"Life in Color" watercolor pencil, approximately 15 hours. (18in x 11in)

This piece was done to practice in water color pencils. I consider it mostly successful, because I think I captured the detail and vibrancy of the feathers well, and I think the beak is well done. However, because of a mistake in size requirements, I had to add an extra 1in border, which creates a small line where the colors are uneven. In addition, I discovered water color pencils are not very effective at creating a smooth background, and I would like to change that. I did enjoy the way that watercolor let me blend however, because it allowed me to get a range of colors for the feathers.

"La Mariposa de Otoño" watercolor, 8.5 hours. (14in x 18in)

The inspiration for this piece came from a poem by Pablo Neruda, which shares the name of the piece. I enjoyed the symbolism and colors in the poem and wanted to bring it to life. I also wanted to practice surrealism and watercolors, two subjects I lack in. I found the piece rather easy to complete, though I would like to add more detail to the butterflies. I was originally hesitant on the colors for the clock, but I am glad I  chose the yellow I did. my favorite part of the piece is the sunset sky, because I think I captured the texture effectively.

"Woodland" oil pastels, 1 hour. (19in x 8 in)

This piece was an attempt to practice pastels. I used a branch as a reference for the trunk of the tree, although I changed the placement of some shadows and added on the upper right branch. I began by working with one color, and then transitioning to the next part of the branch, blending as I went. The stag was added afterwards, which I did not use a reference for. The same is true for the bird. I would like to use references for the animals if I were to do it again. The background is a result of trying to cover up the pastel smudges on the paper. I placed small dots of pastel and then smeared them with my finger, as well as smearing the edges of the tree, to create the effect.

"Complements" colored pencils, 4.5 hours. (7.5 in x 9 in)

This piece is a self portrait and a portrait of my boyfriend. The original picture was taken by my friend, and I wanted to recreate it. I decided to do monotone colors as a practice. I chose purple because it was bright, and would stand out against the black background. I then chose yellow/orange because it is the complement of purple. Using one color brings out the brightness of the other. I think I did well, because I did not trace our faces onto the paper in graphite before hand, but rather worked by drawing in the shadows with color as I went. There are a few inaccuracies, especially in the cheek area, but I believe both people are recognizable.

"Roar" colored pencils, 5 hours. (8.5 in x 11in)

This piece was created as a birthday gift for a friend. It was done in colored pencils, because I like the way the colors stand out on colored paper. I chose the brown because it matched the orange/brown of the tiger's fur. I enjoy this piece because of the emotion conveyed in the tiger through its expression. I think the parts I did best on are the mouth and eye, while the fur under the chin could use some improvement. Difficulties arose in layering the colors, because adding white sometimes lightened the black too much, and I had to add yellow, but then blend it so the yellow was not too strong.

"Serene" mixed media: colored pencils and watercolor, 8.5 hours. (14in x 20in)

This piece is a competition piece for Art and Soul. It was created using several reference pictures, and the landscape is all in watercolor, while the peacock is colored pencil. I chose to do this because I wanted the detail to rest in the peacock, with a more Impressionistic style (although not Impressionist) in the other parts of the piece. I enjoy the repetition of colors in the piece, with the greens and blues reappearing throughout the landscape. I also like the contrast with the white of the peacock and the bright background. Places for improvement lie in the water and grass especially. They could have been done more carefully and intricately, adding a strong sense of realism to the piece.

"The Calvary: War, Conquest, Famine and Death" colored pencils, approximately 16 hours. (16 in x 10 in)

These pieces were completed as part of a project focusing around mythology. I chose to depict the four horsemen of the apocalypse from the Judeo-Christian faith. The pieces were meant to seem like stained glass, because religious pieces are typically done in the medium. I incorporated symbols from the story as well. Each horse has a weapon; sword, arrow, balance, and scythe. They also have their own smaller symbol as well; dove, crown, barley and a skull/hourglass. Next to the symbol is either the Lion of Judah or the Lamb of God, which is present in the story as well. These pieces required a great deal of symmetry and display repetition in the similarities of each piece.

"Portrait of a Girl" watercolor pencil, 17 hours.  (15 in x 21 in)

This piece was done in water colored pencils, which I found allow a  larger range of control than watercolors, and a better ability to blend. The most successful part of this piece is the tones on her face, which even though they required many layers, I think I captured accurately. However, there are some anatomical inaccuracies,  especially in the area around her eyes. I would also like to make the hair seem more natural.

