Saul Torres Hernandez, El Venado, acrylic, $125

Saul Torres Hernandez

North Monterey County High School

Junior

I draw as my main form of art. I don’t know the age, but since I was little, drawing with pencils or charcoal on paper has been therapy for my soul. Color, in my eyes, wasn't important. So, the only colors I use are black, gray, and white, as these colors are the most simple colors to use. I like simple things. I love simple art, yet I love skill. I believe skill can make beautiful art pieces. Most recently, I started painting and using colors for my most recent art piece. As my skills are shown on display, I like to simplify my art and yet make my art stunning.

My art piece is a buck skull with two large antlers going out of the frame and back. With a simple but dark void as the background with sprinkles of color here and there too. All the colors that I used were all primary colors with the exception of acrylic green to paint the portrait. The reason why a buck of all the animals in the world was used is  the shape of the skull. At first when I was painting, it was a human with a skeleton mask. Later into the painting I didn’t like the outcome of what it was becoming so I switched it into a skull as it was a common representation of death.

I know that I will die sooner than others. My lung will be the cause of my demise which was my motivation. I have thoughts of life and death that are both one and the same, as life gives death beauty. The reason why death has beauty is that life gives experiences that you could only understand. Living is not only to reproduce our species, but to live a life full of wonder and hardships to make death meaningful in the end. The skull of the buck represents that death is always around the corner but it's also beautiful with a dark or bright color palette. The blood around the nostrils represents the lung of death. The antlers of two different colors have simple yet stunning colors of light bright brown and blueish green while the other is dark and strong green. The skull has a bright red circle with a cross. I am a catholic believer and I cherish the words of God and Jesus. The bible says to live life full of love of others and yourself. With that in mind, I know he isn't in the sky as there is space. The background that I painted is space as it is celestial body which is deadly and wonderful with its size.

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Ernesto Duarte Hernandez

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Mordecai Lutes