My Portfolio

Artist Statement

I designed this painting for a Painting II project. The color scheme that I chose was triadic colors. I knew I wanted my rose to symbolize something I could relate to and that when I saw my painting on my wall, I would be reminded of it. I researched the meaning of each colored rose and found that the orange rose symbolizes energy and desire, which are two words that perfectly describe my journey in high school. When one transitions from middle school to high school, so much freedom and opportunity are opened up to you. The classes you can take and the amount of friends you can make are endless. You suddenly become a rose in an attempt to bloom and become the most vibrant, outstanding, and brilliant. In addition, I wanted my stem to be green, and after closely examining the color wheel, I noticed orange, green, and purple were evenly spaced out. However, I did not want to simply paint my rose and stem a single, plain color, so I went with all kinds of tints and shades of each. I enjoy the contrast in the values of the colors I choose and how they add warmth and depth to the painting.

I named this piece of artwork Night Light due to the bright light produced by bioluminescent jellyfish. I made this piece by creating droplets of different colored watercolor paint with my paintbrush, placing the drops on my paper, and blowing the paint to make them travel with a straw. The pathways created by the paint reminded me of the abstract and loose image of jellyfish's tentacles. With darker shades, I attempted to create shadows, and with a pen, I created outlines, hoping that they would give my painting texture and dimension.

Night Light

Artist Statement

60's Disco

I named this painting 60's Disco due to the painting's bright colors and similar pattern to one that you would have seen in clothing, posters, and stickers in the late 60's. I created this painting by scattering dots of dye all over a tray with water. As the dye spread, I dropped a second droplet of dye in a different color at the center of the dots. I repeated this process several times until I had used all the colors I desired. Finally, I used a thin plastic stick to go from the outermost layer of color (red) and dragged the paint towards the center of the shape, creating individual petals and forming a flower.

Artist Statement

Wild and free

This painting was done using flame soot. The smoke that comes from the wick is messy and constantly moving in different directions. It has no straight pathway. It reminded me of my curly hair and how I can never make it look a certain way or stay in place. Just like curly hair, a flame is wild and free. I lit a candle and got the top part of the flame to touch my canvas, and it was the smoke that stuck to the surface. I manipulated the direction of the flame to create an outline of a person's side profile and moved the flame up and down to create waves and different patterns for the hair. I hoped to create an image of hair moving with the wind.

Artist Statement

Artist Statement

This painting symbolizes the uneasy feeling I get while being in a transitioning stage in life in which I am going from a teenager to soon legally an adult. I follow a routine every day and obey my parent's rules yet I have been given more freedom to make my own decisions and pick my interest because I'm older. However, I constantly feel judged by those who expect me to act in a way because I am young, but the moment I do, get told not to because "I need to act mature" and am "no longer a kid". I described this experience as a nightmare and attempted to portray this by painting myself half underwater and half above, symbolizing being in between my adolescence and adulthood. The hand reaching up symbolizes my desire for help, guidance, and advice during this confusing stage in which I don't know if I should fully submerge into being a clueless teenager or be pulled into the responsibilities that come with growing up.

Artist Statement

For my “Anything but a Canvas” assignment, I chose to paint on a pocket mirror. Because Christmas was just around the corner I chose that I would give the mirror to my grandma in Mexico. Its round shape and the way it opens up reminded me of a compass which is what I painted on the front. I wanted to ensure that the gift had a sentimental value and that whatever I painted on the inside coordinated with the compass theme. My mind instantly went to a map and soon I realized that my grandma and I are physically separated by many miles of distance but that aside from it all our connection is so much stronger to maintain the great bond we have. On one of the faces of the mirror, I painted the lower part of Texas connecting to Mexico. Her location in Mexico City is marked by a red rose which is her favorite flower while mine in Austin is marked with a heart. Both of the locations are connected by a dashed route symbolizing that just like I always find my way back to her she will always count on me as well. Lastly, I added the phrase "Siempre Juntas" which in English translates to "Always Together".

Artist Statement

The animal I chose to paint for this project is a Madagascar Giant Day Gecko. I identified with this animal because they are adventurous and cannot stay in the same spot for a long period. They are naturally curious and love to explore every crevice they can encounter. For this artwork, the media I used in the inner rectangle was watercolor. I focused on ways I could create shadows and textures by building up the paint and using different pigment concentrations. On the outside of the center rectangle, I used ink pen. The ink strategies that I focused on were stippling and cross contour on the bark, plants, leaf, and tail of the lizard,

Artist Statement

The backdrop of this piece was made using watercolors. I began by applying the wet-on-wet technique, moistening my paper slightly and then adding blue paint from the outer corners towards the center. While the paint remained wet, I sprinkled table salt over the surface, particularly along the edges. Once the paper dried, the effect of the salt reminded me of the bubbles formed by crashing ocean waves. An ocean creature that came to mind was the whale shark. I find this species intriguing because people often quickly stereotype them as fierce and aggressive, yet they are among the most stunning and gentle sharks, allowing humans to approach without any reaction. I sketched my shark using a pencil and then outlined the drawing with black ink.

Artist Statement

To create this cubist painting, I used acrylic paints. The theme was fantasy, and to convey this message, I painted a character that represents myself, looking up with her palm on one cheek. Her other hand is being held down by a shackle, symbolizing how we tend to fantasize about our future but are held back by the present. Around the girl are hidden objects, each representing what I fantasize my life to look like, whether in a few months or years from now. In my painting, you will find an eyeball, a car headlight, a variable slope, a cross, a medal, and a house. The most challenging step during my process was blending the paint nicely to create smooth gradients. At times, the paint would dry too soon or not blend well enough, causing me to have to apply more paint over, leading to textured and built up paint.