May 12, 2008 Mu Block
Creative Expression Artist Statement
Remedios Varo is the artist I did my Unhappy Birthday Box project on. My artist
focused on surrealist paintings and my art box is supposed to show a resemblance of her
life and her works. The process of completing this project took a couple of weeks and
more. I was a day behind the class when we started on this project because I had just
returned form being out of the country. Even so, I was able to finish the project a day
before the majority of the class. I didn’t have any specific benchmarks except to be caught
up with the class. I used my time wisely and focused on my box the entire class period.
There were some challenges that I had to face because I decided to go directly to paint
without sketching in pencil beforehand. These challenges appeared when I did the cover
for my box. It was a difficult painting and I started without sketching the whole thing
first. This resulted in having a disproportional painting, slanted to one side, but I was able
to adjust to it by making the whole picture a reflection on a bubble. Throughout the
process of this project, I would change my initial ideas of what I wanted to do because of
any mistakes or unexpected occurrences. Luckily, I was able to cover those mistakes when
the box was complete.
The techniques I used to complete this project were shading, color mixing,
painting, and portrait drawing. These techniques were the skills I learned in my Visual
Arts class this year, and were also introduced to me in my previous Art classes at CAT.
ESGP Art Sheryl Soo
May 12, 2008 Mu Block
The shading helped me imitate one of Remedios Varo’s works, “Naturaleza Muerta
Resucitando” which translates to “Still Life Reviving” in English. This painting consists
of fruits and plates circling in the air around a lit candle on a table. The tablecloth is
almost lifting from the table, and the edges of the cloth are being blown in a circular
motion, which requires a lot of shading to portray. I used very different colors from the
original painting to make a replica on the cover of my box. The other sides of my box
consist of a moon’s reflection in water, spirits of nature, “Spain” written with pictures of
witches, and a portrait of Varo. I only used paint for my box, and a sharpie to trace small
parts of the spirits’ eyes so they would stand out more in the picture. For the nature
picture, I dabbed my brush on the box’s surface to mix different colors and create texture.
I had to mixed colors to make the sky and clouds. Then for the moon picture, I tried to
create a watery effect by making the whole picture look wavy. I mixed black with all the
colors I used for that side to make it have a night effect. I wanted to have some part of my
box represent my artist’s birthplace, so I colored the background the colors of the Spain
flag and then I drew witches, each a shape of a letter. The witch figures were to represent
Varo’s style of surrealism and how she drew different types of mystical creatures or
beings in her paintings. Surprisingly, the portrait side of the box was the easiest for me to
do. It was actually the second time I used paint (the first time was with watercolor) to
create a portrait. The portrait consisted of many shades for the face and the hair.
For the Birthday gifts to my artist (which was a part of the project) I chose
ESGP Art Sheryl Soo
May 12, 2008 Mu Block
Negima Collectable Toy Figures, a clearlooking rock, a Voodoo Doll, a volume of
xxxholic, and a crystallooking apple. These gifts all relate to my artist’s life or interests.
The toy figures represent the mystical, surrealistic world that my artist likes to paint
about. The clearlooking rock and the crystallooking ball are symbolic to the sources of
light in my artist’s paintings. The Voodoo Doll is something that will help my artist
protect her loved ones because she has been separated from her family. The volume of
xxxholic is a graphic novel based on superstitions and a witch that grants people’s wishes
at a significant cost. These gifts all have a connection to my artist, and I believe that she
would appreciate it if she had the chance to receive them.
If I were able to revise this project, the first thing I would do is to add more onto
my box so that it is more than just paint on the surface. My classmates were creative and
glued objects on their boxes, or made a collage from pictures, or built structures from
marbles or pieces of glass. I would want to get more creative and build mystical creatures
out of clay and glue them on my box so that it would look 3D. This would make my box
look more interesting and have a different element to it. Overall I believe my art box
could be improved with more features, but the quality of the paintings I drew on the box
is one of the best I’ve done.