Appearances VS Internal Interpretation

Many times, art can reflect nature and human interactions on a daily basis. Art has been a hobby of mine that helps me let go and forget about everything around me. Whenever I paint, I think about life and how I make decisions. I know that sounds quite odd, but this is how I find meaningful interpretations when painting and relating the artwork to life lessons. I like to believe that paintings reflect what humans do, think, feel, and react to events around them.

For my next three paintings I created, I used the idea of traits and personalities an individual may have. The paintings are inspired by a few of my daily routines or thoughts I had during school, watching television, thinking about past events, etc. Each painting has its own lesson; I have learned and how it connects to not only me but other people as well. Those who have gone through a series of event to find who they are as an individual would understand and be able to relate to my paintings.

Blown Away

This painting is quite simple. Not many details are emphasized here to show enough meaning behind a dandelion.

As I kid, I loved blowing the petals off in the summer time. They petals reminded me of snow or fluffy clouds.




I used tape to divide the two pictures on the canvas to show difference in a full dandelion and one being blown by the wind. The dandelion on the left is full, strong, and proud. While the dandelion on the right is weak, falling apart, and self-conscious. To me, this picture represents both sides to a person; one with both their friends and family and one when they are by themselves. If you cannot relate then think of the picture as reality. We all try to act strong and cool on the outside when we are at school, or with family. On the inside, we are weak, we could snap any moment, and we are hiding our true selves from everyone because we do not want to be judged for being who we are.

As I was painting this, I came across multiple interpretations as to what this painting could mean. If it were to relate to my personal life, it would have been a lesson for me. I am a very emotional and sensitive person. I have been through life events that have shaped me in multiple ways. Being cyber bullied when I was younger, family issues, friendships, and my own barriers I made for myself to climb over. Going through all these conflicts I have learned one thing, Don't let people, events, or even your own fears define who you are as a person, you must live life working hard to earn every single penny you get thrown at you to realize you are worth everything to those who truly love you. So  the second half of the dandelion is showing that you must cover up your weak side and make sure that your bold personality will soon over power through the wind of emotions.

Mixing Colors 

This picture is simply just showing how I blended the colors while making this painting. I used four shades of blue and black from the bottom to gradually show the colors from light, dark, to pitch black. 

Brush Effect

Once I finished creating the background, I decided to add a mist of fog to create suspense in the scenery. 

For those of you artist out there, I know this technique of using the brush is breaking the hairs, but this is the best way to get misty and foggy detailing from the brush.

The final piece of artwork looks amazing doesn't it? 

You may be wondering what the night sky many represent. However, all I can say is darkness. 

OF COURSE, THE PAINTING IS NOT COMPLETE! 

As I continue to finish the painting, I used acrylic paint but added a little water to create a more shiny and watercolor like texture. I wanted the paint to be able to fall off the brush easily so it can create nice detailing when it drops on the canvas. I just tapped and flicked the middle part of my paintbrush to get the splatter effect on to the canvas.

Do you notice the major difference from the final product?

Don't worry, I didn't ruin my painting, I reinvented a new meaning in our lives as we think about why and what we live for. This painting shows every sign of perfections and hate at the same time. It also shows hope.


The splattering of the paint shows aggression, I clearly must have been mad about something. The original dark, and foggy night shows and gives off a vibe of mystery, danger, and confusion. That's a state you don't ever want to be in, so I trashed it. The Moon in the top right corner is the only part that was not hit or splattered with paint.

Why? Because the sign of a bright moon shows hope, renewal, and light. We all need that to push ourselves through hard and complicated moments in our lives to continue living our dreams. I tend to get lost and drown in my thoughts of sorrow during midnight when I can't sleep. This painting reflects my deep thoughts at night, but the next day I still show up at school. School can be dreadful, but we all still come to learn and be with friends. My future, my life, and my friends, are represented as the bright moon. The dark and foggy night represent my thoughts, my fears, and the ocean I mentally drown in with all my insecurities. Splattering that paint or ruining something in the way of your career and your pathway is something you should think about when you want to give up. Don't let something feed on your mind at night and realize that there is so much out there with a bright future ahead. One of the paintings in the book I'm reading, The Painter's Eye Learning to Look at American Contemporary Art By Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan had a painting that had splatters of paint all over the canvas.

