For this Advanced Studio Art assignment, The goal was to make my image blend into my canvas as best as I could, so that it would look almost like I painted it myself. I stumbled across this picture of Kate Moss and I something about it reminded me of catholic renditions of the Virgin Mary. It might've just been the cross she's wearing or the way her hands are placed but I decided to use the Virgin Mary as my inspiration! I painted thin layers of acrylic washes all over the canvas and then went in with small gel pens and outlined some of the brushstrokes I found the most interesting. I used those gel pens to write little secrets/thoughts of mine in a small, messy cursive all over the place! I ended up sticking Kate right in the middle so that behind her eyes you could see a faint outline of my handwriting and after I glued her down I began to surround her with oil pastels. I used black to represent the Virgin Mary's hood and placed blue, yellow, and red around the black since those colors are often used in religious portals of Mary. I added oil pastel roses and finally went in with black acrylic to add some dripping goop. This project was sort of challenging for me because I usually painting with a specific plan in mind, but it was relaxing to just go with the flow for once! I would totally do this again and I will definitely take some of the aspects of this painting with me to future art projects. (February 22, 2022)