Abbey McGarry
My Portfolio
Welcome to my portfolio. Here you’ll find a selection of my work. Explore my projects to learn more about what I do.
It is a split image of two girls. On one side, it's very gray and dreary and the girl is holding up an umbrella to block the rain. On the other hand, the other side is bright and colorful, and the girl has dropped her umbrella and is embracing the rain. On the dark side, I used a monochromatic color scheme using different shades of gray, while the other side utilizes more realistic colors. I especially tried to add different darker and lighter shades of the same color to show depth, as seen in the clouds and trees. This painting represents how our perspective can change the way that we look at the trials in our lives. We often grow the most through the hard times in our lives, and we can choose to either be upset about it, or we can embrace it and see the blessings in difficulties. The emotions that I wanted to convey were hope and sorrow, as expressed by the two girls. This painting helped me become better at showing lighting and reaching my goal of painting people better. Overall, I really loved how this painting turned out and the deep meaning it has behind it.
Raindrops
This is an image of a bird flying above flowers. The medium is watercolor. I used mostly regular watercolor painting techniques, but also combined it with some ink blowing techniques as seen in the tail feathers. The purpose of the piece is to express freedom and pushing boundaries of "perfect". I felt this as I was creating it, because the style is more loose and abstract I had to let go of having control over making it look perfect and simply create. I made a mistake, and embraced the splotch to make the art piece better, which I feel like can apply to life. This project helped me as an artist to try a different style and branch out of what I usually do. The end didn't turn out exactly like I thought it would, but I really like the end product.
Rise
Free
This painting depicts a bird flying with feathers drifting down behind it. I used paper marbling techniques to create the background and went over on top with sharpie to create the outline of the bird and write the words. The free, loose style of paper marbling encouraged me to let go of control and see beauty in the imperfections. Like the quote suggests, the message of this artwork is to put ourselves out there and try something new, and believe in our potential to succeed, instead of succumbing to the doubts telling us that we will fail. An example of this is when I made this piece. I tried something new, and I ended up learning a different technique that I really enjoyed! Overall, although I feel like the artpiece could've been improved, I liked how it turned out.
Captured Moonlight
This is a painting that shows the night sky trapped in a bottle. The picture shows the lid taken off, and the night sky escaping. The technique I used for this piece is called fumage, or smoke painting. This technique was hard to get the hang of and frustrating at times. Obstacles I had to overcome was learning how to maneuver the soot where I wanted, how to not drip candle wax on it, and how to angle the candle to create different shapes. There was a learning curve, but the end product was rewarding. I grew as an artist through this piece by learning a new skill and developing my problem solving abilities. The symbolism behind this is how, like a night sky, emotions are beautiful, but can't be bottled up and have to be let out.
This is a painting of a girl with a galaxy coming out of her hand. She's in the clouds with a starry night background. This painting represents dreams, longing, and wishes. Paulo Coelho had a similar message that matches the feeling this painting evokes. He said that "The world lies in the hands of those that have the courage to dream." I used a sponge to create the natural blend between the blues and purples for the background. I flicked a paintbrush to create the galaxy and stars and went back after to add more stars by hand. Originally this created a messier look than I was going for, but now I think that this adds to the artistic feel. One of my favorite parts about this painting is the lighting that I did. I specifically made the background behind the girl a lighter blue to draw the viewer's focus there. I added shading on the clouds and the girl, including a white outline to show the angle of the light. Overall, I really like the final product and I'm proud of how I did.
To Wish Upon a Star
Describe your image
Describe your image
Describe your image
Describe your image
'Tis The Season
This is a glass cube-like container with each side depicting a different painting. It's holiday themed, specifically focused on Christmas and Halloween. One of the two Christmas sides include a wreath and ornaments and wish "Merry Christmas". The other is a wintry scene with two little angels decorating a Christmas tree. While one Halloween side has a black cat, bats, and says "Happy Halloween", the other has a ghost coming down the path from a haunted house and another ghost jumping out from behind a tree to scare them. I purposely made sections of the paint thinner (such as the ghosts and the lights in the haunted house and jack-o-lantern) thinner so that I can put lights inside the box and light up the images. Throughout this project I learned the difficulties of painting on glass, for example how you need several coats to make the paint thick enough which is more time consuming. It wasn't my favorite project to do, but I learned how to paint on a new surface and I believe that these images capture the light-hearted spirit of these holidays and this box will hopefully lead to creating more fun memories.
Handheld Dreams
This was a short two-day project I did to demonstrate the use of a watercolor technique. The watercolor technique I chose for this was putting salt on wet on wet to help create the galaxy effect. I used watercolor for the background, and for my second medium I used sharpie for the book, writing, and extra drawings. I chose this design because it represents me. I enjoy reading and consider myself a dreamer, and in books you can explore places and people that you would never experience otherwise. Opening a book is starting an adventure, and I really wanted to capture that with this piece.
This is a multi-media painting of a deer that I made. I used watercolor for the head of the deer and the leaves, and I used ink for the rest of the deer and the tree background. I liked this use of mediums because it made the colored part pop off the page, giving it a 3D quality. The hardest part of this project for me was probably the texture, but I really enjoyed the challenge of painting animals in detail, which is not something that I often do. I specifically chose autumn leaves to represent change over time and the pain of letting go of certain things as we get older. That as we look to the future, shown by the deer looking to the side, we're forced to let go of the past, represented by the leaves falling down and off the antlers. Just like how trees lose their leaves, deer shed their antlers, but they always grow back, showing that the winds of time and change will shape us but never change who we truly are.
Winds of Change
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Scarlet Secrets
This is my cubism painting with our fantasy theme. It's painting of a woman in a red cloak with an arch of red roses above her. The red roses around her represent the mystery and secrets that surround us. The red cloak symbolizes how she wraps herself in secrets to protect herself, and the white rose that she's holding represents truth. The fact that it's turning red symbolizes how altering the truth can taint our own truths. The white and black broken up background shows how there are many facets to the truth, and how reality is not, in fact, black and white, but has many shades of gray. I enjoyed learning about cubism and a different, more abstract way to show the same image. This project took me a very long time to make because of the many different sections in different colors, but I really like the final product.
