Artistic Student Of The Month – March
by Dazlin Lee
Introducing Jay Martin Galt as our artistic student of February-March of 2024. Jay’s inspiration in their artwork is, Monet’s Sunrise. Jay was chosen as the most Artistic Student of the month due to their outstanding outwork. The effort, time and patience put into their artwork is absolutely breathtaking.
What kind of art inspires you the most?
“ I really love impressionist art and how it plays with colors and captures light! I’m a huge fan of color, especially bright colors, and I’ve been trying to use color more intentionally in my art recently. I’m not much of an acrylic or oil painter, I usually draw characters in more of a graphic novel-comic-esque style, but I’ve been having fun with color inspired by impressionist works. Monet’s Sunrise is actually one of the inspirations for a painting I’m working on in AP Art right now, although I’m using more saturated colors.”
Do you have a favorite artist or style?
“My favorite artist recently has been whoever illustrated the Disney Fairies books (either David Christina or Elizabeth Ryazantseva or both? The art is often just credited to ‘Disney storybook artists’). They’re pencil, watercolor, gouache and touched up digitally from the looks of it and the illustrations are so delicate and rich and beautiful. I’m a big watercolor and gouache enthusiast so I actually got one of the books from ebay to study from.
Another artist that I just found recently is Stefanie Vega, who makes really cool mixed media art with dolls and fairies and creepy little guys. I’m a huge fan of fairies and spooky fae creatures. I think her art really itches that space where whimsy becomes horror, and I’m very interested in that! I don’t draw a lot of spooky stuff but I’m definitely planning some kind of project inspired by her work soon.”
What inspired you to be an artist?
“It is pretty therapeutic for me, since it’s what I do to relax, but I actually started drawing because my best friend in third grade was drawing My Little Pony art and I started copying them. I’m still best friends with them now, and it’s very cool to see how we’ve both grown as artists!
I think the reason I continued drawing is that I love the process of making something, and I’m a creatively minded person, so I think I would have ended up creating some form of art eventually! I like to make stories and characters, but I don’t have the patience for writing them all down, so I like to draw them instead.
I also do a lot of other different kinds of art, like fiber art (crocheting, embroidering and sewing) and customizing dolls and Furbies. I’m a big fan of Furbies, specifically the 1999 and 2005 ones, and I have a collection of 13 Furbies that I’ve customized. A lot of people think that they’re kind of creepy but I think they’re cute! All the various projects I have going on in different mediums means I never get bored or burnt out with my art. If I don’t want to draw digitally, I’ll go paint something in watercolor or crochet a tiny sweater for a doll project!”
What piece of art are you most proud of?
“I’m pretty proud of this piece I did this September! It features some of my Furbies as well as myself as a wizard. Some days I decide to dress like a wizard and those days are called Wizard Days. It makes things more fun! I drew it in my sketchbook in pencil and ink, took a picture of it, and added color and extra details digitally.”