Jackson Pollock, (Lavender Mist 1950) 

The book claims that, "Lavender Mist...beckons to be touched because the paint is so gloppy and gritty.in this detail the intricate web of lines are so shiny that they still look et. Sensing whether the surface is rough or smooth, grainy or gossamer continues to our feelings about the painting." (Greenberg and Jordan 30)






Using this idea, the splatters of paint on my personal artwork shows aggression and conflict because of how much is going on in one picture.

As for my last painting, I found this one to be very interesting. Of course, out of all these paintings on this blog, I find this one the most pleasing as it was not too hard to paint or think about.

Locked Emotions

 This is the complete painting of a volcano before and eruption and during an eruption. I had tape in between the paintings to show a break of difference.

Volcanoes are quite unpredictable, they blow up whenever they want to and sleep for thousands of years.







I'm a volcano. I hold things in, emotions, feelings, thoughts, words, and everything that comes to mind. I keep things to myself because I prefer not to be a burden to some by chewing their ear off with something they may find useless. Eventually, when it's time, I will blow up and cry for hours, days, nights, and continue to disrupt my train of thought. I believe many of us are volcanoes, once we keep holding back ourselves from doing something, we will scream, shot, run, and do whatever it takes to feel relieved. In fact, I was inspired while watching Disney channel. I'll admit I still watch kids shows but, as I was scrolling through the channels, I stopped on "Girl Meets World". Now I find this show quite straightforward and cheesy most the time, but I actually like the meaning behind the episode. The episode was about a friendship that has changed one of the friends because of how much they are around one another. She changed and became like her friend because she was influenced by her daily. She goes find her true self by trying to explode and throw a fit. She 'explodes' and does an illegal act but puts a special meaning as to what their friendship means, that they give each other hope. She had locked in her own thoughts and feelings so long; she had to express herself in a way that showed she had her own flare even with the influence of her friend.

For the detailing of the painting, I used once again, the stippling effect with the back of an eraser to create a textured look of green trees surrounding the volcano to express the beauty of the volcano when it's dormant.

An interpretation of this would be the volcano hides their own personality that the people around it trust the volcano to stay dormant.

I used a sponge that is typically used for mod-podge to create a textured look on the volcano erupting. I had dots of red and orange paint on the volcano and used the sponge to press down to create spotted looks against the rock.


The colors I chose are not only realistic, but they have a lot of meaning behind the surroundings for the volcanoes setting. The book states that,
 "Dark and light colors and how they relate to bright or dull colors is one way to define contrast in art. Colors are opposites, such as red and green, purple and yellow, or orange and blue, are called complementary colors...Artists take advantage of all the technical ways to use colors" (Greenberg and Jordan 32)



Meaning that the green represented, trees, happiness, comfort, when the volcano was dormant. While the red represented, death, excitement, danger, and it expressed tragedy.

Although the book did not help me with my imagination and painting ideas, the techniques I used were stated in the text.

Greenberg, Jan, and Sandra Jordan. The Painter's Eye: Learning to Look at Contemporary American Art. New York: Delacorte, 1991. Print.

Overall, I feel that my interpretation of art has gotten stronger. I am able to paint without thinking of what to paint ahead of time and come up with multiple interpretations. Now I can think of interpretations after I paint something or find something more open to critical thinking when it comes to my surroundings.

Do you have any suggestions on what I should paint or focus on? 

If I told you to interpret and connect all of my paintings above to life, what would you have thought of? 

Leave a comment down below! (: 

Artwork with meaningful interpretations

What is artwork with meaning behind it? In other words, what type of art is counted as meaningful instead of just copying a simple animated cartoon character from a show?


This last summer I was really interested in painting with acrylics but I'm not exactly the most artistic student you'll ever find. I painted very simple paintings that you could probably find online or I copied sea animals and scenery that I thought were pleasing to the eye. Over the summer I used painting as a stress reliever, I would paint all evening until the sun went down. Now as I look back, there were no true feelings or meanings I could pull from the artwork, all of them were straightforward with no depth or details included.


What's the point of art if there is no emotion behind it?
Every good artist should have a meaning or interpretation of some sort that can help others understand the painter's life or to connect within society. This question motivated me into becoming a better artist, I want to build a better foundation on how to use certain colors, symbols, and canvases to bring art to life by connecting it with society. That's why I decided to read The Painter's Eye Learning to Look at Contemporary American Art by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan.

Summer Artwork

For my first blog post I decided to connect my painting with the most recent novel we just finished, "The Bean Trees" By Barbara Kingsolver.

