Main Idea:

Over the march break I went to Costa Rica.  While there I was so taken with the colours and sounds and textures of the rainforest.  The main idea that I came up with for my independent study while on my vacation to Costa Rica was a series of photographs and watercolours (taken from photographs) all in an 8 x 8 size to display the different perspectives on the rainforest.  Each of the photos and each of the watercolours is of my own viewpoints of the rainforest in Costa Rica that I visited.

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Influences:

My inspiration for this art project is my recent trip to Costa Rica.  I was inspired by the beauty of the land, the wildlife and the lushness and shades of  the greens that are spread out throughout the land. I also recently received as a gift a DLR camera and I was very excited to experiment with the camera in such a beautiful setting.  I was influenced by my recent love of photography and my love of nature. I was also influenced by the artist J.M.W turner who did many beautiful watercolour paintings.

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Artist Statement:

What is the main idea behind your artwork in its final form?

The main idea behind my artwork in its final form is a series of photos and watercolours displaying the beauty of the rainforest in Costa Rica. Each photo and watercolour is a “portrait” of a part of the rainforest and each displays the unique colours and textures of the rainforest in  Costa Rica.

 

Did you achieve your goals in the completion of this artwork?

I think that I achieved my goals in the completion of this artwork. I had to adjust the schedule that I was following while working on my independent study because some of my daily goals were taking longer then I expected them to. For example when I was working on painting my photos that I picked, they would sometimes take me at least three days in class to complete a single painting to add to my project.  I also started out with paintings that were not the same dimensions as my photos, so I had to cut down my watercolours to provide uniformity with the photographs.

 

Consider what was done well and what could’ve been done differently. Make at least three quality comments or criticisms about your artwork.

Things that turned out well in my finished product were the watercolours. I thought that they looked amazing and each of them were unique with each of their different colour palettes. I would have liked to add more detail and texture to my watercolours so that, particularly in the two watercolours of the trees, there was less white space. For the photographs, I should have developed a few more in an 8 x 8 size so that I had more options to choose from as it was difficult to see the quality of the photos until they were developed.  I would have also liked to manage my time better next time I do my independent art project. and make sure I was following my schedule when I was working on it over the past couple of weeks.

 

What was the initial idea behind your artwork?

The initial idea behind my artwork was to display the biodiversity and rainforest in Costa Rica in a series of photos. At first the dimensions of my paintings and photos would be 8 by 10 but then I changed my mind and did the dimensions of the paintings and photos 8 by 8.  I also was intending to do different colour palettes for each of the paintings, but all of them ended up being similar colours to the real photos for each of the paintings.

 

What do you believe your next steps could be after your artwork?

I believe my next steps for this artwork could be doing another series of photos from my trip to Costa Rica but with a different theme such as animals in the rainforest. This will allow me to have a bit more of a challenge both with the painting parts and getting the right details in there.