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Male and Female Portraits
Grade 9 done in pencil
I can’t exactly remember what project this was made for, but it was a portrait based on the studies of proportions on the human face. For this one, I did two portraits, one male and one female. Now as you can see, the printer I used to scan the drawings didn’t get it all completely in so it is rather mashed up, but not much to do about it. For the actual drawing itself, I started with the 4 lines on a ball head. Then, I drew the circles and lines for the eyes and mouth. Then when that was all done, I added in some hair and I shaded the drawings. The most realistic looking one is the woman whereas the male looks cartoonish. But they aren’t really my favorite works.
Aboriginal Mask
Grade 9 sculpted with plaster on mask base
This was the project I made for the Aboriginal unit in Grade 9. I made the mask because the sculpture was difficult to do. The design of the mask is completely original and is a light shade of tan brown with predominant red. From bits that I can remember, the nose ring as well as the goatee, his hair and ridges under his eyes were all sculpted by me on the base of the mask. Really proud of this piece.
Cows – Van Gogh recreation
Grade 10 painted on canvas
For the Van Gogh unit, the entire class had to recreate a painting made by the well known Vincent Van Gogh. I decided to recreate his Cows painting made in 1890. At first, I grabbed a canvas board and I attempted to draw the painting on it by pencil. Then, I painted it all in with the original colors which was the hardest part to do especially with all the different patches of grass and the different patterns of the cows. It took me at least 3 weeks to finish, but in the end, it turned out great. Later, I gave it to my Mom as a gift for Mother’s Day which she now displays on the mantle.
Calligraphy Dragon
Grade 10 highlighted in marker and crayon on paper
For the calligraphy assignment back in Grade 10, I wanted do one in the medieval style. The letter I chose was “M” which I wanted to be told in the shape of a dragon. I based the design of the dragon off Smaug from The Hobbit and had him posed on all fours with his arms and wings bent to represent the branches and his head for the center. The dragon was colored with pencil crayons and some marker for the wings, eyes and tongue. The background is all done in green and blue paint and the lines were all highlighted with a Sharpie permanent marker. Had lots of fun making this assignment.
Weighting Man
Grade 10 sculpted in polymer clay
This huge sculpture here was what I handed in for the Henry Moore assignment. For this assignment, I decided to base the posture off Ganondorf as he appeared in Hyrule Warriors. Now, while this sculpture looks tall and bulky, he’s really not all that heavy. I poked a hole in his head and raised some spikes and ridges to give him this alien look while still staying humanoid. I really loved working on this piece although I could have given him a better paint job. I still love him though.
This was an origami swan that I made back in Grade 10 art class during my downtime that semester and I painted it dark blue so it would stand out.
Rocking in New York
Grade 11 highlighted in pen and colored in marker
This was the project that I made for an Edward Gorey assignment. For this assignment, I brought a large toy of Godzilla from the 1998 American movie and posed him playing with a guitar. Then, I sketched him down from reference. Then, some famous landmarks of New York City were added in (Empire State Building, taxi cab, Statue of Liberty, and the “I HEART NY” shirt) At first, I left it uncolored, then I went back and colored it in. As for the Gorey aspect, I sketched a bunch of lines into the picture like he uses for almost all his paintings (Linear, curved, cross hatching, etc.) I drew in pencil first, then highlighted it in black pen to resemble the style of Gorey. My favorite thing about this piece is of course the monster and I liked the bit with the Statue of Liberty behind the taxi. Although, the water could have been more widespread and some background color would’ve been nice. Still love this piece
Hotel Lobby
Grade 11 Matisse inspired painting
Based on the style and works of Henry Matisse. This is a painting of a hotel lobby based on the Hollywood Tower Hotel at the Disney Parks. I tried using a lot of colors to match the vivid and bright swatches used in a lot of Henry’s paintings. I enjoyed painting the fireplace and drawing the furniture, but painting the carpet patterns and the chandelier was a bit of a challenge. I also could’ve used a little less browns for the background and more detail. Still a good piece.
Grim Reaper
Grade 11 paper sculpture
Handed in as part of my paper sculpt unit. At first, I had a hard time figuring out what to do for this subject. I tried origami, newspaper-pieces, cut outs and a planned 3D sculpture of the CN Tower, but they didn’t work. In the end, I decided to make a pop-out sculpture based on a graveyard. I made a bunch of paper pop-ups including three gravestones, an old tree and the grim reaper in the foreground. The base was painted in green to resemble grass and I made the night sky on a canvas with black and white paints. Each of the drawings were carefully carved out with an Xtracto knife and then inserted through a slot in the base that I made myself. I based the design of the Grim Reaper on the movie The Frighteners (1996) directed by Peter Jackson and I also glued in a piece of cardboard to help prop him up. A hot glue gun was also need to make the canvas stand behind the piece. As usual, I end this summary with stating that I enjoyed making this piece.
