Sarah Calderon

Ms. Bjork

AP Studio Art A3

29 September, 2016

You Pick 3- Artist Statement

Expressionism is a style of art in which the artist “seeks to express emotional experience rather than impressions of the external world”. Although I’ve seen expressionist paintings such of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” and Marc’s “Blue Horses”, I was very unfamiliar with how to painting in this style. In the end, by taking inspiration from these paintings as well as using one of my summer photos as reference, I was able to successfully create a work of art in the expressionist style that incorporated both color and asymmetry.

After finishing 10 works in a week, having only 1 work in a week was a relief; however, that didn’t mean it didn’t have its challenges. I attempted something similar to expressionism in one of my 10 works by using loose, heavy brushstrokes, but it hadn’t had the overall effect that I was looking for. This week, I looked back at my past painting and spent more time figuring out how to paint in an expressionist style. What I came to notice was that expressionist artists tend to paint objects in two ways: free-flowing strokes or geometric shapes. I thought the best way to combine the two would be to paint some type of architecture. One specific building that stood out to me was Holy Hill.

During the WAT Trip this past summer, Holy Hill was essentially the biggest obstacle we faced. It was the tallest, longest, steepest hill that we would have to bike up. While we knew there was pie awaiting us at the top, it still took a lot of perseverance and strength to make it to the top. In my painting, I attempted to capture the feeling of making it to the top by using bright colors and movement.

Overall, I believe I was successful in capturing the expressionist style through the use of bold colors, as well as incorporated a lot of texture through the use of thick paint, tissue paper, and burlap, depict it not being a style of painting that I’m used to. Although I felt that my painting was successful overall, I believe I could improve some of the muddiness of the colors. In some spots, I used so many colors that the paint looks more brown that I would have liked.