This is an oil painting of an old sailing ship at sunset, which looks vaguely like a ghost ship. The big boat was painted in 1997 and the artwork is approximately 2′x3′. The background sky and sunset were painted first, followed by the glowing hills and buildings. Water and reflections were painted next, simply by mirroring the shapes and colors painted above. Deep greens and blues were added to the murky water, and there is some tension created by the bright sun disappearing into the surrounding darkness. Lastly the boat and foreground were painted with similarly brisk brush strokes. Details like rope, flags, netting, sails, and waves splashing around the ship were painted last.

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In keeping with the tradition of Egyptian themed drawings, here is a charcoal drawing of an Egyptian Sarcophagus. The sarcophagus is traditionally reserved for mummified bodies of dead Egyptian pharaohs, so the face was detailed with deep cheekbones, eye sockets, and an emaciated look. The charcoal medium was used to draw quick energetic lines and create the structure of the sarcophagus. After blending and pushing the black charcoal around, sanguine sepia and white chalk was used to add the lighter gold portions around the headdress and face. The black charcoal was then used again to sketch in deep shadows by redrawing similar line paths multiple times. This helps to create unusually deep, dark shadows in the drawing that are not fully reproducible in a digital format. There is a sense of weight and depression to the drawing, thus making the clear white background all the more striking.

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This is a charcoal drawing of an Egyptian Sphinx, which was sketched in 1998. Heavy black charcoal lines were used to energetically draw the structure of the sphinx. Quickly moving from one area of the page to another helps to keep perspective on the whole drawing. Shadows were pushed very dark, and the white highlights are emphasized with chalk. White chalk was even used to fill in white areas of the paper, and blend some of the crisp charcoal lines. Sanguine sepia is used to highlight angles and perspective lines in the drawing of the Egyptian sphinx, which also helps to lead the viewers eye through the art and creates a sense of movement.

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This is a charcoal drawing of a drapery study. The artwork was drawn in 1995 with vine charcoal in my first art class. Attention to detail, in both line work and shading was meticulously planned out with each stroke. Subtle variations in the weight of the line, shades of charcoal, and white of the paper help to create the illusion of depth in the drawing. A kneaded eraser was used to carve out white highlight areas. The drapery study was good practice for proportion, and helped me get used to working with charcoal in 8th grade.

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These two watercolor paintings of flowers were created in 1997. The artworks utilize soft pink backgrounds, and deeper rich colors for the flowers and green leaves and stems. Numerous shades of red, orange, yellow, and green were used to create shadows, midtones, and highlights on the flower petals and leaves. This technique also gives the stems and leaves shape and form in the space. The use of watercolor as the medium for the flower paintings also gives them a softer look than crisp acrylics or oils.

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