Project by: Alexa Kennedy (11th Grade)
Project Advisor: James French
Student(s)’s Advisor(s): Preethi Thomas-Mcknight
Description of the Project:
In this honors project, I hoped to learn how to oil paint. I always see these incredible paintings in the art studio that are done with that medium and I wanted to try my hand at creating artwork using it as well. My grandmother used to use oil paint to do beautiful landscape pieces, which also inspired me to do this project. I wanted to learn the basics of oil painting, how to take care of the materials, and how to create a successful painting.
2019-2020 Update for Trimester 3:
Since I did not have access to the studio in trimester 3, I had to do all of my art from home. However, I think this was definitely a blessing in disguise! I made a lot of art over the course of this trimester from this honor’s project, so I will describe them all in the order that they were created.
#1 my self-portrait (acrylic painting):
This was my first assignment and I am really happy with how it turned out! When James first told me to do a self-portrait, I was kinda disinterested because I have done so many in the past. However, this one was different because it came with a catch: I had to paint this from life rather than a picture. Though I thought this would be much harder than using a photograph, I found that the lack of one made my painting much more realistic and actually easier to paint. I want to make many more portraits from life in the future!
#2 landscapes (watercolor)
For this assignment, James wanted me to do four paintings at four different times in the day. I couldn’t find all of the pieces from the first round of paintings, but the ones shown are the late afternoon and early evening ones. When I showed these to James, he told me to focus more on how the colors changed with every new time of day. In my first set of paintings, I kept the color for the grass relatively the same, but in my next set, I made sure to show the change in time of day through explicit and obvious color change. For example, I tried to make the sky a different color in every watercolor study.
#3 Plein air landscape (acrylic painting):
For this painting James wanted me to go outside and paint a landscape. The first time I did this I felt content with the precise and clean nature of the painting, but the comments that James gave me made me rethink my opinion of it. After I finished the first painting, he had me look up landscapes that Manet and Van Gogh did to inspire me and to give me an idea of the landscape he wanted me to paint. He told me that there should be no sharp edges in my paintings and that I should let my audience fill in the gaps in my work. The second time I painted this, I tried to be much looser with my technique and to make every brush stroke meaningful. I am not sure which painting I prefer, but I think I like the second one better.
2019-2020 Update for Trimester 2:
In trimester two, I worked on two acrylic paintings, but I only made significant progress on one. The first painting I worked on was of a cat sitting in the oval office, an idea that James helped me come up with, but that I am still very proud of myself for rendering. I have only completed the outline of this painting so far, but I am excited to continue working. on it. Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos of this painting, but once I have an opportunity I will put one up on this blog post For the majority of the trimester, I worked on my second painting, which was a self-portrait of me surrounded by butterflies. Here are some photos of the progress I made on this painting over the trimester:
This painting was the most challenging piece I have ever made (it’s still not finished, so there are definitely more challenges ahead), especially because it was by far the largest canvas I have ever created. I have never made anything in a surreal style before, and I was really impressed that I had made up this scene in my head all by myself. I am really proud of how the butterflies and the dress came out, because they both required a lot of time and precision that I originally wasn’t sure how to go about doing. This painting frustrated me a lot, especially when it came to painting my skin, highlights, and shadows. I definitely need to learn how to add highlights when I’m painting skin in a more efficient way, and I really appreciate how so many people in my class took time to help me learn this skill. In conclusion, I am excited to finish this painting and I am proud of the work I have completed in this trimester.
2019-2020 Update for Trimester 1:
During this trimester, I worked on completing a portrait of my friend Natalie that I had been working on since trimester 3 last year. This is the largest portrait I have ever made, and since I was using acrylic paint, I was nervous about how it was going to turn out. At the time, I didn’t feel very comfortable with the medium I was using, and I wasn’t sure that the painting would be successful. Since I had already worked the majority of the underpainting last trimester, this trimester I worked on adding colors and finishing the painting. The most challenging part of this process was painting Natalie’s skin. I was really inspired by the paintings I had seen where the colors weren’t perfectly blended, and you could see the value differences in the shadows and highlights of the face. I tried to blend out the skin enough so that it looked clean and neat, but not too much so that her face looked the same color throughout the painting. I don’t know if I fully accomplished this, but here is how the painting turned out:
Even though I am very happy with this painting, there are still some things about it that I would like to fix. James told me that it is finished, but I still want to continue painting her shirt. I also want to make her hair more like it is in real life. Natalie has wavy hair, and I wish I was able to convey that in this painting. On the other hand, I am really proud of how her face looks. I know that her eyes look very simple, but I think that her gaze is powerful and calm. I think that her lips came out very well, as they were one of the hardest parts of her face to paint. Overall, I think that this painting was successful, and it is one of my best pieces yet.
