Project by: Onaje Grant-Simmonds (11th Grade)
Project Advisor: James French
Student(s)’s Advisor(s): Jacqueline Baker

Through painting the three portraits I have made thus far, I have improved a lot on my technical and conceptual skills. While painting Jacob, I learned the value in painting holistically—covering the whole

surface with even a messy, transparent layer of paint just to simulate what final product. While painting this, I instead painted the composition patch by patch. The end result was a painting with my hard edges and dissonance, which fortunately added to the character of the portrait.

Between painting Jacob and my next portrait, I painted a portrait of a bearded man while attending a figure drawing class at the Art Students League of New York. In this portrait, I

used three layers to optimize the harmony and construction of the painting. My first layer (after my under painting) was a wet layer of colors creating a fuzzy depiction of my subject. My depiction less and less fuzzy as I rendered the secondary and tertiary forms of the face in my second and third layer of paint—while considering my use of color temperature, saturation, value, and texture. I aimed to use what I learned at the ASL in my next narrative portrait of my grandpa. After just one layer of rendering, though, I was already satisfied with the aesthetic of the piece.

My painting of Dakota was when I fully embraced all stages of painting. Before even touching the canvas, I made three color studies testing different color harmonies for my composition. After choosing my favorite study, I created the underpainting. Following that was the first layer, blocking in groups of colors and values. The second layer consisted of anatomical corrections and tertiary rendering. The third was details.

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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 will be continuing my portrait painting honors project from last year. I hope to continue my advancing my mastery of form, color, shading, composition, and facial anatomy.

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 my critical thinking as I will be analyzing the forms in my reference. I will draw on my creativity as I make my pieces as aesthetically pleasing as possible.

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.)?

By the end of this trimester, I hope to see great improvement between my last portrait and the first portrait of trimester 3. I will share what I have learned by presenting the paintings to the school in the art room or on the walls.

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)?

Now knowing how long it takes me to make a portrait, I hope to create at least 3 in this short trimester.

When do you plan on meeting?
Thursday and Wednesday x-blocks.

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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?

I will be painting portraits of people I know with oil paints. I wish to do this in order to further improve my mastery of oils and of depicting three dimensional forms using light and shadow.

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 be drawing on critical thinking as I analyze my subjects, and creativity as I figure at how to make pleasing compositions in all of my paintings

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.)?

Last year, I did not make as many paintings as I would like, so this year I hope to make at least 4 paintings.

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)?

Every Tuesday x-block, and some Thursdays after school, I will work on my paintings. I will constantly receive feedback from James in order to improve.

When do you plan on meeting?
Tuesday during x-block.

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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?

Ari will take portraits of around 10 classmates. He will also take photos of each of them performing their passion (basketball, soccer…etc.). Then Onaje will paint them in oils.
Ari is hoping to practice taking photos in a more intuitive way, creating the photo through the subject, and not of the subject.
Onaje is hoping to study the anatomy of the human face and gestural poses.

What is your proposed outcome? How will you be able to demonstrate successful completion of this Project?

We hope to have a series of portraits and gestural oil paintings along with the accompanying reference photos.

When do you plan on meeting?
We’ll meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays during x-block.