I have thoroughly enjoyed the first half of my senior project. So far, I have spent much of my project finding my interests and attempting them in different ways. My plan has switched around a bit but has stayed mainly focused on the human figure. I have continued to sculpt, sketch, and now paint, surrounding the figure. I have almost entirely completed my first sculpture and I am about halfway through my first painting. I have surprisingly really enjoyed painting, even though I have never really done it before. I have spent the last 3 days preparing my board, doing the initial drawing, and the underpainting. I have really enjoyed finding my “voice” in my painting or finding an intentional way to make my paintings, that are focused on the anatomy of the figure, interesting through the marks of my brushes and the ways I put colors together. I am very excited to see where this painting goes and how I grow because of my attempt at this new medium. 

In terms of my sculpture, I have found it a bit difficult to complete my first one. I think this has a lot to do with both my lack of motivation because it can be hard to work on the same project all day every day, as well as my feeling that this initial final product has to be perfect. Looking forward, I hope to complete two large sculptures by the end of this project, including the head which is my first project. I plan to complete this sculpture and let it out to dry by the end of this week. For my second large sculpture, I am debating between attempting another full-body or majority body sculpture, which I have done a lot in the past, or attempting a smaller, more focused study of a body part. 

Overall, I am very happy about how this project is going and how much fun I am having in the process. I have also loved my schedule throughout this project, being able to create my own schedule every day and then having a day full of Senior Seminars and meetings to discuss the work I’ve been doing on Tuesdays. I have had a great time in both the New Yorker Seminar and the Sewing Seminar, and I am really glad I had the opportunity to spend one day out of the week learning about and doing things that aren’t necessarily connected to my overall senior project. Additionally, I am really proud of myself for branching out of my comfort zone and attempting a painting, which is something I have wanted to do for such a long time but never took the time to actually do. I am also very proud of the time I have taken to refine and develop my skills in ceramics and to understand the shapes and movements of the figure. Lastly, I have noticed a large shift in my ability to manage my time and I am really happy about it.