Yarelly Salas September 13, 2012 Ms. Lipton Period, 4 Mandala Artist Statement Who am I ?

All thirteen of my pictures represent something interesting about me, most of my images are good things except for one which represents my difficulties. Family, friends, and my boyfriend all are the reasons for my happiness but can also be the reasons for my sadness. My life isn't always a happy moment , it is also a struggle I have to face. 1. Picture of my little brother and I (center) : My little brother Josejulian means the world to me. Everything about him makes me happy. The way he kisses my forehead every morning to wake me up makes me feel really special. 2. Picture of my mom, sister and I : My mom and sister are the ones I can trust, they are the ones that are always helping me through my problems. They give me the best advice and I appreciate it so much. They are the only ones that have been with me through everything. I wouldn't be able to have a happy life without them. 3. Picture of my sister, brother and I: Meleny and Jose Julian, together they can be really annoying but I still love them so much. 4. Picture of my parents, siblings, and I: My parents, my two sisters, and my brother are the only ones that won't hurt me. My favorite memory with them is every the time we have our movie night. Our movie night is in my parents room, we all lay down and just watch movies till we get sleepy. 5. Picture of my big sister and I: This picture symbolizes happiness because we went to the beach on a Sunday morning. Even though I am terrified of the ocean I still had a great day at Santa Monica Pier with my sister.

Yarelly Salas September 13, 2012 Ms. Lipton Period, 4 6. Picture of my boyfriend Anthony and me: This picture symbolizes love. Our relationship started on April 18, 2011. This day was a really special moment for me because I really liked him. Now we have one year and four months together and can honestly say I love him. My parents tell me all the time that I am too young to know what love is but I just think they dont understand how I feel toward him. Anthony makes me feel really special, not because he gives me stuff but because of the way he is with me. He makes me really happy, and he makes me feel really special.. He shows me that he really does care and love me. I am glad he is in my life. 7. Picture of the heart shaped necklace : This necklace was given to me by my boyfriend Anthony on August 18, 2011 and since then this necklace has been really meaningful to me. It makes me feel special to know that he bought it just for me. I take care of this necklace so much. I fall asleep and wake up worrying about it, I always have to make sure I have it around my neck. 8. Picture of my best friend Diana and me : My Special moment happens often with my best friend Diana . Every time we see each other we run to hug each other. It is a special moment because she is my only best friend and she just means so much to me ever since October 20, 2011. 9. Picture of my brother and I: My little brother can get on my nerves, I can scream at him because he gets me mad, I can get him in trouble for anything bad he does but I still truly love my little brother. 10. Picture of three main important people in my life : This was a special day because it was my birthday I was turning fifteen years old. My parents took me out to dinner in my

Yarelly Salas September 13, 2012 Ms. Lipton Period, 4 favorite restaurant Olive Garden. I took this picture with the camera that my parents gave me as a present. It was a day to remember because I spent the day with people I love. 11. Picture of my giraffes : My favorite animal are giraffes, and obviously my parents and boyfriend know that because they both gave me one. My two giraffes mean so much to me. I own four toy giraffes and two porcelain giraffes and I sleep with all my toy giraffes on my bed. 12. Picture of a nice and beautiful day at the beach: This picture to me represents all the good times Ive had in my life. Not all my life is having to deal with my struggle, my life is also full of happiness. Getting good grades makes me really happy, being with my family makes me happy, having a family vacation also makes me happy. I have experienced many happy moments during my life. 13. Picture of the beach at night : This to me represents all my difficulties. My main difficulty is school, it is really hard for me to keep my grades up and it gets me really frustrated. Having to make up the classes that I failed in night school and keep my grades good in school is hard because I have less time to do an assignment for school because I get home late from night school. I guess I just have to have to deal with it because it is my fault for failing other classes. My mandala has thirteen pictures that all represent me somehow. Most of the pictures have a special meaning to me. My mandala does not represent all of me but these are my main ones. I feel good about my mandala; it has a lot of meaning.