LeeLee Dorantes

North Salinas High School

Senior

My name is LeeLee Dorantes and I am 17 years old. I have been painting for about 4 years, so all of my high school years. Usually, I work with acrylic paints. I have tried using both watercolors and oil paint; unfortunately, I am not very good at understanding the flow of either of them, so I stick with acrylics. And, although I feel like I have been painting for quite a while, I do not feel like I am all that good at it yet. I have never been under the guidance of someone, so I jumped into painting completely unaware of what I was doing and taught myself how to paint.

What usually inspires my painting is my favorite television shows. I love watching animated shows. When I see a still image on a show I adore, I paint it. I don’t typically create sculptures, so this was a completely new experience for me. 

My idea for this particular Alebrijes sculpture was to incorporate some of my favorite animals and create a sort of mythical creature. It consists of a frog’s body, butterfly wings, and a scorpion’s tail.  While brainstorming this project, I realized that the frog and the butterfly are rather peaceful and harmless creatures, so I decided to add the scorpion tail for a touch of danger. To create the body, I used a mixture of newspaper, cardboard, and paper mache. For the board, I imagined that this creature would be sitting on a lily pad in a brightly colored swamp or pond. Actually, I did not use that much acrylic paint, but instead used Posca pens for the first time, which really helped in the process of creating so many lines. This was a fun project and I am glad I did it.