Eliza Hoffman

ISM Journal
Sample Journal Prompt:
I’m not sure if I have a favorite color, but I do like light
blue; it is often associated with tranquility and wintertime,
which is the season I prefer. I enjoy Winter because of the
holidays and cold weather (able to layer clothes), and I love to
play Henry Mancini (some of his popular pieces include the
soundtrack from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and the “Pink Panther
Theme”). As for a favorite restaurant, I like to eat at any
Italian or Korean restaurant, since those are my favorite
cuisines.

Week of September 5 – September 8:

For my project, I wanted to have a mentor who I knew in advance
and was experienced in the same type of art that I am going to be
focusing art, that being representational painting. I have known
my mentor for a very long time, and I have taken my pieces to her
in the past for her critique. She is so knowledgeable in the
fundamentals of art that she is one of the best people I know who
can tell me where something could be changed or added in a
painting. As I paint, I am hoping to learn about fine-tuning my
paintings, and for this quarter, how to improve my skills in
landscape painting.

Week of September 11 – September 15:

This past week, I met with my mentor to evaluate my progress with
my Landscape 1 large painting piece. I presented her with
pictures of the painting, in order of progress by date. We
discussed parts of the painting which were more completed, and
she gave me critiques about the lighting of the painting: as I
work with a reference photo that has overcast lighting, it is
important to keep in mind which areas could have exaggerated
contrast. Increasing the light and shadows in some areas will
help with the overall interest and color of the painting. This
week, I plan on presenting her with my study piece of the
Landscape 1 painting, and if I make enough progress by our next
meeting date, will bring my Landscape 2 study piece as well.

Week of September 18 – September 22:

In meeting with my mentor, I updated her with my current progress
on my Landscape 1 large painting piece. Additionally, I brought
my study pieces for the Landscape 1 and Landscape 2 works. With
the Landscape 2 study piece, I was able to show my mentor what
the plan is for my next painting. I hope to begin the Landscape 2
large piece next week (it will not be as large as the first one)
as I continue to work on the Landscape 1 large piece.
Week of September 25 – September 29, 2023:
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Though I met with my mentor this week, it was for assistance

purposes in her class. My topic for the year will be about
exploring the various major areas in representational painting:
landscape, still life, portraiture/figurative painting, and
Western subjects. I chose to include Western painting as an area
of study because it will be helpful especially given the area
which we live in (Texas). Many audiences in the South and Midwest
are drawn towards Western art, which encompasses ranch life,
rogue cowboys, Native American subjects, and wildlife. It is an
area that includes the other subjects—landscape, still life, and
figurative—and will also aid in preparing for the Houston Rodeo
Art competition. Specifically, my presentation for the fall will
be focused on landscape painting and western art, and I plan on
incorporating research about their histories and what is
considered very marketable (commonly represented subjects).

Week of October 2 – October 6, 2023:

This past quarter has been a good introduction into formulating
and shaping what I will be focusing on project-wise. I knew that
I wanted to begin creating my products as soon as possible, since
painting takes lots of time. I feel as though I have accomplished
beginning and progressing with my landscape paintings, and as for
the Western paintings (which I will focus on next quarter), I
have created a solid foundation which I can work upon. Last week,
I had the opportunity to go to an artist’s photoshoot in Kansas.
There, I got to direct models so that I could get my own photos
which I plan on using in the future, especially for Rodeo Art.
Next quarter, I hope to finish my large landscape painting 1
piece and improve on my speed. I am looking forward to Western
painting, since it is a subject I enjoy a lot!

Week of October 16 – October 20, 2023:

The highlight of my mentorship experience has been the painting
part itself. I have really enjoyed painting non-stop, self-
evaluating it along the way, and going to different places to get
inspired. One of my favorite events so far was going to the
artist’s western photoshoot, because I was able to meet and talk
to the different models, and I love composing my own photos.
Though trying to meet my self-set deadlines has been difficult
(since painting does take a lot of time), I nevertheless have
loved the rigor that it has brought.

