TeenPrompt
a venue for teen visual artists and writers
Prompt 2 / Bella Epstein
Artist Statement
I enjoy making art because of how expressive it can be, and how it allows me to throw my emotions onto a page and create a picture out of them. In the near future, I would like to experiment more with texture by thickening my paint, using it to capture rough and smooth parts of a picture. I have been trying to move away from only doing one size and instead doing different sizes like very small and very big. I have played with borders as well, like very big borders to make the picture smaller. I want to try to be less detailed and more expressive in my work with marks, textures, and colors. I have started doing a little bit of this in self-portraits and figure drawings. For example, in the self-portrait displayed here I tried not to make it detailed at all, and I layered different angles of my face on top of each other. This made it look almost messy but in a simple way, often how I think of myself.
I start a piece of artwork by finding a picture I want to paint or draw. I then decide what materials I want to use. If the photo is softer and more blended, I go straight to watercolors, but if it has some sharper lines or more texture, I’ll use a different medium like acrylic paints, collage, or colored pencils. A good example of this is New York City. I used pen to outline the sharp buildings to add contrast to the soft watercolor clouds. Before I start a piece, I often do a light sketch in order to plan out placement and size. While I am creating my art, I like to pause and take a step back so that I am able to resume working with fresh eyes. Sometimes I will even work on other things during this rest so that I don’t get stuck on one piece. I am eventually able to come to a place in my work where I can tell that if I were to add more to it, it would be too much, and that is how I know when I am done.
Almost all of my work is based off pictures I have taken because I have to feel some sort of bond with the place or the picture for one reason or another in order to draw or paint it. If I don’t feel excited about drawing the picture, I won’t use it. I would consider the photos I take artwork, and I think that there is something really special about turning my own artwork into more artwork. I really like taking photos of landscapes, and so that is why they are my primary focus. I have been trying to create a sense of emotion in my landscapes, but that can be challenging. It is usually my own emotion I am portraying. For example, you can tell that I was sad when I made Icy Pointe because it is almost completely blue, and the ice seems to be frozen in a sort of soft, dismal way. I hope that when a person looks at my piece, they feel something, instead of thinking to themselves, “Oh, just another landscape.” I don’t have a specific feeling in mind, more that they feel anything—sad, mad, happy—and that they want to look at the piece for longer than five seconds.
Responses
Shadows
by Sasha Bull
The city lived, exhaling her light,
Fighting away the shadow monsters that lurked closer, hungry for the sweet taste of fear.
As a flame flickers dusk approached,
Sliding along the streets, its presence at large, smiling slyly as a shadow.
The people ran through the streets, to their homes, slamming doors, locks snapped, children sprinted to their beds hiding in their parents arms,
Night bore down on the buildings, fear was the city’s queen,
Dark came,
Night appeared,
Fear entered,
Creatures materialized,
Shadows crept over the barbed fence, smirking as children shrieked, sliding throughout the city, giggling at the moon.
Men checked the doors, Women shivered, children cried, dogs howled,
Shadows scampered throughout the roads blowing out light, setting the stage for a play.
They flew over the world snatching stars, leaving the sky a dark canvas,
They threw leaves from the trees, wind snatching them far from their homes.
They played catch with light bulbs, still hot from the streetlights that dotted the winding roads.
They snuck from window to window whispering stories to children that shivered under colorful covers,
And when the people finally prayed for the return of light that would lead them to tomorrow,
It did not come.
Soon they wished to leave their city, to wave their white flag of surrender, to give up their homes,
But the monsters slunk through allies yelling snarkily at the sky,
They scraped their long, slimy nails through doors watching the buildings shiver.
The shadows were eternity, they were life, they were forever.
Then,
Dawn began to crack through the dark bowl the city was hiding under,
Penetrating through the shadows.
Light made the people brave, they stepped out of their houses, soldiers preparing for war.
The people swept up the glass littering the ground like twinkling stars,
They painted light up on the canvas that covered the world,
They placed leaves back onto their homes like a 3D puzzle,
They fought the queen that took over their city,
And the people said goodbye.
They said goodbye until tonight.
Bio:
Sasha Bull, 13, lives in Denver Colorado
Process Note:
The inspiration for my poem was the image of the city surrounded by a dark fence. I began to wonder what the citizens were trying to keep out, or what they were trying to keep in. Shadows seemed prominent, so I began to think about what the citizens could fear and how they could fight this fear. What I immediately thought of was the idea of light against the dark. Was there a shadow monster that crept into the city when light faded away? What if the monsters terrorized the citizens until light rose again in the city and the people went out to fight the dark? That became my story, light against dark.
