CAS Reflection: Creativity
The Memory Project
Reflection 2
Learning Outcome(s):
- Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process.
We were allowed to create our portraits with whatever medium we wanted, but most people were using acrylic paint. Normally, I would turn to watercolour paints or even oil paints because I’ve always found them easier to use, but this time I decided to use acrylic paints as well. I actually really disliked using acrylic paints because I found them too hard to blend since they dry so fast and can’t really be “reactivated” like watercolour paints. The last time I had used acrylic paints was probably back in the 9th Grade. Nevertheless, I decided that this was my chance to try and tackle a medium that I might never touch again.
The process started off kind of shakily, but it’s been a while since Grade 9 and after some trials on some scrap paper, I tried using some of my learned habits from watercolour painting and I was able to start getting the hang of acrylics. Mixing colours wasn’t hard for me either because of my practice from painting watercolour portraits, however my biggest trouble came from the quick drying down and idea of constant “building”. I spent a lot of time painting the face because I considered it the most important aspect, but the large amount of time was due to me having to work in small sections in order to blend the sections easily before they dried down. Additionally, I had to learn to work opposite; in watercolours you usually paint from light to dark, however in acrylic paint you can paint from dark to light due to the opacity of the paints. It was a little difficult to get out of my learned habit from watercolour painting but I think I managed to get the hang of it.
My final obstacle was the background. In all honesty I’m not the best with backgrounds; I often opt for solid colour backgrounds but in the first session we decided to make creative backgrounds for these portraits. My normal go-to is to have a background with flowers, but I felt like it wouldn’t really fit with the boy I was painting; or rather I wasn’t sure whether he’d appreciate flowers. Thinking back to when we were brainstorming ideas, I realised that Pakistani designs often consist of repeating designs as well as bright colours so I wanted to incorporate that into the background.
I’m quite proud of the overall outcome, but more importantly I really hope the boy who receives it will be happy too.
