Daycia

At first glance this piece looks like a poor boy on the streets with his dog. But it looks like his jacket is made out of money. I thought that it was made to represent the sad reality of todays thinking in America. We grow up thinking that money will make our lives easier and therefore we will be much happier and satisfied. But even if we are rich with wealth, we can still be poor. We can be poor in the quality of our relationships, in our health, our mental state, and many other ways. The message is smart, but obvious enough to understand. I feel like it would be even more clear if there was another boy next to him with now money but still smiling and happy. All in all i feel like this work of art is very successful in representing the issue at hand. i chose this piece because i agree that there is a problem with the average thinking of most Americans. Even with all the money you can still see that he is alone and you can feel his pain. || **// I can create and modify artwork through the critique process. //** ||
 * [[image:Screen_shot_2011-01-16_at_4.36.47_PM.png]]ART.VA.II.HS.1

I chose Amy Whinehouse for my figure. not only do i think she's beautiful, but i love her music. I thought it would be nice if i could paint her while listening to her music! Even though i started in the middle of the semester, i was eager to get started. To start out, everyone in class made a grid to scale the original painting. seemed simple enough. but somehow i got the mesurments wrong. My figure's face was stretched out and it looked just awful. There was no easy way to fix it so i had to start over, which set me even farther back. After redoing the grid and pencil sketch it looked pretty good. but as soon as i started to color with the oil pastels my figure took a turn for the worst. i had no idea how to use oil pastels, i just liked the way they looked to i tried them out. my lack of skill caused poor Amy to look sloppy and flat. My art teacher helped me figure out what i had to do. I had to pant over the pastels and add shading. both made my painting come alive a little bit. but in the end i was not satisfied with my work. I rushed it to much and i didn't experiment with mediums like i should've.
 * ART.VA.II.HS.5 || **// I can reflect on the process that led me to my final, successful piece. //** ||



i chose to do something like this because like most people, i know what it feels like to want something or someone. the girl in the photo isnt me, she's representing anyone who has felt longing. the two black figures are her thoughts, or longings, of herself with the person she misses. i tried to make it obvious that the thought is more vivid and detailed than "real life" because shes disengaged with whats actually going on and distracted by her feelings. i started out good but it wasnt very organized after i started putting more detail in it. i ended up cutting out most of the picture leaving the main figures. then i placed them on a wallpaper background and tied everything together with a black boarder. i think it was a success all in all. the meaning turned out pretty clear. everything pretty much flows and the colors are nice.