. When I finally found out what I wanted to do. AGAIN I found myself starting over. This project was started out on a tri-fold, I had facts and definitions... but still. AGAIN something wasn't working for me. It wasn't till I verbally brain stormed with Mrs. Ruggles about my layout and she made me realize that this wasn't a science fair project. I needed to do something more to it. Make it a work of art. So I started over.

I started out with my figures first, I ended up making three people, one for each point of view. The first one was a young pregnant girl that u see there in the middle, the second was a young male holding a baby and then the figure sitting in jail. I ended up only using two of the figures, the girl and the prisoner. The next thing I had to do next was start on this giant blank canvas. Everything came to me fast then. The girl was the first thing down. I tried making her represent or look like the figure shown in the picture. After so many times of starting over, I would say I am very satisfied with the outcome.

If I ever had to do this project again I would always start with something big and blank, like a canvas. Not a tri-fold that says "science fair." I went from giving out a bunch of information trying to explain what my project was about, to making people figure it out themselves. And if you saw what i started out with first, you would understand what I'm talking about. Sometimes it takes more than a lot of starting over to get the right outcome, but when it comes to the theme I chose, why not START by making the right choice first? Because in reality we can't necessarily start over.



I believe what the artist is trying to portray is obviously what is expressed here. Cigarettes are harmful. We all know this, but it's interesting how the artist expresses how cigarettes are harmful with out the use of words. The dull colors used to amplify something dreadful shows clearly what the artist is telling us, that this isn't a joyful picture. Cigarettes kill. I especially like how they painted a half a person flowing into a skeleton then into a tree. Because face it, when we die, we're usually put into the ground, soil that trees grow from. At least that's the vibe I'm getting. I think this is a successful painting. And the artist was creative in doing so.