I want my paintings to connect with the social justice issue presented through the book in a creative way. For the first painting I created to connect with the book was a painting of different types of cooked eggs.

EGGs-planation of Family 

Now why eggs? How does food have anything to do with social justice issues?












Think of it this way:
Eggs can be cooked in multiple ways, soft boiled, over boiled, over easy, hard boiled, sunny side up, over hard, over easy and much more. All eggs can be cooked in either way the person prefers. How i saw this was everyone in society is different but accepts all as one group or family. I connected this with all the characters of The Bean Trees. Taylor, Turtle, Esperanza, Mattie, Lou Ann, and Estevan. Six different characters with all different backgrounds are picked out of the same tree and all of them come together as a family (one whole egg).

As I flipped through the book, I came across a picture of hot dogs. There are five hot dogs lined up in a row painted on a canvas showing immense detail on small differences of each individual. Such as, the slight difference in sizes, the dollops of mustard, the markings and shading of the bun.

Wayne Thiebaud, Five Hot Dogs, 1961 Oil Canvas 

Now this picture may seem silly, one may ponder about how hot dogs are so significant. Thiebaud intended to make a twist in pictures of food, traditionally we would see pictures of a bowl of fruit or a vase of flowers, maybe even a baguette if one wished to paint such beauty. Simply these hot dogs reminded him of how he saw America. "Picnic, baseball, beach, campfire, circus, cheap, easy-to-eat, easy-to-cook, American. So hot dogs are cheap and mass-produced; you can afford one even when you're broke. But you usually eat them when you're having a good time." (Greenberg and Jordan, 40). Something so simple and accessible in an American's daily life style can bring happiness and good memories. When I first glanced at the photo I thought it was quite pointless without reading the text. After reading the interpretation, it helped me get a decent foundation on what I see and think of symbolically.

Fishing for acceptance 

 Throughout the whole novel there was only one reference to fishing mentioned...how is that even important?

Fish always get baited by a simple worm and get caught up with the tricks of us sly human beings. But what about humans? What do we fall for? Who baits us? 

Well society does, especially the embodiment of women. This social justice issue was a big role in The Bean Trees. Lou Ann was a big part of wanting to be the perfect house wife, with a great body, cleaning the house, caring for Dwayne Ray and Angel. But what does she get back? Negativity and shame from her ex-husband. She worries and feeds into trying to fit the perfect role of women in the 1980s. The hooks I painted to symbolize society and role models made for commercializing while the fish represent the women who try to loose weight (the hotel owner who is hoping to be a future mother) or fit in the role of what everyone expects. I did my best to use as little colors as I can to show that 'the fish' are all looking to be the same thing, no diversity, all baited into the hook and it makes them so called 'normal' when there should be women of all sizes being accepted, and recognized for all their efforts put in to the family. 

In this painting, I made sure that only two colors (aqua green and dusty blue) would dominate over the whole canvas. I did this because I wanted to emphasize the true meaning of how women are all similar if they followed society's rules. I wanted to mimic the outlined idea of using less colors and similar continuous patterns because, "By limiting his color and repeating the red shapes, Francis manipulates the way we look at the parts of this painting, as well as the way we read it as a whole." (Greenberg and Jordan, 64). After seeing the picture of Sam Francis's Big Red, I got my idea of connecting animals to humans as to how Barbara Kingsolver connected vegetables to people in Turtle's perspective. 

Sam Francis's Big Red 1953 Oil Canvas

Overall, I feel the most difficult part of painting on canvases was using different types of paints. I used oil paint on my egg piece and I found that it was much harder to work with because the drying  process was much longer than acrylic paints. I was inspired by some of the artwork inside the book and found a way to make the interpretation fit with my beliefs. Using the book The Painter's Eye Learning to Look at Contemporary American Art, I was able to understand the use of detail for color choice, symbolism, shapes, and connect them to how I see and interpret the environment around me. I was also able to comprehend the meanings behind the painting. By reading some of the background information of the examples given above, I decided to challenge myself in thinking more critically by trying to connect paintings to what we learned in class, how I see society, my beliefs, and other symbols that I can connect with nature.

Greenberg, Jan, and Sandra Jordan. The Painter's Eye: Learning to Look at Contemporary American Art. New York: Delacorte, 1991. Print.

What other social justice issues did you find important from the Novel "The Bean Trees" that I should express through my future paintings?

If the only clue I gave about my paintings were "The Bean Trees", how would you have interpreted the artwork? 

What did you envision? Leave a comment down below! (: