Final Post

I decided to title my painting “Home.” I made it using watercolors on canvas paper, as well as the index cards which I cut into shapes and stuck onto the piece with a gluestick. I lightly sketched some shapes with pencil before using any paint; you can actually still see some of the pencil marks if you look closely. It’s a representational piece that is meant to depict me underwater with a jellyfish, some kelp, and fish in the background. Seeing as I stuck material onto the page, this was done using an additive process.

As you can see, the colors used are cool, for the most part. I do have some yellow sunlight peeking through the surface of the water, the latter being out of sight. I tried to use some value in the water by having the bottom appear a little darker, with the water up top being a little lighter, so as to create some depth.

This piece has a lot of significance to me for multiple reasons. First off, this scene is actually based off a recurring dream I’ve always had where I find myself underneath the ocean’s waters; nothing is really happening, I’m just sort of floating there with all this wildlife surrounding me, and then the dream ends and I wake up. Which is always disappointing to me, because one of my dreams is to explore the deep sea, as I’m fascinated with it. I’ve always felt a really powerful connection to the ocean ever since I was really young, and that’s actually why I named this piece “Home”; because when I’m in the water, or reading through my marine biology books, I always have this strong sense of home, almost as if that’s where I belong. I have a friend who’s interested in astronomy and he tells me that whenever he looks up at the night sky (he lives in the country) or watches videos about the cosmos, he feels that sense of “home” as well. I realized that was exactly how I felt with the sea.

Another reason for this name is that the ocean is indeed a home to a lot of wildlife, and we’re doing

nothing but destroying it. Litter, oil, sunscreen, overfishing, poaching; all of these things are contributing to a

really big problem, that being the decay of our oceans, which are vital to not only ourselves, but to the

animals and other wildlife that live there. I'm a big environmentalist, so these kinds of issues are really

important to me. We need to protect the animals and their homes, for their sake as well as ours.

I just want to end by saying how much I loved this class. Seriously, I never expected to learn as much as I

did, and the trips and art-making were such an enlightening process... I am eternally grateful for having the

opportunity to take this class. You all are such wonderful, talented people (I was blown away by all of your

final projects), and I sincerely wish you all the best! Good luck and have a great summer everyone!