"Self Portrait: Windows" colored pencil. 14 hours. currently hanging in the SRQ airport ( 10 in x 16in)

This self portrait was based off one of my senior photos. I plan to enter it into the SRQ art contest. The most difficult part of this was getting the textures and colors in the windows. Similarly, the textures in the shirt and jeans posed a challenge. I think the most successful area of this piece is my hair. If I were to redo the piece, I would pay more attention to the cheek/mouth area of my face, as well as my eyes. Below are both pictures for comparison.

 

"Lionfish" chalk on black paper. (10 in by 16 in)

"Lionfish II" chalk. 5.5 hours (8 in by 12 in)

These two pieces were created as companion pieces as part of my art concentration, which focuses on the theme "Humanity and the Ocean," "Lionfish" was created last year, and I chose to do it on black paper in order to bring the colors out. "Lionfish II" was done on white matboard, but I chose a Black woman as my centerpiece, because her makeup mimics the markings of a lionfish, and the oranges and white are stark against her skin. I chose to do opposites to create contrast between light and dark. 

"Neurology" and "Neurology, Detail" markers. 4 hrs. (16 in by 20 in) 

This piece was a practice of pointillism. I made the black and white skull the focus of an abstract design, which was inspired by photos of neurons under a microscope. The colors were also taken from that image. I purposely left the right side of the image mostly blank because I wanted to create the idea that the tendrils were extending outward. The black and white of the skull was done to contrast against the brightness of the background. The most difficult part of this piece was capturing the dark shadows, while the easiest was working on the tendrils.

"Morelia Viridis" mixed media (colored pencil, ink, watercolor, chalk) on cardstock.  (8.5 in x 11in)

This piece arose when I was practicing the effects of colored pencil on cardstock. I originally chose a bright green snake because I wanted the colors to stand out against the brown cardstock. As I continued, I liked where the piece was going, and decided to create a piece that looked as if it was in a field journal. While certain sketches have detail, such as the head of the main snake, and the snake in the bottom right, others portions are intentionally not as detailed. I wanted to create a sense of someone sitting out and observing this snake in the wild. I added notes in ink around the piece, mostly facts, as well as the name of the animal, and the supposed place and time this piece was supposed to look as if it had been completed in. To make a more antique effect, I added small blotches of yellow/brown water color, and brown chalk which I smudge. For a final effect I created a faux coffee stain. I am very happy with this piece, but I would redo the small snake head in the top left if I repeated this piece.

"Colorado" acrylic. (16 in x 20 in)

The reference picture for this was combined from two pictures my boyfriend sent me while he was visiting Colorado. However, I drastically changed the colors in the landscape, instead using bright reds, yellows, and oranges (with some purple) to create an expressive painting. The emotions in the painting are meant to be strong and have a sense of movement along the hills. 

"Self Portrait: Close Up", graphite and colored pencil. 4.5 hours. (20in x 12in)

I created this piece because I wanted to do a self portrait. The reference picture was one that I took as a close up of my eyes, and I wanted to emphasize the bright blues. I also wanted to use the graphite to create the dark corners and lines in an eye. Doing an eye gave me an opportunity to do a lot of value work in a relatively small portion of my face. The most difficult part was getting the gaze even, but the easiest was the light tones on the bridge of the nose.

"Opening" graphite, watercolor. 15 hours. (18 x 14 inches)
I created this piece to capture the movement and expression that hands hold. I chose the simple act of opening and closing a hand, and tried to get a full range of dimensions and angles. Bright colors in the background create emphasis on the movement, with the most powerful color, red, on the two central positions of the hand, when it is the most open. The most difficult part of this piece was getting the shading on the fingernails to be accurate, and keeping the hands the correct size in relation to each other. The easiest part was doing the background colors.

Opening (Progress)

Works in progress for "Opening", graphite (and eventually watercolor), 13 1/2 hours at this point.

Serengeti Royale

"Serengeti Royale" colored pencil. (16 in x 10 in)

This piece was created to be a competition piece for the SRQ art competition. I wanted to capture the powerfulness and the wildness of the wildlife that inhabits Africa. I chose an elephant as my center because of its strong, powerful connotation, and it's ability to fill the page. The rhino and the zebra were chosen because they fit the greyscale color scheme of the animals. The background is yellow to evoke images of their natural habitat. The zebra is the most successful part of this piece, whereas if I were to redo it, I would improve the anatomy of the elephant, specifically on its tusk and trunks.