Mr. Couling’s art class allows many students to express their artistic talent. Students take his class to show their emotions and passions through art. Mr.Couling has been teaching art for twenty-nine years at Concord. This past week, he assigned his students to draw self-portraits of either recent photos or baby photos. This was a successful project for his students; some of their work turned out incredibly realistic compared to their photo.
Mr. Couling adds his opinion on the self-portraits, stating, “Looking at the class as a whole, students did a fantastic job and many seemed to enjoy drawing pictures of themselves. A lot of students did baby/young and hilarious pictures.” Mr. Couling plans on doing self-portraits again in the future; he said it was a good assignment and very successful. Besides the self-portrait assignment, Mr. Couling enjoys all of the different challenges he gives his students, but one of his favorites is the airbrush project. He explained how it seems to be more successful than in the past, and he enjoys seeing what students come up with.
Lizzie Smith is a freshman enrolled in Art. She enjoyed the pen and ink. Lizzie did a self-portrait of a baby photo. While holding her portrait up with pride, she explained that it is “probably one of the best I’ve ever done; I wish the hair could have been better and looked more realistic.” Lizzie enjoys art and wants to go far in life with it. She plans on majoring in art in college. Lizzie relates to her portrait in a different way than others since it is a photo from years ago: “it’s just younger, it expresses how I’ve always been wild as a child and was an angry kid sometimes.”
Lizzie isn’t the only freshman who took art this year. Another freshman, Rakai Hill, says she feels that her drawing looks fantastic and similar to her source. Rakai has taken art with Mr. Couling before, in middle school, but is harder than in the past as he has higher standards for high school, which makes the art look so much better. It was an adorable photo, and she wanted to express how cute it was. It reflects her identity and how much she enjoyed taking pictures when she was younger. Rakai wishes that the face shape were better, but when drawing a portrait of someone, it is difficult to get the face shape and features down perfectly.
Hayden Stanhope is a sophomore taking his second year of art. Hayden expressed how he loved his self-portrait and wished he could do more, but it was getting too complicated. Hayden says, “I think it relates to me because half of it is my face and the other half is the side of things I like to do and being creative.” When asked about what other projects he enjoyed, he said he loved watercolor painting because it is more realistic, and you can make it look good. Hayden wants to continue showing his creative side through art and is hoping to have an art class every year until he graduates.
Mr. Couling’s self-portrait assignment was perfect to show how some view themselves. As he continues to give opportunities like this, I encourage you to take his art class. You can express your feelings and creativity through a talent many wish they had.