MY CULMINATING
Max
Polymer clay and hard wire
As a contribution to my Grade 11 culminating, I decided to base it on a realistic event that happened when my Dad was overseas in Lebanon. One night, he found a lonely German Shepard puppy in the streets who he rescued with his team. They washed him up and picked off all the fleas dwelling in his fur. The next few days, he was looking more clean and healthy than ever and was named Max. Dad took Max out for walks just like he did with Chewy back at home where he would also show him to families for adoption. Eventually, Max found a home. As for the sculpture, I decided to base him off a picture Dad took of the dog on his desk looking very docile and shy with his paw on Dad’s hat. The first thing we actually did was the ant below him which was an allusion to the fact that Max loved to eat ants he found on the ground. The ant was made by combining three circular shapes which were shaped to resemble the thorax, abdomen and head. The legs were made by bending toothpicks in half and covering them up with clay which provided a challenge for me and Dad (You can see in the picture that at least half the wood in the legs are exposed and barely touches the ground)
Now for making the dog: what me and Dad did was took strips of copper wire and formed them into the shape of a dog on all fours which we tried to do carefully. Then, we ripped up pieces of tinfoil which we put on the wire to give the dog layers which will make it more thicker. Then, we took the same clay we used for the ant and spread it around the dog sculpture which was a challenge seeing as how the clay would start to fall off or break. But once it was done, we painted the dog to make him look exactly like he did in real life with black fur, honey-yellow strokes, army green for his collar and silver gray for the ant. Last thing we sculpted and painted was my Dad’s hat which was what Max had his paw on in the photo. I sculpted buttons and carved stitches in the hat to make it look like a real hat. As for the hat itself, it was only one piece. Other concepts we had for the piece that were never used were an ant made without the toothpicks and another statue of the dog used by a technique called “hollowing” which both never really worked out.
The reason I made this piece for my culminating was to not just to try sculpting again, but because I really admire my Dad for his bravery and kindness as well as showing my love for Max which I all wanted to show in one piece. As well as the fact that Max loved to eat ants.
For more information on hollowing, check out this video here:
Grade 12 Picasso assignment
Aunt Lisa
Acrylic on canvas
19 x 14
This was a painting that I had done for the Picasso unit in my Grade 12 art class. I decided that I would make it the portrait of a woman. To replicate the abstract Cubic art-style Pablo Picasso was well known for, I drew the figure I wanted and then divided parts of her into lines (some were drawn bigger than the others) and were later painted with a variety of colors so the picture would pop. After the painting was finished, it was taken to the staff room in RND High School where it was to be hung up along with the other Picasso-style paintings done by my peers. I decided to name this painting after my Aunt Lisa who lived in New York City until she moved to San Diego as of writing (I didn’t have her in mind when I worked on this painting, but I thought the final result looked enough like her).
Grade 12 art style imitation assignment
Nursery Blocks
Ink on watercolor paper and paint
19 x 20
For this next assignment in grade 12, we had to take a setting/theme and make an artwork out of it in the style of another artist. What I did was made an artwork based on childhood and crafted it in the style of Edward Gorey; a Victorian and Edwardian master of pen & ink drawings who I’ve been familiar with since grade 11 art class. After brainstorming what I wanted to include for my piece, I cut out four pieces of watercolor paper which I would draw a red wagon, wooden rocking horse, letter “B” building block, and teddy bear with bow tie. After I drawed their lines down, I would erase and highlight them with a Sharpie marker. For colorization, I decided to do it in watercolor so it would look much more bright and allow detail to be seen. I used red and brown for both objects so I could keep consistency (same for the yellow background) and I put black-lined green borders around the drawings with lollipops, crayons, kites and bunny baby blankets to make it look like wallpaper decorations in a nursery room. When the watercolor papers were done, I got a huge wooden board frame to stick my drawings onto and I painted it red so it would stick out. The reason I decided to do a “childhood” theme was to reflect back on the days when I was little and happy without a care in the world, and now I am aged 20 with a graduation diploma from college.
These two works of art are practice drawings I made during the Edward Gorey assignment where I really wanted to get the hang of his “line” of work. The first piece up top is a nursery room with two teddy bears (one being an unused design with glasses and red vest), a “T” letter block, rocking horses, and a wallpaper pattern featuring a microphone, television, puppy with pawprint, bunnies, peace sign and heart up top. The bottom piece is a drawing of the Cryptkeeper: the undead host from the HBO anthology series Tales from the Crypt. This particular drawing is based on a wax figure of him located at the Hall of Horror finale section in the Niagara Falls Movieland Wax Museum of the Stars.
