Gallardo, Daisy

Daisy Gallardo 

Bittersweet Misfortune 

7x8 

Watercolor 

NFS 

Bio: My name is Daisy Gallardo. I'm a senior high school student at Camelback High School. I am an active member of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, National Honors Society, and an advisory participant of the Xico & Helios Youth Juried Exhibition. I have a passion for art because I enjoy the process of drawing, seeing my skills develop over time, and having a meaningful way to express myself and others. I started practicing drawing because all my friends love drawing, and each has a unique art style that represents them. They encouraged me to draw, so I began practicing from late 2018 to today. I would describe my artistic style as using a variety of traditional mediums, colors, line types, value, and more to create scenarios where real or fictional characters interact with other concepts to create a sense of wonder and inspiration.

Artist Statement: The artwork was created using watercolor. My goal is for viewers to feel sympathy for the young adult in the painting, whose ice cream has accidentally fallen onto the carpet in her home. I painted her red to convey the associated emotions of anger and frustration. The use of primary colors in the curtain and wall is intended to draw the viewer's attention to the details of the ice cream. Creating the painting was initially challenging as I had limited experience with watercolor. However, I was able to gain a better understanding of its properties during the process. This painting relates to the theme of rites of passage, as it portrays the symbolism of an ice cream and the emotion of a young adult that demonstrates a child transitioning into a young adult. The ice cream represents the sweet innocence that the young lady experienced in childhood. However, as she matured, her innocence ended abruptly due to her growing mind, curiosity, and understanding of complex ideas. Her frustration and anger are her realization that she cannot reclaim her lost innocence. She lies beside the melting ice cream to properly mourn and find acceptance. The ice cream seeping into the carpet of her home represents how the innocence she once knew will continue to live on in her memory through the home she grew up in.