While working on my 20% project this week I learned about different techniques for color blending. After searching up tips on how to color blend, I started to practice for a little bit. While I didn’t get as much as I would like to have gotten done, I still made progress which is good. The only problem I faced was that I was sick, and wasn’t able to make it to school. However, this might have actually been a good thing because it meant that I had all my supplies with me, and as much time as I needed. Like I predicted last week, I did end up practicing while I learned as I just find it easier to do that. Other than that, everything went as planned and I was able to stay on track. Next week, I will spend all of my time practicing, and possibly finish the other half of the drawing I started in week two to see if I have improved.

My favorite room in my house is my bedroom. Firstly, my room is upstairs in the top right corner of my house, away from the chaos. In my old house, my room was downstairs and I often felt that it was too close to the guests when they came over. Now that it is upstairs, there is a sense of privacy. When we throw parties or invite people to our house, it is nice knowing that people will not just randomly walk in. I also like that almost everything I need is in or nearby my bedroom. If you exit my room and make a left, you will run into our upstairs bathroom. I also have a desk in the corner of my room to work and study, a trash can underneath it, a bed to sleep on, and a T.V. across from that. As long as I bring snacks into my bedroom, I will have to leave very few times. This was especially helpful when I had Covid because I was able to quarantine myself from my family quite effectively. Finally, I get to design my room the way I like it. My bedroom has several different posters such as a basketball poster, football poster, and a Weezer poster. As well as wall decorations, I also have a beanbag chair which makes for a comfortable place to sit. While my parents get to decorate the rest of the rooms in our house, I have control of what decorations are put up in my bedroom.

While working on my 20% project this week, I finished the first half of my drawing to mark my progress. I drew an orange and shaded half of it, leaving the other half for sometime between week three and four. My only struggle was forgetting to bring my art supplies from home which meant that I had to use a regular pencil. However, this ended up working out because these two weeks have been focused on shading which means that I didn’t really need anything other than a pencil. I didn’t have to change my schedule because the orange half ended up taking me the entire time, so I am where I should be according to my calendar. Next week I will be starting a different unit, and focusing completely on color blending. I am supposed to just research, but I will probably end up practicing if there is time.

I sat on the uncomfortably small plane seat livid. The two annoying little kids continued to bicker and whine as I mocked them before receiving a “we’re all annoyed, so take your mind off of it” look from my mother. My veins nearly popped out of my arms as I clenched my fists to keep me from walking right over and throwing them both off the plane. My mom jabbed at me again, so I reached into my bag and pulled out my AirPods. While it did calm me down for a minute, “Crazy Train” by Ozzy Osbourn could only bring me peace for so long. Eventually, it came back. “Mommy I’m hungry!” The younger brother shouted while the older one started to have a meltdown because his ears hurt. I glared at the mom from my spot on the plane as she continued to do absolutely nothing to discipline her kids. I sat in the middle seat, smashed between my mom and a random lady. When will those two kids just shut up! I thought to myself. We hadn’t even started moving and I was already close to having a breakdown. I hadn’t realized it yet, but this was going to be a long three hours.

Hi my name is Jeremy and for my 20% project I am trying to become a better artist and drawer. This week I focused my attention on shading. Week one went well, with me being able to successfully draw and shade an apple. After researching some different shading methods, I was able to practice them and get the hang of these different techniques. This week was fairly simple and I was met with zero struggles along the way. My original plan was to spend the time solely researching, but I had to adjust that. Instead I ended up practicing as I researched, as I felt this was the best use of my time. Soon I will be starting a drawing to mark my skills at this point in time, which I will later finish to see if I’ve improved. Next Friday I will continue to practice the shading techniques I learned in week one, and maybe attempt to shade on more difficult shapes.

There are so many people I would want to invite to dinner, but these would be my top three. Firstly, I would invite Nate Bargatze. Nate Bargatze is a clean comedian from Tennessee who also appeared on Saturday Night Live. He would make for great company as well as tell hilarious jokes at the dinner table. My second choice would be Rivers Cuomo. Rivers is the lead singer and composer of the alternative rock band, Weezer. Weezer is one of my favorite bands and I would find it really interesting to talk about the band and its backstory. Finally, I would invite defensive superstar, Nick Bosa. In case you didn’t know, Nick Bosa is a defensive end for the NFL football team the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers are my favorite football team and I would absolutely love to meet a player, let alone have dinner with them. For dinner we would have the best sushi money could buy, since that is my favorite food.

In March I read the book Code of Honor by Alan Gratz. Code of Honor is a realistic fiction book about a kid named Kamran Smith, a senior and star running back of East Phoenix High School. For Kamran, life until now has been going great. He played a great football game, he is the prom king, and his best friend got them tickets to the Super Bowl. However, at the prom Kamran is accused of being a terrorist since him and his brother are half Iranian. This escalates into a large fight which results in Kamran’s mother coming to pick him up from the school. This is when she drops the news about Kamran’s brother, Darius, claiming to be a terrorist in a video he posted. Suddenly, all of Phoenix is against Kamran and his family, but Kamran refuses to believe his brother is a terrorist, and tries to find anyone who believes the same.

I really enjoyed this book because of the way that Alan Gratz worded it so that Kamran actually sounded like a high schooler. Often times authors make the children in books sound too mature for their age, but Alan does a great job of writing like a high schooler. There is great description throughout the book, however, some of the fighting in the beginning can get repetitive leaving me to feel as if I read the same thing twice.

My favorite character was Kamran’s down to earth friend, Adam because of how impartial he is. The text states on page 31, “‘That part’s stupid,’ Adam admitted. ‘But, Kamran, you have to understand how everybody else sees your brother. He basically went on TV and said ‘I’m a terrorist.’” This shows that he is able to see both perspectives of this situation, and he is trying to help his friend Kamran do the same. He doesn’t think that Darius is a terrorist, but he knows that other people might because of the evidence given.

My favorite quote is on page 39, “1) Be the strongest of the strong. 2) Be the bravest of the brave. 3) Help the helpless. 4) Always tell the truth. 5) Be loyal. 6) Never give up. 7) Kill all monsters. We were big on killing monsters. Darius and I had solemnly signed the bottom of the paper in our grade school cursive. If we could have signed it in blood, we would have.” I like this quote because throughout the book I was hoping that Darius wasn’t actually a terrorist, and when I came across this quote, I felt as if it was proof of him being innocent.