Metacognition: Painting final project

The final project in painting class was painting anything that represented me. I was happy because I thought the assignment was easy. She gave us a month to prepare for this assignment, but I started two weeks before the deadline because I thought I could finish in a few days. Two weeks before the due date, I started to think about what I needed to draw. I thought it will be easy to come up with the ideas, but I realized that it was the hardest assignment I got in this class. I could not think of just one picture that represented me perfectly.

The idea that I came up with was a girl who was wearing a dress and looking at the sky. I painted the sky with a mix of colors of light and dark blue. The girl represented me because she symbolized my personality and the big issue that I had at that time. I was a junior when I painted this picture, and I had big worries about future. Since I did not know what I wanted to be when I grew up. That was the biggest concern. And the dark color of the sky showed my anxiety about my future and the light color of the sky showed that there will be a way to figure out. I finished this piece with a hurry, but it came out how I wanted it to.

 I was surprised with my idea; it fit perfectly into my junior year life.  Many people painted very cliché ideas. They just painted the things that they like, family, or friends’ face. I was so proud of myself that I painted a very unique piece, and it has a meaning behind it. If I have to paint this kind of assignment later in my life, I will make sure I get plenty of time. I regretted that I wasted two weeks that the teacher gave me. If I had used the time efficiently, the piece might have become the best painting I ever painted.   

Best of Week: Temple Grandin

The video about Temple Grandin was very inspiring to me. She has autism, but she influenced the world. Half the cattle in the U.S and Canada are handled in equipment that she has designed for meat plants. The one of the reason why she could have done this was she has a special skill. She has visual thinking that majority of people do not have. When she thinks, she is thinking in pictures. This video made me think deeply about autistic people. When people look at them, they do not act like a normal people. They look anxious, cannot stay in calm, and they cannot focus. However, I realized that this is not always true. Some autistic people are much smarter than regular people. They just look different because their brain works very quickly and differently. This video was very connected to me because my cousin has autism so it was very interested to watch the video about her. When I see him, he was different than my families. He focuses on only one thing for many hours and he has his own world in his mind. He draws same thing on his notebook for several hours. Because I do not see him very often, I thought he is very weird. However, after I watch this film, now I can understand his unusual actions. He is same as everyone else, but he has particular thinking skill. If I see him next time, it will be interesting to see him and I would understand him more.  

Connection : Mind book and art

Since I was 7 years old, I started to paint and draw. I love to paint someone else’s work or create my own. It has been only 3 weeks of taking Humanities, but I realized that art and humanity class are much related. When I paint or draw, I had to be very creative. Before I start a sketch, I brainstorm ideas, collect related pictures, and see other people’s work. I have to be unique and different from other people. I use a variety of materials and different techniques. When we do mind books in class, it is similar to works of art. The mind book does not have to be fancy or decorated with different colors, but they are similar in some ways. When I do the mind book, I have to think and brainstorm myself. I need creative ideas that will express my feelings, thinking, and opinions. It could be writing a story, writing poems, painting, or drawing. We can express our motions visually. The reason why I love to paint and draw is that the art work shows my personality. One piece of art can carry many meanings behind it. I think the mind book is going to be my personal story book like my art pieces.

Change of mind: The dancers

I like to watch videos in the class. One day, I walked into English class, and Mr. Allen prepared to play a video for us. When he played the video, I saw two people dancing on the stage with some delicate music. When I watched it the first time, I was not paying attention, because I am not interested in modern dance. But after the video was over, Mr. Allen asked us a question. “What did you guys notice about this dance?” I was not sure what this question meant. At that moment, one girl raised her hand and said “Dance has a story.” I was confused when she said it, because I did not see any kind of story in the dance. It was just two people that were dancing, hugging, and spinning. After she said that, Mr. Allen played the video again. Because of what she said, I actually paid attention to the video that time. It was the same video that we watched before, but it seemed like a different video. It amazed me that I could see the dance in a different way. I could see the story in the dance. The girl wanted to leave, but the guy kept holding onto her and did not want let her leave. Also, the dance matched with the music, and the story. After, I saw it in a new way, I started to like this dance. It was fun to listen to the music and watch the dance at the same time. I realized that the two dancers were amazing and they tried to express everything with their body. Their body motions were gorgeous and beautiful.