Grade 12 Georgia O’Keefe painting
Poppy
Mountain 
Rosebud
Acryllic on plexiglass
10 x 16
Poppy
Arcylic on canvas
14 x 18
Another theme I wanted to do for Grade 12 art was nature and the artist I chose to replicate for this subject was Georgia O’Keefe: an American artist known for her paintings on city skyscrapers, New Mexico landscapes, and paintings of enlarged flowers. When I was done brainstorming what my paintings would include, I decided I would make two enlarged flowers and a mountain. First painting I did was a poppy on a large canvas which I drew out in pencil and then erased the lines so they wouldn’t smear the paint. Then, I brought in the colors using red for the petals, yellow for the stem with black surrounding it, and dark blue for the background. When I finished my painting, it was borrowed for exhibition in the foyer hall outside the high school gymnasium when we were holding a Remembrance Day assembly and I later gave it to my Dad (who works for the military) as a Christmas present. The next one I did was pink petal rose which was still painted in acrylic, but used a much different approach. Instead of the traditional linen canvas most artists used, I opted for a plexiglass sheet that was order from Home Depot. Instead of using a pencil for outlining, I used a Sharpie pen marker to dot down the lines that I would paint over with pink petals and green stems. The background was still blue, but I decided to make it lighter so it would better contrast against the poppy version. When the colors were finalized, I rubbed some polish on the plexiglass so it would look shiny and reflective. The next step was getting a wooden frame for it to hold up (via metal chains that had to be piereced within the plexiglass) for display purposes. It was sanded down with sandpaper so it would be smooth and less raggedy, and I painted it in the same shade of blue. I decided to give it away as a Christmas present for my Mom that very same year. And the last thing I did for that assignment was a large landscape painting of two mountains against a night sky with the twinkling moon and a batch of trees reflected on the river below. I used the same plexiglass method and Sharpie ink sketching, but what makes this one stand out is that the canvas is much more transparent than the other ones and that I attached it onto a wooden pole with metal chains providing as support.
These little sculptures aren’t part of my Grade 12 culminating as I made them during downtime for my Georgia O’Keefe paintings, but these are little clay sculptures of a polar bear and my previous dog Chewy that I painted by hand and glossed up with vaseline. I gave them to my brother and sister as Christmas stocking gifts in 2016.
Dinosaur
Acrylic on canvas
This was an assignment I did near the end of my first semester and was to be displayed at two small art shows in one day: morning time at the high school’s upper room, and at a small restaurant lounge in midnight. This one I chose to do based off the extinct dinosaur known as the Tyrannosaurus Rex where I took a unique approach by having it divided into two lines. The right side would represent the king of dinosaurs back when it was alive and roaring in the jungle, and the left side would show its now dried-up excavated bones on display at a museum gallery. The dinosaur fossil was based on the specimen located in the American Museum of Natural History while the flesh version was based on a LEGO Jurassic World minifigure.
Grade 12 culmination final project
Tahoe
Clay and acrylic
5 x 7
On April 16th 2014, a California black bear cub was found hugging her dead mother who died of unknown causes and crying all alone. She was then discovered by an anonymous rescuer who took her 400 miles away to a rescue center known as the Bear League. Despite being told by authorities to leave the bear lone, the rescuer told the Bear League that his conscience would not allow him to walk away and leave her to die. The Bear League staff then brought her to the Wildlife Center near Lake Tahoe where she earned her name. Tahoe wax examined by a vet to be healthy at 5.4 pounds and about ten weeks old. A lot of her time in the rescue center was based on exploring her surroundings (furniture and stuffed animals), drinking milk out of a bottle and bowl (the bottle in particular was placed inside the stomach of a giant stuffed bottle to replicate mammal nursing and to avoid human bonding that would domesticate her), getting around with other animals in the rescue center, and making cute poses for everyone to see over the Internet. On spring 2015, Tahoe was finally released into the wild after having grown mature and big enough to survive the wilderness.
For my final art project in Grade 12, I did a sculpture based on an image of the same bear cub sleeping very peacefully and tuckered out (which I think is the cutest one of them all). The statue was done entirely out of one big lump of clay, me scraping off the excess parts so it looked more like a bear. Fur effects were done by drawing lines with small wooden knives and spare pieces of clay were made to fold out the arms and legs of the bear cub (including her cute little bushy tail). The toenails were done by out the ends of a haircomb to stick inside her paws. To make Tahoe look like she was sleeping, I cut a quarter of fake eyelashes (that were provided to me alongside the haircomb by one of my EA assistants) that I placed where her eyes would be. Painting was a mix of watercolor and acrylic. Tahoe’ss whole body was done in dark and light shades of pink while her cute little nose was done in a tint of pink. The reason I decided to do this sculpture was because I adore all animals (especially baby ones) and the whole story about the cub being rescued and eventually finding a new home reminded of of when my Dad rescued a small German sheperd in Lebanon from being thrown away and finding him a new loving family.
Grade 12 victory lap culmination
Tahoe and Dog
Acrylic on canvas
During my Grade 12 victory lap year when I was working in the art room as part of the theatre production play class, I made this large painting based off another photo of Tahoe the bear cub staring down at an orange dog plush doll looking at her. I even recreated some of the furniture and left no blank white spots. It sat in my school for the rest of the school season until semester one was over and I brought it home as a birthday present for my Dad on January 14th 2018.
Tahoe Portrait
Watercolour on canvas
Made during my downtime in Grade 12 victory lap production stage class, this another painting I did of Tahoe the bear cub based on this iconic image, using a much smaller canvas and watercolour paint this time. I mounted it on an easel and gave it to my Mom as a Christmas present.
Well… that’s all the major art projects I’ve had during my time in high school. I had a blast honing my art skills during those four years of learning and I’ll be sure to post some of my college projects on this website very soon. Until then, see you next time.
Splinky's Art Gallery 