Breathe
By Sami Semelroth
Breathe in then out
Grounding myself in the moment
The spark threatening to lift me
Breathe in and out
Calming, stabilizing, focusing
Soon the spark can take control
Not yet.
Breathe in then out
Waiting impatiently to soar
Suddenly I’m alive and filled with energy
I can feel the spark in my blood
Giving me a moment of clarity,
Of perfection
Strong, slow, confident
Then it’s gone
Just as fast as it arrived
Out like a light
They say lightning never strikes twice
But it does
I already know it will be back
But I still miss it
Until it returns
I steady my hands
And breathe
In and out
Under Full Investigation
By Mathew Gearhart
In adolescence, there is no reflection nor contemplation.
Your mind is an avenue of pure physical observation.
Thoughts are simple, unable to critique or perceive a larger concept.
Childhood is the epitome of being, of living in the now.
Of pure perception free, quite blissful ignorance.
Your identity, who you are, is not in question.
First you must learn the simple lessons
and essential aspects of life.
As you age this all changes.
All you can do is reflect.
Reflect on who you are and what it all means.
Contemplate your actions and beliefs.
Your identity is now under full investigation.
Who are you?
Are you intelligent or dimwitted?
Are you an artist or a scientist?
Are your actions moral or malevolent?
Do you even know who you are?
Do you find that your spoken words
do not listen to your lingering thoughts and feelings?
Are you one man around your mother,
another with your friends?
Is it even fair to say that you have identifiable traits?
Considering the complexity of the human condition,
I suspect not.
Being There
by Layne Wilson
The breeze flowing through the trees gives off the wonderful smell
of spring. In the distance I hear water streaming through rocks,
the most beautiful sound. Above me is the pale blue sky
scattered with fluffy clouds. All five senses light up when I walk
outside. Nature is truly where I'm supposed to be.
Perspectives
by Theo Gillaspie
My perspective running thin,
what's supposed to last forever
is now blurred and distorted.
What is my perspective anymore?
How am I supposed to think, act,
look, talk,
be?
Who am I?
Who am I supposed to be?
Why am I changing myself?
I go from person to person with
a new face.
But which one is me?
Now that my perspective is gone,
time to find a new way for them
to perceive me.
Self-Portrait
by Raelee Shannahan, Washington High
I think that sometimes, instead of not being all the way there, I am there too much. suffocatingly involved and tuned into every minute detail until things swirl and blend together in a cacophony of chaos. I can hear the loud, dull murmur of those around me as the lines of myself become too harsh, too thick, too real, compared to my own surrounding. this is when my sense of self is truly ambiguous. I feel as if I'm on a different plane, but I know better. even during this, one fact becomes sobering: I exist, loudly.
Bluebird Skies
by Miriamne Marlowe, Washington High
Bluebird skies and omelet-colored daffodils fill my senses.
Rushing, gushing blue raspberry Kool-Aid washes my heaving down and the air is calm and cool.
I wish I knew this roundabout location as well as I know the perfect amount of chives to put into an organic mushroom soup. Grass certainly wouldn't do.
Rotting wood and earthy smoke stuff my nose and laughter as loud as a spinach smoothie's preparation bombarded me, both sounds lush and green as freshly snipped chives destined for soup.
I hear my name and smell cauliflower hash browns, knowing I've made it to the Annual Hippie Brunch and Jamboree.
Prompt 1 / Kate Godvin
RESPONSES
your bones are no longer your skeleton
by Cat Berg, Washington High School
Modern Mermaid
by Alice Tosi, Washington High School
Kid
by William Flack, age 13
Picture Day
by Nishimwe Esther, age 13
In A Life Full of Darkness
Once you get a taste of the beautiful light, you'll crave it for centuries. Centuries will turn to milleniums. It gives you more pleasure than anything you've done in the dark. Take light's hand. It will guide the way.
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About
Teen Prompt is a space for beginning creative writers and their teachers. Every year we feature a new set of visual prompts from a talented teen artist. We then invite teens across the country to send in creative responses to the work. Teachers, check out our downloadable tip sheet on creating poems and stories from visual art: Tips for Writing from Visual Art. Encourage your students to send us thier responses through our submission guideline link.