Evan Salzman
I have grown up being surrounded by the presence of art. My mother and sister are artists and their love of art, and expressing themselves through art, has influenced me. Ever since I was little, I have enjoyed drawing and painting, as well as photography. Whether it was a simple sketch of my favorite Disney character, a watercolor painting with Crayola paints, or snapshots with my digital camera, I have always showed my growing abilities as an artist. At the age of four I began playing piano, which I also grew to love, and am still playing today. Through music or through art, I have always found a way to be creative. During my elementary and middle school years, my desire to be an artist continued to grow. This school year, as a sophomore, I was able to fit my first high school level art class into my schedule. I was excited for the opportunity to take an art class at Arapahoe.
I arrived enthusiastically to my “Design One” art class and the first project of the semester was assigned. We would be creating monochromatic paintings. This meant using nine different values of one color. By adding black and white to our chosen color, tints and shades of it would be created. I found a picture of an elephant that I liked, and chose to use it for my painting. I started off with the background by painting the canvas blue, as I had decided to use blue as my color. I then mixed my tints and shades and away I went, painting a large elephant. To make my composition more interesting, I added two more elephants.
A monochromatic painting proved to be easier than I had expected. I completed my painting with quite the impressive result, yet I was still surprised when my painting was originally selected for the Arapahoe art show. My peers at my table had said it was good, but I wasn’t aware it was that good. Not until I was chosen as Artist of the Month for my painting!
This has made me feel more confident as an artist and more excited than ever to continue exploring my creative side. I feel as if this has been a learning experience and a positive step in the right direction. I love painting, but I am looking forward to experimenting with other mediums as well. My talent for fine arts as well as my talent for performing arts has influenced how I live my life. Maybe being surrounded by art from such an early age made the difference!
Ciara Perez
When I was told I had been chosen as Artist of the Month I was shocked. I never knew my art was good enough to be singled out from the whole school. It makes me happy to see my hard work being acknowledged because it took many late nights and a lot of patience to finish it. What inspired me to do this project was just a picture of a woman. It was so plain and simple. So I wanted to give it color and uniqueness. I decided to use an array of colors from red, to yellow. I chose these colors to make the woman seem like she is on fire, while also giving her a scale like texture. To do this I used hundred of tiny dots made of paper, and glued them onto the picture in an overlapping fashion. The layer of the picture with the woman starts with red in the center of the picture. Then as the dots make their way outward, they fade through the colors until the dots are yellow. I did the same thing in a reversed pattern with the background layer. I did this so you could see the picture clearly, but it didn’t lose any intensity. In the end I applied a final coat of glue to assure the picture would not fall apart, and then I smiled. I smiled because I was filled with a sense of joy and accomplishment. From doing this project I learned what makes a true artist: a vision, determination, and patience. Now I can honestly say and believe that I am an artist.
