This was an amazing art piece I had the opportunity to make in class.

This watercolor painting captures a deeply personal moment as I lay on my bed, immersed in contemplation about significant aspects of my life. I applied the wet-on-dry technique as I illustrated this piece, employing masking fluid to delicately preserve the star’s brightness in the composition. I intended to evoke a sense of tranquility and intimacy within the artwork which I achieved through using a cool color palette. In creating this painting, my primary objective was to hone my watercolor skills while simultaneously expressing a personal facet of my identity.

This is a cubist inspired painting still life.

“Solitude” portrays the stillness of an elderly man encompassed by a shadow-filled room. His shoulders, burdened by the weight of years, are hunched under the accumulation of time and lost opportunities that have slipped away. Although his eyes are closed, they betray an inner struggle with remorse, depicting a life filled with belated realizations of roads not taken. The expansive negative space around him offers a dual sense of comfort and condemnation—providing a sanctuary for his introspection, yet underscoring the emptiness of his present and the mourning for time irrevocably passed.

Growing up is hard. Sometimes it's easy to forget the little kid that you used to be. For others, it's almost impossible to forget or even stop mourning that version of yourself. This piece highlights how childhood trauma and abuse can linger into adolescence. The image of hands covering the younger self's eyes shows a desire to shield that innocence. The older self's open eyes reveal an awareness of the world. The monochromatic red ties both versions together, emphasizing their connection. Despite occasional disconnect, the inner child persists, reminding us that little kid that lives in you still exists.

“Mourning a Memory” symbolically depicts the act of reminiscing about past experiences.

I drew this because of how pretty I thought mountains were and I really enjoy looking at this artpiece.

This three page comic is about the sole inhabitant of a mechanical sun, represented by a floating spherical ship, and his robot. Alone, the two of them oversee an abandoned Earth in a dystopian future. During their conversation, they give clues about what happened to the barren Earth while tackling the distinction between being alone and loneliness. Although the figure takes on a human-like form and is not treated as a robot, his humanity is neither confirmed nor denied. This brings into question if he can experience loneliness as humans do, if he sees the robot as a companion, or if his hope that humans will return to Earth someday makes him feel not lonely. Finally, the last page ends with an illustration of the mechanical sun above an empty, abandoned landscape to contrast the figure’s optimism with the harsh reality, calling into question the validity of his hope that humans will return and that Earth can be reconstructed. To convey the somber tone of the story, this piece is illustrated in black and white, which reflects the loss of life due to corrupt and polluting human activity, while the color red emphasizes the eerie atmosphere.

This is the short story I wrote about my art piece and how I felt while drawing it .

Nature has always been an inspiration for my artwork, but this time, I wanted to personify her.

I buried Syd beneath a chinese elm.

Portrait of my friend June because I missed her while she was in France.

A human soul trapped in a butterfly.

I used water color to make a watermelon.

Humans are constantly making things that will outlast them, from the plastic goods that don't break down, to the infrastructure of our world, and even the food we eat. Simultaneously, we are always trying to extend our own lifespans, and push our own expiration date back. This piece I’ve made, titled Perishables, is a collection a 4 collages of starburst wrappers and painted food products. A set of 4 worked well, aided by the 4 colors of wrappers. I used stereotypical hallmarks of advertisements—bright colors, bold text, and flashy accents—to enhance the plastic commercialized feeling of our food these days. In each one, I’m able to think through different aspects of processed food, like the way it is preserved in a can or how sometimes it simply doesn’t decompose at all. Inspired by videos of hamburgers that never rot, the expiration dates listed on the side of a can years in the future, and plastic packing all our food can be found in, I was intrigued by the idea that the foods we have grown and processed to sustain ourselves could still be here long after we’re gone.

This piece was inspired by the movie Inception. In the artwork, the woman stares pitifully at the fish trapped in the fish tank, imagining its freedom. But she is unaware that she is just like the fish, trapped underwater. This represents the idea that a person may be oblivious to their own struggles, even as they empathize with the struggles of others.

The claustrophobic inevitability of growing up is something that’s been nipping at my heels each day I get older. I know I’m not a kid anymore, but, at the same time, not quite yet an adult. The transition between sun-bathed childhood bedrooms and scarily uncertain adulthood leaves me feeling cramped in a once familiar space I’ve long outgrown.

In my household, there is a convergence of my family's cultures; Portuguese and Indian. Through observation I found a spice cabinet in my house that visually displayed something in my everyday life that was full of culture. The cabinet has traditional Indian spices and boxed powders alongside Portuguese spices. Just like we had the option to use different spices in our dishes, I have had the option to experience the coexistence of the two cultures, which is my inspiration for this artwork.

Holidays and other celebrations hold a special place in the heart of every culture, each one bearing its own unique rituals and traditions. Living in such a diverse country, I have come to really appreciate the spiritual power of holidays and wanted to express it in this painting. My painting portrays two Chinese women preparing a bountiful feast for the New Year, a momentous holiday celebrated by a vast and diverse population. Its message is to demonstrate the power celebrations and holidays have to connect people, even those of polar backgrounds. New Year’s, for example, is celebrated all around the world, from the Chinese Lunar New Year to European New Year’s Eve celebrations. Although people are connected more than ever with the advent of the internet and trivialized cross-continent travel, holidays still manage to maintain a magic to bridge divides, sometimes even better than those novel inventions. The piece goes about portraying the message by focusing on people. This is done through the use of color contrast, with a vignette formed by greys surrounding the warm, saturated colors of the food and people. Another method of emphasizing the people is through a difference in detail level. The hands and the face of the woman are more detailed compared to the food and dishware, further highlighting them. While the two women are not directly touching or in very close contact, they are connected by a mutual connection to the food they are making.

In this work, I tried to convey the struggle of being an Asian American with the juxtaposition of the American bill and the Chinese bill behind the red envelopes. Every Chinese New Year, my family gives put red envelopes to close family and friends, and I was inspired by my experiences with receiving American bills from my family in America, and Chinese bills from my family in China. I often find myself stuck between both parts of my identity, and ponder the question if I could be fully welcome the Asian part of my identity while also being American at the same time. Contrastingly, this piece also represents the ultimate embracing of my Asian American identity, as I’ve grown and come to realize that my identity being both Asian and American has shaped my personal experiences and connection with others around me.