For seven weeks I am taking the online class “Introduction to Art: Concepts & Techniques”, taught by Professor Anna Divinsky of Penn State College of Arts & Architecture and free via Coursera. To ease into the flow of things on Week 1, as our first assignment we were asked to upload a piece on a voluntary (not graded) basis to introduce ourselves:
Introduce yourselves to your classmates by creating an artwork that reflects who you are as a person and as an artist. You may work with any scale and use any materials that you like. This art piece may be two or three-dimensional and should demonstrate your creative vision. It can address any subject matter as long as it speaks about you.
We were also asked to accompany this with an “artist statement” explaining the How, What, and Why of our piece. This is mine:
I drew this image using MyPaint 1.0.0 and Ramón Miranda’s Concept Design brushes with a Wacom Intuos 3 4×5 tablet and stylus. While I do understand the importance of showing our brush strokes, I picked a brush set that feels and behaves very much like my physical ink, brushes and markers without requiring set-up and cleaning time.
The subject is my cat Valentine, who is my most complacent live subject. He likes to claim the office chairs so I had made a nest for him with a blanket. (I’m a sap.)
A gift I often give to friends who I think it will please is a portrait of their children (who grow up so fast) or pets (who live such short lives). Valentine is a good practice subject for quick sketches since he likes to stay close by. The first medium I adopted a long time ago was ink with pen and brushes, painting portraits of my younger siblings, and I still enjoy sketching that way — even digitally.
The Reef 