Murals
I was able to convince my high school orchestra teacher to let me paint murals on the practice room walls! I was particularly happy with Bach. Don’t understand the chicken? Well, what does a chicken say? Bach, bach, bach…
Another composer I painted was Shostakovich. I played several of his pieces during class and solo & ensemble, so I wanted to honor him. His Russian heritage was something I found referenced a lot, so I decided to make that the central piece of this. The St. Basil’s Basilica is in the bottom corner. I also included a teacup as a reference to his piece – “Tea for Two.” I have since painted over his head, but I wasn’t able to fully finish this before graduating.
John Williams has accomplished so much in his left time that I gave him an entire room to himself. In the early stages of this mural, poor John was vandalized by a student. Let’s just say he was no longer holding a lightsaber…
After we bleached the wall, I was able to finish this! It has 9 different movie references in it (Star Wars, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, E.T., Schindler’s List, Home Alone, Jaws, Superman). I consider this the pinnacle of my composer murals.
Paintings on Canvas & Such
Recently my grandma passed away. She was sick and had dementia for a very long time, but we all seemed to come to the conclusion that her death was the result of a 2 year long heartbreak after my grandpa died. After she died I did a simple drawing of the two of them (along with their first dog) and sent it to my mom. She gave me the honor of having my art be the front page of the funeral program, so I decided to redo my drawing into this more polished painting. The outfits of my grandparents were specifically chosen. My grandpa loved to play his ukulele so that’s what he’s doing. The reference to “Somewhere over the Rainbow” is because it was their favorite song. The painting was done with acrylic paint. I gave the finished product to my mom.
My favorite character from the video game “Monster Prom” is the lovely android named Calculester <3 While many of the characters are wild and unpredictable, Cal is a very wholesome NPC. He loves to tend to his succulents, which is why I wanted to be sure to capture that in this painting. Done in acrylic paint!
A birthday present for my sister, who loves the show Bob’s Burgers! Acrylic paint is my go-to, so that’s what I used here. I added a clear coat of protecting spray to it.
Mixed Media experiment #1! I painted an acrylic background before adding embroidered details. It’s a DNA strand, with the colors changing as it goes through the different blobs. I love science, so I wanted to do something that represented that love while incorporating creativity.
I love to use acrylic paint. I also love my cat. We named our three legged kitty Atlas since we liked the idea of him being strong enough to hold up the world (even one handed), just like the famous Titan. I’m honestly not the happiest with this. But it was my first attempt at any cat related art that wasn’t just a doodle. I do really like the the globe turned out. Maybe this is worth a redo in the future!
Mini canvas of a bird in a cherry blossom tree! Acrylic paint used on the whole thing. One of my first paintings listed in my Etsy.
Disney’s Princess & The Frog is one of my favorite Disney movies! I adore the scenes with all the fireflies, and I cry every time I watch Ray die. This was a fun little painting I wanted to do just because. I think the boat kind of looks like a cake, but in a good way?
The wooden tray in our living room needed some pizzazz! I love painting galaxies and starry skies, if you can’t tell.
As part of a final project that I went way way overboard with, I made a scroll inside a canopic jar (that I also made) with a bunch of hand drawn illustrations. One of my favorites is this watercolor of the pyramids (back when they had fancy casings on them, not falling apart like they are now). I really struggle with watercolor, but this was a nice little practice painting.
The canopic jar features an Anubis head that I hand stitched and embroidered. The bottled is an OJ bottle with acrylic on it. My scroll also included some hieroglyphs, which I did with a quill pen and ink.
In case you can’t tell, I love my cat. I entered a small contest for charity where I had to submit art I made of Atlas. The outer space painting ended up being just for fun. Since I submitted a picture of Atlas next to fairy lights, I chose one of those paintings to match. I painted it in color but I submitted the black and white version because I thought it seemed more complimentary when compared to the original. These were all done with acrylic paint. However, I merely used mixed media paper instead of painting on canvases like I normally do.
Very happy with how my graduation cap turned out! I drew inspiration from red figure pottery to design my cap. I wanted to include elements of both my Neurobiology B.S. and my Classical Studies certificate. There are many significant elements within the design, but I was also just excited that I fit in a pun! The back says “Don’t Panic!” ~ a reference from “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” that means a lot to me personally.