I chose to call this piece Under the Sea because it reminds me of the beginning of the movie “The Little Mermaid”. There is a scene in the movie it shows that everyone is happy, but you know there is more to the movie than happiness. This reminds me of life. Sometimes you feel like you are living your best life, and nothing could touch you. But how things go for me I am happy, and everything goes my way when something tragic happens. There are many times in my life I am accomplishing so much, and I start to feel happy again. Then a loved one dies, or something happens to a friend or a family member. 

I used space when painting the background. Space is the area between and around objects. The space around objects is often called negative space; negative space has shape. Space can also refer to the feeling of depth. Real space is three-dimensional; in visual art when we can create the feeling or illusion of depth, we call it space. I emphasized with line by making the seaweed that were different lengths and widths. Line is a mark with greater length than width. Lines can be horizontal, vertical, diagonal, straight, curved, thick or thin. 

 I used balance when blending the background so there were not any harsh lines. Balance is the distribution of the visual weight of objects, colors, texture, and space. If the design was a scale these elements should be balanced to make a design feel stable. In symmetrical balance, the elements used on one side of the design are like those on the other side; in asymmetrical balance, the sides are different but still look balanced. In radial balance, the elements are arranged around a central point and may be similar. I applied proportion by making the sea animals varied sizes, but they still look like their proportional. Proportion is the feeling of unity created when all parts (sizes, amounts, or number) relate well with each other. When drawing the human figure, proportion can refer to the size of the head compared to the rest of the body. 

This project started off a little rocky. The paint that we used was a little old, so it kept clumping up but enough blending I was able to cover them up. But it was fun making the seaweed in the corners. I started with black then mixed in blue, green, and white to make the other seaweed color. I thought the seaweed was too bright but after I finished the sea animals it all turned out how I wanted too. The sea animals were easy to make but I had to go over it with a sharpy to outline the animals. This meant a lot to me because it reminded me of the highs and lows in my life. Overall, I loved doing this project because I had to trust the process the whole time.