Artist Statement

Hello, I'm Skylar,

I've been a part of Access since 2016. I took a two-year break to see if anything else piqued my interest. I was also still figuring out what I wanted to do with my life whether it was art, fashion, or biology. By the time of the pandemic, I decided to keep focusing on my art while doing art school. I was very rusty with my practice. I never really practiced art unless I had to for a class. But every here and there I would practice drawing or painting. So  I pretty much quit until I finally got motivated during quarantine. What am I going to do to be productive? Between Access and attending art school, I got more motivated to create and do art. I graduated from Community College Denver with an Associate's degree in studio art. Now I'm at Metropolitan State University of Denver getting my Bachelor of Art. I'm also an Honors student as well in The Jewelry Collective Club.

During quarantine, I created my True BFF characters. If you’re wondering what True BFF means, it means being your own best friend. I have been bullied in the past and was tired of seeing how cruel people can be. I liked drawing my BFF girls just to have something not be cruel to me for a change and I think we can be kinder to each other because at the end of the day we’re all human. I started to see the missing pieces of myself that were lost after being bullied. Then I thought others would like to see themselves in my characters too. I did make the BFF girls after my true friends cause I see myself within them. Doing this was a way of healing for me after all that. I love drawing Angie, Fressia, Maira, and Estrella because I see myself the most in them. 

After developing True BFF, I wanted to work on another style. I reconnected with biology, which I loved when I was a teenager. I started playing with botany (study of plants) drawings when working on a lotus flower pattern. It was a blast playing with collage which was another form of pattern making. I loved the abstract feel of these pieces. My later pieces included more zoology (study of animals) with birds, and butterflies. I just duplicate the layers of the outline until I have a pattern. Next, I add the realistic colors of the plants or animals. Finally, I add the background color to make sure the colors don't clash or certain hues don't overpower a specific shade of a color.  

My inspiration for all of my art comes from other artists and characters. Anime, Monster High, and MLP Equestria Girls helped me develop my True BFF series. The character design is so amazing. The fashion designer Carla Fernández, with her bold expression, is my biggest inspiration in fashion. In my nature abstraction work, I am inspired by Andy Warhol’s use of color, Monet’s realistic paintings of landscapes, and Van Gogh who played with abstract and realism. 

I love a darker color palette to bring out more of the flower as if it were a photograph done with oils.  I love the realistic color palette which reflects lighting. Since I love being able to play with lighting and color together in my pieces, I use color theory and light sources in my practice all the time. When I'm working on a painting, the specific brush strokes are recognized too.