2018-2019 Update for Trimester 3: Not submitted
2018-2019 Update for Trimester 2:
I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to do this honors project this trimester. During this project, I explored two different painting mediums: watercolor and gauche. I started learning to use watercolor paints by making value charts and doing a few brief 5-15 minutes still life paintings. Some of the most important concepts that I learned about watercolor were how transparent the paint was, the importance of preserving white space on the paper in order to portray light, how to mix colors, the materials necessary to paint with watercolor, and more. Here is the value chart that I made using watercolor:
During this trimester, I also learned how to use gauche paint. I think that it was very wonderful for me to use this paint because it is one of my favorite mediums that I have ever used. I greatly enjoy how gauche is an opaque kind of watercolor because it has a very nice consistency. The only painting that I made with gauche was a still life of a baby doll in the studio art room, and I think that for my first gauche painting it came out nice. Here is the baby doll painting:
I loved doing this honors project and I hope that I get to continue it next trimester.
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2019-2020 T1 Project Proposal
Please write a description of the project you are proposing. Why do you want to take this on, and what do you hope to learn?
I want to continue learning how to paint with different mediums as I did last year. I would like to take this on because I greatly enjoy painting and I hope to learn how to become a better painter.
Critical thinking, creativity, citizenship and courage are essential LREI learning values. Explain how you’ll draw on at least one of these values to complete your proposed project?
I will draw on the creativity value because I will use the skills I learn in this honors project to express my creativity.
What is your proposed outcome? How will you be able to demonstrate successful completion of this Project? How do you plan to share your learnings with the larger LREI community (e.g., exhibit of work, poster of learnings, performance, etc.)?
My proposed outcome is to create many paintings using a variety of mediums. I will be able to demonstrate the completion of this project when James has run out of painting mediums to teach me. I can share my learnings with the larger LREI community by exhibiting my work.
Please provide a general outline that indicates your work plan for the trimester? What are some of the key project benchmarks (i.e., goals that will help to ensure that you finish the project)?
I will go to the art room and paint with a variety of different mediums until the trimester ends. I will finish this project by working on my paintings as often as I can at school, and by meeting with James at least once a week.
When do you plan on meeting?
Thursday X block
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2018-2019 T3 Project Proposal
Please write a description of the project you are proposing. Why do you want to take this on, and what do you hope to learn?
I want to continue working on the honors project that I started last trimester. I want to learn and experiment with more painting mediums in order to improve my painting skills.
Critical thinking, creativity, citizenship and courage are essential LREI learning values. Explain how you’ll draw on at least one of these values to complete your proposed project?
I will draw on creativity in my project because I will use my imagination to create some of the paintings that I will make.
What is your proposed outcome? How will you be able to demonstrate successful completion of this Project? How do you plan to share your learnings with the larger LREI community (e.g., exhibit of work, poster of learnings, performance, etc.)?
My proposed outcome is that I will learn how to use various painting mediums. I will be able to demonstrate successful completion of this project by creating many paintings. I plan to share my learnings with the larger LREI community by creating a poster of learnings.
Please provide a general outline that indicates your work plan for the trimester? What are some of the key project benchmarks (i.e., goals that will help to ensure that you finish the project)?
I will meet with James every Monday during lunch and paint inside and outside of that class time.
When do you plan on meeting?
Monday lunch
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2018-2019 T2 Project Proposal
Please write a description of the project you are proposing. Why do you want to take this on, and what do you hope to learn?
In this honors project, I hope to learn how to oil paint. I always see these incredible paintings in the art studio that are done with that medium and I wanted to try my hand at creating artwork using it as well. My grandmother used to use oil paint to do beautiful landscape pieces which have also inspired me to do this project. I want to learn the basics of oil painting, how to take care of the materials, and how to create a successful painting. I am hoping that this is project will allow me to create works on my own once I have finished it.
Critical thinking, creativity, citizenship and courage are essential LREI learning values. Explain how you’ll draw on at least one of these values to complete your proposed project?
I will draw on creativity in this project by creating a painting that will utilize my own ideas and knowledge.
What is your proposed outcome? How will you be able to demonstrate successful completion of this Project? How do you plan to share your learnings with the larger LREI community (e.g., exhibit of work, poster of learnings, performance, etc.)?
My proposed outcome would be to create a painting using oil paint that demonstrates my understanding of the medium. I would share my learning with the larger LREI community by exhibiting my final work.
Please provide a general outline that indicates your work plan for the trimester? What are some of the key project benchmarks (i.e., goals that will help to ensure that you finish the project)?
I would first learn the basics of the medium itself, then experiment with different techniques and topics before settling on a concept for my finished work. By the middle of the trimester, I should have some understanding of the medium and have begun my final painting.
When do you plan on meeting?
Wednesday X Block
