“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 to further develop my art skills and be able to dedicate more time to it. 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. I also enjoy acrylic paintings and viewing art that holds deeper meaning than what it is perceived to be at first glance. I am mostly inspired by moments rather than people and 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.

Art was introduced to me at a young age by various family members. For as back as I can remember, I’ve always had a fascination and keen interest in art; more specifically how the different mediums of art are numerous ways of self expression. I was mesmerised by realism art when I first discovered it. The way in which you would question yourself, question your own eyes as to whether you were observing a picture or a real thing is something I found bewitching. So many of my artworks have a realistic element to them. I did attempt to step out of my comfort zone by trying abstract and pen art. Leonardo Da Vinci was an artist who truly inspired me. His legacy of achievements are astounding and speak for themselves. What I loved most was the way in which he was able to capture a moment in a single frame, allowing him to demonstrate a story in one image. Additionally, he ensured detail was abundant, not only for the ‘main’ object, but for its setting and the environment, setting specific tone and mood to his painting. Finally, I’d like to thank my mum for supporting me when I was on the brink of giving up.

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 holds 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.