Chinese American Dream

This artwork was the first that I made in the 2025 - 2026 school year for my AP Drawing portfolio. It depicts 3 versions of me throwing one baseball with a blue and red background. This was made out of just acrylic paint, and it's my first ever time using acrylic paint for something more serious. I tried using elements of art such as contrast, negative space, and value.

The big idea behind this artwork is that I have internal conflict within me about whether my identity is more Chinese or American, but that my hopes and dreams are always the same either way for my past, present, and future. I took a long time thinking about what could symbolize my hopes and dreams, and I eventually decided on a plum blossom and a baseball. I thought that a plum blossom would be great for expressing the Chinese side along with the red because it symbolizes perseverance and prosperity in Chinese culture, but I also chose it because it's a plant and China is a part of my "roots." I chose throwing a baseball for expressing my American side because those dreams have a less tangible connection to me, and I thought that the baseball was a prominent symbol of American culture. The more abstract strokes of pastel colors surrounding the baseball are meant to symbolize the more naive/childish side to my dreams.

The painting looks unfinished because of my technical limitations surrounding acrylic painting (mixing skin tones/colors in general, blending smoothly, and getting the values of the same color right), so instead of leaving some parts of the painting blotchy and messed up, I ended up covering up some parts with the color of the background to make my mistakes look intentional. This is very tragic, but it's just a way of putting my painting on "hold" for now so that I can get this statement done with a more presentable painting. It's coincidental yet unironic that a painting about my hopes and dreams is unfinished and forever changing, especially the part of the painting that's literally me.

I also want to fully paint the plum blossoms and baseball in upon further reflection. The original, intended effect was supposed to make the plum blossoms and baseball covered by a bit of fog and faded into the background (because it's not clear to me exactly what my dreams are). However, I think I'm going to change that and get rid of the foggy/faded effect because my painting only ended up looking unfinished.

For some overall thoughts, I really like the meaning and intention that I put into this piece. It took me a bit to put my reference photo together, and I like the composition that I came up with. However, I think the execution of this painting can use a lot of work, so I want to continue to work on this painting in between other projects so that it can reach its full potential.

I will update my portfolio when I make the changes that were suggested to me during our class critique + the ones that I'm intending to make after self reflection. But I'll consider this painting "finished" for now.