Art is funny in a way because it represents people's characteristics. It is determined by so many different things which makes each piece and artist unique. When I was a little girl, my aunt took me to a Frida Kahlo exhibit and after that experience, Frida Kahlo influenced my art. I read all about Frida Kahlo and little by little, art became my world. Frida motivated me to gain more knowledge about the idea of art. Another important artist who I look up to for inspiration is Mattise and Picasso. Picasso’s cubist ideas and Matisse’s intense colors have a huge impact on my work. Within the past couple of years I have had multiple mentors throughout my art career. Mr. Metz and Ms.C, my high school art teachers, have impacted me greatly. I also took classes when I was much younger and Mrs.Sue Puchkowitz had a huge impact on my art education. Mrs.Sue taught me to be brave with my art work and don't be afraid to explore everything.Ms.C influenced me to go to art classes outside of school, so I applied to a 5 week pre-college art program at Skidmore College. At Skidmore, I learned about myself as an individual and as an artist. That experience changed my point of view of how school would be like in the future and it altered the way I thought about responsibility. My highschool mentors’ words always are in the back of my head whenever I am in the studio making art. I have learned so much from them and I will never forget what they taught me. Everybody on this earth has something that is unique about them and even though I was an infant when I went to Colombia for the first time, it is still an influential moment in my life. I went to Colombia every year soon afterwards. As I got older, I have come more to a realization that I am completely obsessed with Hispanic culture and I want to include that love in my work.

Everytime I want to make a work of art, a good amount of thought is put behind it. I consider what the purpose of the piece is and what was the intention. Culture, identity, and my family have played big parts of my brainstorming for a work of art. After I developed my idea, I researched everything there is to learn about the topic. I print out references from websites, Google images, and famous artists such as Frida Kahlo. As I make my piece, I go to my art studio. I think about what medium I want the piece to be in. If I work in oil paint, I lay out my brushes, make sure the paint is on the glass palette in the correct color theory order, and I make sure the canvas is fully ready to get the underpainting.

Today I use all types of mediums such as acrylic, oil, watercolor paint, pastels, charcoal, and pencil. I have taken a few classes outside of highschool to further my education in art. I attended PAFA and Skidmore College. Classes at those colleges like PAFA were just the beginning of my art career, in the hopes that those classes would help aid my work and develop better skills as an artist by going out of my comfort zone. At PAFA University, I studied how to oil paint in a limited amount of time for specific assignments. At Skidmore, I learned how to glaze and sketch more efficiency by having more composition in a limited amount of time. Not only in oil painting, I plan to further promote different ways I see things. Now, I attend Temple University until 2023, studying fine arts.

I am asked numerous times the same question, “Why do you love art?” And I answer this question with this response: some way or another I manage to see art in everything. Everyone on this earth is an artist even if they have never picked up a paintbrush. I love art so much that it consumes me. The way that the paint brush wraps itself around the paint and glides on the white canvas makes me feel complete. If someone were to ask me to tell them about the steps to make a work of art, I would describe to them a scenery from the last time I made a painting. “The last time I painted was yesterday and here is what happend: I walked into my art studio, turned on my music; cumbia, and I began to pour the linseed oil into a little white ceramic bowl. The oil moved down my skin as if it was in a race to get to the towel. I then picked up the tube of color paint, that represented the earth, and I clenched my hand slowly to carefully squeeze it onto the glass plate. Time stops once I start painting. One moment it was 6pm; then the next time I could look up at the clock it would be 10pm. Time disappears when I paint because I become lost in my art.”

When I was younger, everyone knew that art would someday be in my future. At age 5, I would draw everyday in my little sketchbook with crayons and pencils all because my grandma taught to draw. In the future, I would like to use art in my career. I want to learn new techniques and how to communicate my feelings in a more concrete way. As I have grown older, my love for art has never faded, it only became stronger. Painting is a part of who I am and I need to constantly hold a paint brush in order to continue to grow.