Self-Reflection Questions for "25 Things About Me Art Project"

• What were your inspirations for creating this artwork?

        Some things that inspired me with the "25 Things About Me" Project were the memories with my grandmother, blue "Forget Me Not" flowers, my house, and how the word love feels to me.

• Which media, techniques, and work processes did you use, and why did you make those choices?

       For the watercolor, I used it as a light base color. I used water to dilute it so that the colors wouldn't be too bright but would be visible. For some texture and 3D effect, I added both yarn and hand-made paper flowers, so it didn't look like a normal watercolor painting. 

• What do you intend for audiences to see, experience, and think about when viewing your work?

        I intended for the audience to see all the hidden details when viewing my work, from the pure white I used on some of the flowers to show the "Purity" when a new life is born to the hidden heart in the broken vase, to show that even though the vase is "broken" there is still love and kindness that can be found underneath all the cracks.​

• What were some of the decisions you faced in creating your artwork?

        Some questions I had to ask myself were "What art supplies will I use for the mixed media?" Normally, due to my own set budget, I use only colored pencils and watercolor, but in the Art II Painting class, it was like a brand new door opened with all the supplies I was able to use, which allowed me to be more creative with the techniques I used in the mixed media painting.

• Did you encounter any difficulties when creating your artwork? How did you work through them?

        At first, I couldn't even start on the project due to my brain having so many ideas for the sketch. I wanted it to be meaningful to me, but also made it to where I could just let out my emotions on the canvas without it being too depressing and ugly, but beautiful and emotional.

• Is there anything about your work that you now think you should have done differently? If so, please explain what and why.

       I feel like for the border with the flowers, I could have made them more detailed and realistic so it matched the sort of realism of shading from the colored pencils in the watercolor drawing.

• Did your work involve research? What kinds of investigations and discoveries were involved?

       Yes, for my projec,t I had to do some research, I had to research what a "Forget Me Not" flower looked like and if it came in different colors, I also looked up "Kinsugi" Which is a Japanese art form where they restore broken pots and vases with Urushi which is a Japanese lacquer, They put either silver powder or gold flakes to make it more beautiful and usable.

• Which are the most successful aspects of your work?

        I feel like the most successful aspects of my artwork were the vase and the use of yarn and paper. At first, I was going to make it look like the yarn was sewn into the paper, but I was worried it would tear the paper, and I would have to restart the whole thing. Sort of sad I didn't take the risk, but I'm overall glad how this project came out.