February Challenge

"Cubism"

Marker

My first shot at cubism, a challenging and fun style. It was different to think about the shapes that make up an image and how to convey value and shading through the use of shapes and color. I decided to draw my dog because I miss him very much and I am thinking about him a lot. I'd like to imagine that this is where he is right now, up in the mountains and enjoying the sun.

"Shadows and Peace"

Photography

I took this photo while at the beach in Mexico. each morning I would wake up, walk down to the beach, do some yoga and play my ukulele. It was a really amazing way to start each day. I love the shadow in this photo because it really feels like the beach, it's very breezy and fun. On the beach playing music is really where I feel the most at peace.

"Mother/Father"

Embroidery

Still in the process of finishing Mother Nature... planning on adding a light blue skin tone, some super cool green hair and fun lips! Will post a finished picture when I am done :)

"Temptations"

Watercolor, Pen

This piece is inspired by getting to know someone new, opening up to them and all of the emotions that come with it. It's not easy for some to let others in, and they are reluctant to give out the key to their hearts. When really getting to know someone, most people feel raw, vulnerable, or naked. While opening up to someone is scary, it also holds a lot of temptation and excitement as well.

"Needs"

Photography

This piece was inspired by all life's greatest need: water. Water has an incredible ability to revive everyone and everything and has magical properties. I really love how the water looks in this photo, it was shot at night with an intense flash.

"Surrealism"

Pen, Colored pencil

I love parrot fish, San Francisco, mermaids, and the moon and decided to incorporate all of these elements into my surrealism piece. I drew inspiration from Salvador Dali's Rose painting. This was one of the funner challenges. 

"Something You Love"

Marker on Frisbee

This project holds a lot of things I love: the sport ultimate frisbee, the boulder High frisbee team where I have made many new friends, and the beautiful Flatirons along with the rest of the environment that surrounds Boulder!

"Voyeurism" 

photography

I took this photo of a homeless man on the bus earlier this winter. I love his expression 

and the washed-out feel of the photograph. Voyeurism is a very interesting concept

 and it was fun to give it some thought.

"Music"

Colored pencil, glue, art board

I decided to draw Boy George, one of my favorite musicians for music. I love how he is able to make art along with his music, in the way he dresses, dances, and sings. The subject matter of his music is also very inspiring, talking about being different and it being ok.

"Night with Text" 
gouache paint
This piece was inspired by the Rocky Horror Picture Show and the song "Creature of the Night."
 Dr. Frank n Furter is the main character and the "creature of the night" that helps the other characters embrace their own sexualities. I went for a pop-art style which was both challenging and fun.

"Food and Repetition" 

 Pasta, potato, cucumber, pepper, tomato, lettuce, beets, cheese, blueberries.

 Ms Schick it's you outta food! Fun to experiment with a new medium and really push myself in terms of creating a face 

"Macro" 

 gouache paint

This is based off of my bamboo plant, it was definitely a challenging perspective.

 I like the colors, it makes me feel zen :)

"New"

 colored pencil

 For the first project of the February challenge, I wanted to focus on new and current events,
and there is certainly a new revolution that is starting.

"Breakfast" 

Chalk Pastel 

I absolutely love breakfast and snooze has some of the best food around.. this is the French Toast Neat from Snooze that is my regular, along with a side of hash browns :)

Works Sept. - Oct. 2016

This is a pen drawing I did of my friend. In her sunglasses, it says "Am I Sexy Yet?" I was inspired by all of the pressure/expectations I feel there are on teenage girls to act sexy and receive male attention. Hoping to use this one in my concentration :)

This is a self-portrait that I did for fun using pen and gouache. The lemons in the background have straws in the them and all say "suck it." This piece was really inspired by my own feelings, and how relationships and emotions are constantly in flux. 

This is a gouache painting of my friend Jack as a jackrabbit. I wanted to play with  art and humor as well as surrealism, but also wanted to comment on that young people are often not taken seriously. This is partially due to our own immaturity, but also due to the low expectations adults have of us to begin with.

This is an oil painting 24x36. I really wanted to challenge myself with a larger scale and oil paint, as well as the subject matter of a landscape, which I don't paint very often. I'm pretty happy with the results, I'm hoping to go back in and add a few more leaves to seal up the gaps, and get a better photo for my portfolio. I think it will fit in really nicely with my breadth.

This is an a multimedia piece of my friend, Lily. The majority of it is acrylic paint, but there is some red glitter on her lips, and the rims of the glasses are little beads I sewed in. This was really fun to create and I definitely want to do more mixed media art in the future. I wanted to comment on all of the fun teenage life holds, and how festive and loving it can be. 

This is the cyanotype that kicked off the year. I colored in my friend,  Alana with colored pencil and markers.  This was a really fun piece, I wanted to go with an edgy, but also exciting feeling, and play with the complementary colors of the blue background and the orange/yellow skin. 

This is a pointillism ink drawing I created for my friend, Sam. I usually always draw people and wanted to try a different subject. I also tried to play with the body/patterns of the fish's scales along with the mountain scene in its body. It was really fun and I think it could be cool to do a couple of other animals.

Summer Homework

This is a small watercolor I did of a beautiful blue door from Venice, Italy. The door has quite a bit of personal significance and a magical aspect to me, which is what I tried to capture in the vibrant blue of the door against the very plain background. The sort of weird brick adds a funky flair, something I wanted because the whole story of the door and where it is in Venice is very funky too.

This is a collage I did of my entomologist uncle Vern out of paper bugs. I spent hours cutting out and gluing on moths, butterflies, ladybugs, catapillars, dragonflies, stick bugs, and more. The process was a lot of fun but very time consuming, and overall I am pretty happy with the results. 

This is a drawing I did for my friend Sam who is a big fisherman. It is a pointilism drawing which definitely tested my knowledge of value and my patience. I usually am one to always make art commenting on human nature, and I wanted to try something a little different and branch out of my usual inspiration.

This is a series that I did of my family over the summer. They are all countor drawings on a larger scale. What I really wanted to capture was the overall energy of each family member, which I think show through in each of the different drawings.

Bode

Grandma & the Sea

This drawing is called He and Her and completely came from my head. I believe that he is looking at her, while she is looking at something entirely different...sort of the way high school relationships seem to go. I wanted to try something different within the faces, so I added in those lines. Could be fun to do these as a series.

This is a henna tattoo I drew on my friend, Charlie's back. It was a lot different than using paint, mostly because I had to squeeze the henna out of a tube as I drew, and it was pretty interesting using skin as a canvas. I really tried to use the elements of the human back to work well with the elephant head, the trunk is the spine and the ears are the shoulder blades. I definitely want to experience with henna more.

This is a watercolor I did of my friend Kate late one night in Rome. It was very impromptu and fun, but I love it because the drawing holds so many memories and emotions that I experienced while on the trip. This little watercolor basically sums up my summer!

These are photos I took of my friend, Arieh, over the summer. He is an extremely talented dancer and he is also gay. I wanted to convey the message that being different is ok, and that pushing the boundaries is an exciting/important thing to do.