Rationale
For my five quality pieces, time and careful judgement was used to select the best of my life's work.
"Pain", my first selection for quality, was done in the spring of last year. For this drawing I experimented with black and white charcoal for the second time. Revisiting charcoal after a few years was a good decision; it has since become my favorite and most heavily used medium. The piece is one of my favorites due to the high range of values I was able to achieve. The figure was also made proportionately and realistically, which has been a challenge to for me in the past. The drawing also provided me with a way to communicate through my art; a sense of pain can be observed and felt from looking at this piece.
"Windows" was another piece selected for quality due to the high range of values achieved. There is a greater sense of realism in this piece than there is in many of my other pieces, and the eyes are very emotional. Evoking emotion in my viewer is something I strive to do, and I feel this piece does a good job at it. This piece was a great way for me to further develop my skills and practice observation.
"Introspection" was one of the easiest of my portfolio to select for quality. Self portraits have always been a struggle for me, so deciding to use myself as a subject was taking a risk, but I pulled through and reached a great likeness to myself with this piece. The softness achieved by using cotton swabs and cotton balls is one of its best attributes and gives it a greater sense of realism.
"Reflection" is one of my older drawings, but it remains one of my favorite. The style of this piece is what I am most drawn to; tight at the top and refined, yet loose and sketchy towards the bottom. This was definitely a skill-building opportunity for me, helping me to get a better sense of the human figure and working with graphite.
"The Face of Wisdom", out of everything I have made, was one of the most challenging pieces. Not only was the reference photo very detailed, I flipped my substrate upside-down. A lot of problem solving went into this one due to the nature of how it was drawn; not being able to identify my subject was highly difficult. However, it was a great skill-building exercise which forced me to focus on observation and value shifts. The likeness to the photograph in spite of the challenge is what makes it one of my top quality pieces.
"Pain", my first selection for quality, was done in the spring of last year. For this drawing I experimented with black and white charcoal for the second time. Revisiting charcoal after a few years was a good decision; it has since become my favorite and most heavily used medium. The piece is one of my favorites due to the high range of values I was able to achieve. The figure was also made proportionately and realistically, which has been a challenge to for me in the past. The drawing also provided me with a way to communicate through my art; a sense of pain can be observed and felt from looking at this piece.
"Windows" was another piece selected for quality due to the high range of values achieved. There is a greater sense of realism in this piece than there is in many of my other pieces, and the eyes are very emotional. Evoking emotion in my viewer is something I strive to do, and I feel this piece does a good job at it. This piece was a great way for me to further develop my skills and practice observation.
"Introspection" was one of the easiest of my portfolio to select for quality. Self portraits have always been a struggle for me, so deciding to use myself as a subject was taking a risk, but I pulled through and reached a great likeness to myself with this piece. The softness achieved by using cotton swabs and cotton balls is one of its best attributes and gives it a greater sense of realism.
"Reflection" is one of my older drawings, but it remains one of my favorite. The style of this piece is what I am most drawn to; tight at the top and refined, yet loose and sketchy towards the bottom. This was definitely a skill-building opportunity for me, helping me to get a better sense of the human figure and working with graphite.
"The Face of Wisdom", out of everything I have made, was one of the most challenging pieces. Not only was the reference photo very detailed, I flipped my substrate upside-down. A lot of problem solving went into this one due to the nature of how it was drawn; not being able to identify my subject was highly difficult. However, it was a great skill-building exercise which forced me to focus on observation and value shifts. The likeness to the photograph in spite of the challenge is what makes it one of my top quality pieces.