ART

Vicki's Art

                Types of art that I have studied are fine art, graphic art, and art therapy. I have also worked with the computer to make a graphic design. I have studied many classes at Montgomery College in Rockville, such as, illustration, art history, and photography.  I took some classes at the University of Maryland and graduated. I took French and wanted to go to France and see a gallery called the Louvre. I am sure I would have got lost in the beauty of France, as did many artists such as Monet and his impression style of painting. Also, I would have been able to learn the language better.

                The first time I studied a figure, the woman was African-American. The professor had us working quickly so that we wouldn’t be afraid to draw the nude. We drew in short periods of time, such as three minutes each pose. The medium we used to draw on was newsprint. I did not feel uncomfortable because we were drawing so quickly.

                My style of graphic art is bright colors, lines, angles, and circles. One of my works has bright colors like crimson red, cadmium orange, cadmium yellow, black and white. Another of my graphic designs was put in the Corcoran Gallery of Art when I was going to school there. My favorite medium is acrylic on canvas because it dries quickly and is easy to correct.

                Usually, first semester is still life. Still life is drawings or paintings of an arrangement of objects i.e., fruits, glass, flowers, vases, drift wood, glass bottles, pottery. I did two murals one of which is both still life and figures on a large wall of organics style inside the cafeteria at the University of Maryland. There was a mysterious person who had painted part of my mural when I was not there, like a ghost painter. I received payment for my work.

                I enjoyed studying black and white photography for two years. I developed the pictures in a darkroom; it was interesting to see them come from nothing to an image in the trays like magic. The darkroom had to have a red light because the white light would expose the picture, ruining it. 

                I went to several schools and studied various artists such as Georgia O'Keeffe, Van Gogh, Escher, Matisse, Toulouse-Lautrec, and other artists’ styles in the history of art. I am currently still studying art and painting and showing my work in various exhibits that come about through St. Luke’s Studio Insight Program.

 By Vicki P.