“Creativity Takes Courage” - Henri Matisse

Throughout my life, I have been surrounded by majestic pieces that have contributed to my artistic capabilities. Art allows me to have the flexibility and freedom to express my emotions and creativity using a wide range of tools; the graphite pencil allows me to sketch my aspirations, the paintbrush allows my joy to seep onto the canvas, and clay allows me to sculpt my ambitions and future. My style has been influenced by both 21st century and postmodern innovators, such as Georgia O’keefe and Todd Ford, and it has varied in the past two years due to all sorts of experimenting, from abstract to realistic and more. Ever since I can remember, I have enjoyed and valued all types of art, but I have a special fondness for realism. My primary motivation for creating art is to express myself, appeal to other people's creative perceptions, and get a deeper understanding of the art world. One of the reasons I chose art as my GCSE was that although art is wordless, it still links to your life in some way. GCSE art has expanded my understanding of art, and taught me a lot, I will cherish the memories.

I’ve had a passion for art for as long as I can remember. It is a way to express myself, as I struggle to put my emotions into words. I didn’t hesitate when picking art for GCSE, even when people told me that I will struggle and regret it. My art style has changed over the years as my inspiration and life experiences changed too. I love drawing nature, like oceans or flowers, but overall my style is very abstract. A few of my favourite artists aren’t actually very well known, like ‘paints.v’. I found her art on social media, and I find her abstract style very delicate and special. I find my inspiration from all around me, and that inspiration gives me motivation to create new art.

“Every artist was first an amateur” - Henri Matisse

I enjoy art because it’s such a flexible form of self expression because there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ thing to do. I chose to take it for GCSE’s to further develop my art skills and be able to dedicate more time to it as I have been passionate about creating art since I was very young. I mostly enjoy creating pencil drawings, the monochromatic aspect to this style of art brings out a certain sophistication that I truly enjoy seeing in my artwork. However I also enjoy acrylic paintings and viewing art that hold deeper meaning than what it is perceived to be at first glance. I am mostly inspired by moments rather than people. Subtle things in everyday life that would otherwise be overlooked, but have the potential to create a beautiful piece of art. I am grateful for this journey I have taken through art, though challenging it has been incredibly enriching to be able to have learnt new skills and approaches to creating art and I will remember these for the rest of my life.

Throughout my life, I have been surrounded by majestic pieces that have contributed to my artistic capabilities. Art allows me to have the flexibility and freedom to express my emotions and creativity using a wide range of tools; the graphite pencil allows me to sketch my aspirations, the paintbrush allows my joy to seep onto the canvas, and clay allows me to sculpt my ambitions and future. My style has been influenced by both 21st century and postmodern innovators, such as Georgia O’keefe and Todd Ford, and it has varied in the past two years due to all sorts of experimenting, from abstract to realistic and more. Ever since I can remember, I have enjoyed and valued all types of art, but I have a special fondness for realism. My primary motivation for creating art is to express myself, appeal to other people's creative perceptions, and get a deeper understanding of the art world. One of the reasons I chose art as my GCSE was that although art is wordless, it still links to your life in some way. GCSE art has expanded my understanding of art, and taught me a lot, I will cherish the memories.

I enjoy art because it’s such a flexible form of self expression because there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ thing to do. I chose to take it for GCSE’s to further develop my art skills and be able to dedicate more time to it as I have been passionate about creating art since I was very young. I mostly enjoy creating pencil drawings, the monochromatic aspect to this style of art brings out a certain sophistication that I truly enjoy seeing in my artwork. However I also enjoy acrylic paintings and viewing art that hold deeper meaning than what it is perceived to be at first glance. I am mostly inspired by moments rather than people. Subtle things in everyday life that would otherwise be overlooked, but have the potential to create a beautiful piece of art. I am grateful for this journey I have taken through art, though challenging it has been incredibly enriching to be able to have learnt new skills and approaches to creating art and I will remember these for the rest of my life.

While growing up I’ve always been drawn to art and design, and inspired by people around me I decided to pursue it by taking it as a gcse, which has helped me grow in many ways as a painter as well as a person. I always loved architecture and admired all forms of art including realism, but I was especially drawn to experimenting with abstract, mixed media paintings, trying out different methods of painting and experimenting with different color schemes and color theories with every painting. Some of my favorite artists from this year have been Allison Pearce, Lucy Jones and Michele Clamp, and I enjoyed trying to recreate their style in my work. i’d love to thank everyone who has helped me throughout the journey, like my teacher and my family, especially my dad as an architect himself who always helped with inspiration when I needed any. I can see the gradual improvement of my artwork throughout the years and can’t wait to see how far I can go.

“Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one” - Stella Adler

Art GCSE is tough. But I wasn’t warned when I got into it. Prior to even picking art I only ever sketched and doodled, never truly finding the commitment to even paint. But through the short deadlines and sketchbook papercuts, I learnt a truth behind the art I possess now and just how much of me it expresses. Through art you discover yourself, you learn through trials and tribulations the strokes you should and shouldn’t make and, when reflecting on the whole picture, the art captures the whimsy in the vision you aspired to create. I loved the idea of colors, the way they can blend and intertwine, how they could be interpreted as emotions or evoke feelings that one can’t simply express in words. I adore the inspiration cultivated even from the space of the class. Watching my classmates' creative, artistic endeavors thrive also allowed me to keep going, working to grow my skill over the past 2 years. I find that, though it’s the end of my year in Art GCSE, I will endlessly learn the unlimited ways to translate my abstract ideas and thoughts and feelings into my art for the world to see.

“Art is anything you can get away with” Marshal McLuhan

I chose art because from a young age I always enjoyed it and appreciated it in all forms, from modern, realism, to abstract. It's fascinating to me, all the different ways you can express and perceive the world through different forms of art through different ideas and perceptions. I have been inspired by a number of artists throughout my time doing GCSE art, and it has been a very interesting two years learning about all these different forms of artwork.

“Art

Art is a process of learning to create ourselves and experience the world in new ways. Arts support the bigger picture view of life: beauty, symbols, spirituality, storytelling, it also helps us step out of time allowing one to be present in the moment. It is one of the best ways to express yourself and show the world some things that you cannot express through speech. Art keeps the magic alive.I have watched what I am feeling inside, the invisible sentiments of my mind, become beauty on paper, and transport themselves into my art and whatever it is I feel.

I think that is the main beauty.