Growing up near Monterey, I have always been inspired by the ocean. Going into my senior art studio class at Catalina, I knew I wanted to use the ocean as inspiration for my 10-piece portfolio. From a young age, I have always enjoyed making art, taking inspiration from my environment that is a combination of rural and coastal. Living in the mountains of “Steinbeck Country” brings me peace, joy, and gratitude, which I strive to express through my artwork. By sharing my portfolio, I hope to give the viewer the same gratitude and admiration for the environment we live in.

I have worked with a wide variety of materials in the last 4 years, and I continue to find new techniques and ways to use the materials that inspire me. During my junior year of high school, we studied color theory. Using gouache all year was something I had never tried before, and has not only expanded my knowledge of color, but also has made me much more comfortable with painting. Before my junior year, my most used medium was graphite pencil, and I would be nervous to try any other medium. I am so grateful that I was encouraged to step outside of my comfort zone with painting. It has made me want to try new things, which I did in this piece. I have never painted on a wooden panel or worked with texture before this piece. I had a lot of fun using gesso and a palette knife to form 3-dimensional waves and the purple sea urchin. An additional new technique I tried was to glue sand on the piece, which I plan to use on other pieces of my portfolio. Finally, I painted with gouache on this piece to add dimension and detail.

Using gesso in a way I had never done before inspired the next piece in my studio art portfolio, where I sculpted a crashing wave and painted tones of blue-green on it with gouache. I hope to continue to expand my horizons in my next pieces with different mediums such as collage and watercolor. Moving forward, I hope my artwork continues to inspire others to admire their own environment. I would like to express gratitude to my teacher, Ms. Lara, for encouraging me to try this project for The Love of Art, as it has brought me to try new techniques that have made me into a better and more adventurous artist.