JAMES DEAN
GRAPHITE DRAWING
19x15
I did a self-portrait of James Dean because he represents the nostalgia I have. He inspired me to have a vintage aesthetic in my photography because through him, I realize how lively my childhood and the rebellious child I was. I see myself through him as he saw rebellion was the only key to absolute freedom and with that comes with great personal responsibility. Throughout the process, I anticipated common challenges. I struggled the most shading the right eye because the contrast and the exposure was off on the picture. However, I did try many attempts shading and highlighting certain parts of the right eye and from there, it was starting to form a well shaded right eye.
THE BIRTH OF VENUS
CONTÉ DRAWING
19x15
The Birth of Venus represents the image of a real strong woman. She symbolizes the feminine power that gives equal treatments to both genders. She is the reason to include women in my artworks because she holds such magnificent power that the society must adhere in every women in this world. She empowered me to see women strong, powerful, and has the same equilibrium as men. But through the process, I had a hard time fixing her flawless hair because I was experimenting at that time. This was a drawing that taught me about going for a realistic and unrealistic approach to this artwork and the use of different shading in certain exposure of the image itself. For instance, it taught me to use darker colour and a bright tint of highlight to get a realistic outcome. All in all, the work gave me insights of certain techniques in shading and balancing out the exposure and the contrast.
THE WILD DEER
PASTEL PAINTING
13x13
The Wild Deer resembles who I am because the deer might seem innocent in appearance but deep inside the deer is wild and outgoing. The colourful tone of its body represents the positive attitude I have today. Its long for nature depicts my spiritual connectivity to the natural world. In the process of this artwork, I did struggle blending in different colours and texture on its body. I solved this challenge by making bold and slight blended marks on certain areas of its body to create a well exposed deer.
PRISCILLA
NUDE PAINTING
9"x12"
Priscilla is the embodiment of a confident woman were she is no longer sought as a sexual being but rather a powerful being. The water represents the woman being reborn from a state of oppression and has risen to fully claim her power as the sun. The woman is in a state of realization that she is worth more than her beauty, her body, her capabilities and her being a woman. She has become fully aware that she controls the cosmos as the cosmos is in favour of her. This painting was done with oil paints and palette knives. It took me a long time getting her skin tone balanced with the contrast in the image but I succeeded by putting multiple layers on top of contrasting colours.
THE GUZEI BRIDGE
IMPRESSIONISM/OIL PAINTING
30"x36"
The Guzei Bridge emphasizes the bright childhood I had which is the best moments of my life. My childhood comforts me every now and then and it is mostly the source of my creativity. The Guzei bridge represents the spiritual growth I went through and the strong relationships I have with people. I had absolute freedom and happiness when I was a child and that is the reason I look up so dearly in my past. This painting is the whole reflection of me reminiscing and reflecting my childhood. I struggled the most with the reflection of the Guzei bridge because from the start I did not know how to make it impressionistic. I overcame this struggle by using a smaller brush. At the time I was using a big brush and that was the mistake I had working with a slightly detailed impressionistic piece.