My oil painting was the most successful piece of mine this semester. This piece was the most successful in my eyes because it was the first time I had ever used oil paints. The picture the painting was based off of is on the right and the painting itself is on the left. The picture is of hay bales that I found while running around my grandfather's farm in Kansas over spring break. The picture is specifically of twigs that were in between to rows of hay bales. To complete this project, I first painted a red acrylic wash in the background; this wash was used to place emphasis on certain areas in the painting by leaving the red wash to show through. It was essential to use acrylic for the red wash so that it would dry quickly. Then working from the background, to the middle ground, and lastly to the foreground, I slowly worked my way through the painting. The individual pieces of hay are randomly placed in each hay bale. To create this effect in my painting, I first went over the hay bale with patterned criss crosses and then layered the first coat with detailed and random pieces of hay. Oil paints helped the image pop with color.
2. Discuss one project where you felt you were the least successful. Explain why you felt this way. What would you do differently to change this piece? Explain.
My least successful project this semester was my scratch board. My scratch board goal was to achieve motion in the picture. The picture is of a pool deck at the Triangle Aquatic Center. There are many parts of this piece that I really like but overall it is my least successful piece because the idea had a lot more potential than was accomplished in the piece. While I was completing the scratch board, I also became very impatient with the scratch board. The pool deck itself is messy and sloppy. At the end I was able to add splashed at the end each lane to symbolize the swimmers swimming past the pictures edge; the splashes were the most successful part of the piece. If I were to do this again, I would make the splashes the center of the piece and would have taken my time with the pool deck.
3. Look at your body of work over the semester and choose 2 pieces that show your growth as an artist. Discuss each piece and how you grew in the following areas: application of materials, techniques and skills, artistic vision, use of the principles and elements, creativity, intuition and subject matter.
The surrealism painting was the first project I did in Art 3. The piece was originally suppose to be water color with some acrylic paint, but ended up being all acrylic. My application with acrylic paint is obviously more mature in the reflection piece with the puppy. I learned throughout Art 3 to stay away from black; using dark purple, blues, or reds create the same effect and adds more depth than black does. Also my paintings have become more realistic and less cartoon like. Creativity on my subject has also widened. Instead of doing the stereotypical water reflection piece, I looked for a reflection in different areas and was inspired when sitting on the hardwood floor of my home by my sleeping puppy. With my realism project, it took a long time and a lot of pushing from Mrs. Rossi to develop the idea of a underwater city. Through the duration of the class, I was able to open my mind more than it had been at the start of the class.
5. What medium was your favorite to work with? Explain. 
My favorite medium to work with is acrylic paint. Overall, any kind of paint is my preference. I enjoy working with acrylic paint over oil because acrylic paint dries significantly faster than oil. Oil paint dries so slowly that I become frustrated with the constant smudges I make from accidentally touching the piece. The speed of acrylic paint's ability to dry also allows me to layer the colors. Many people prefer oil paint over acrylic because of how bright oil paint color is; I feel that I am able to capture almost the same vivid color through acrylic without having to wait weeks for the paint to dry. I prefer paint over drawing because paint is more forgiving than drawing. I constantly paint over my work trying to find the perfect combination of colors with many different shades. With drawing I feel that I have one chance to get color combinations and proportions correct. Erasing still leaves slight marks which infuriate me. The piece I used to portray acrylic paint above is a portrait of my older sister. Even though the piece is primarily black and white, there are thousands of shades of gray in which I feel that I could not achieve with prismacolors or oil paints. Both prismacolors and oil paints blend better than any medium, however they blend almost too well for me.
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