For our final project, I chose to research a Filipino artist who is inspired by her culture and nature in her artwork; Patricia Eustaquio. While researching, it became clear to me that Eustaquio focuses on the perfection of imperfections. Her work uses a lot of line and mark-making to create texture and tell a story in her abstract style. I first mapped out all of the pieces that make up her work (in my opinion). I then devised a plan of how to incorporate all of these details into my own recreation of her art. After making a digital sketch, I brought my piece to life with the use of charcoal, ink, sharpie, and graphite. 
Mark Making
Week 7 : Reflection
This week we reflected on our Big Assignment. With this assignment, I was able to challenge myself to not only complete a piece that is a lot larger than normal, but also experiment with a new medium, drawing ink. At first, I was weary because my mind goes straight to “Emily + ink = disaster”, but I actually found the ink to be a quite interesting way of creating value and mark making to really make my still life pop. This piece below is a smaller recreation of my original work from last week. After receiving some great constructive criticism, I was able to improve on my piece in ways that I would have never thought of by myself. Adding a more distinguished background was one of the most mentioned critiques, which lead me to create this blotchy background that really highlights the placement of the objects, making them stand out far more than before. I also was given the idea of having more texture in my objects. To do this, I really focused on how perfect imperfections can be. I added more cross hatching and loosened my contouring/line work on this recreation. It has a messy – but controlled – look to it. This was way out of my comfort zone, and initially I was skeptical, but I ended up really having fun with the creation of this new piece. Because this was a recreation, the measurement/line/value that I had experimented with before provided great insight on the ways I could change and improve the piece. I would like to thank my classmates for participating in the critique of my work and really helping me improve my skills! The main thing that this project has taught me is; If you only look at something for what you want it to be, rather than what it actually is, you will never be able to see the true beauty of your creation.
Week 5 : Mark Making
This week, our assignment was to be creative with the use of recycled items! I chose these items from my collective trash of the week, and not only repurposed items for the patterns, but also for the functionality of the tools. I used a note card to make a spiral shape, with a bottle cap as a way to hold the tool. An empty lint roller handle was used for the handle of the bottle tool. I attached a paper clip to a faulty pencil’s eraser for a way to control the tool. Some old aluminum was used as a “stamp” which I also formed a handle on! Last, but not least, I used the packaging from my charcoal set to create an interesting tool, topped with an old battery for support. These patterns I created were very distinguished compared to each other. My favorite was definitely the paperclip which was the center section of the page I filled with marks. At first, I stamped the paper with the tool, but then found that by sliding it, the beads of ink that gathered on the metal, formed stripe-like marks.