Week of October 23 – October 27, 2023:

My most recent mentorship experience involved my mentor
instructing me to observe how I help teach the students at her
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studio. By doing so, she told me, I would start to truly

internalize how I can use the basic art fundamentals at its
finest. For example, grouping values, shapes, and color together
was something I picked up on throughout my time as a teaching
assistant. In this past mentorship/class, I understood how
important it is to plan out what colors should be used, and
though improvising what the color scheme may be, it is better to
plan ahead instead of getting stuck.

Week of October 30 – November 3, 2023:

Over this past week, I have been focusing on extracurricular art
projects, but have tried to make time for meeting with my mentor.
I decided to share with her the charcoal practice sketches that I
do weekly, which help me with my drawing skills. I described to
her my thought processes for when I create each of them, and
outside of meeting with my mentor, I have continued to sketch and
do more practice charcoal sketches. As I do more and more
charcoal sketches, I have seen improvements in not only my
drawing abilities, but also my painting abilities.

Week of November 6 – November 10, 2023:

The highlight of my ISM experience was attending an artist’s
workshop from Bill Kalwick. I’ve known Mr. Kalwick for the past
about two years, and I really enjoy his method of teaching (no-
nonsense, straight to the point). The workshop was about painting
from a photograph; knowing how to adapt to painting from a
photograph is important since a picture may omit important
details that the human eye can see but the camera cannot capture.
Accentuating color, removing unnecessary details, augmenting
light and/or shadows are all examples of what I should look for
when painting. Playing with these elements are very fun, and
overall, I had a grand time being able to paint something fairly
for leisure.

Week of January 16 – January 21, 2024:

I’ve been working on a new portrait which I began over the Winter
break. I got the picture of the model from the Kansas photoshoot,
and so far, this piece is teaching me a lot about painting from a
photo. For cases like this, I have to actively think about how I
should adjust colors and lighting, and how I should take
liberties on certain aspects of the composition and background.
Additionally, I am preparing for the Palette Project workshop,
located in Scottsdale, Arizona. I am excited to meet the other
people attending and to learn from an amazing artist.
Week of January 22 – January 28, 2024:
This past week, I had the opportunity to attend the Palette
Project workshop in Scottsdale Arizona. I’m so grateful to have
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been able to learn from artists like Daniel Keys while there, and
to be able to be in a historically significant place for art and
western culture. I had tons of fun learning about floral painting
and to keep practicing my live model painting skills. Attending
has given me even more motivation to constantly practice my
painting so that perhaps next year I can return.

Week of January 29 – February 4, 2024:

My biggest goal for this week was to finish up my painting of
Miki’ayla, who I had taken pictures of when I went to the
artist’s photoshoot in Kansas. I wanted to submit my portrait of
her to the Oil Painters of America student art competition, along
with a painting I completed a couple of months ago. The toughest
part of painting Miki’ayla was overcoming the obstacles painting
from a photograph presents. This included making the background
less dark and decreasing the brightness of the light on her face.
My favorite aspect of the painting is her bright red blanket,
because it contrasts nicely against the green background.

Week of February 5 – February 12, 2024:

I was able to complete my portrait of Miki’ayla and submit it to
the Oil Painters of America student art competition. Something I
began doing this past week is floral practices. I set up a small
still life of flowers on hand and paint them for about an hour.
This has been beneficial, because I have not painted many non-
human subjects, so this will hopefully help me transition to
doing more complex still life paintings. In the coming week, I am
going to begin a small landscape painting to have for my
portfolio.

Week of February 13 – February 21, 2024:

This past week, I began working on a small landscape painting
that I will be adding to my personal portfolio. My plan is to
begin another portrait painting as soon as the right size panels
are obtained (I currently do not have a 16x20 inch panel, which
is what I need for this). Additionally (and this is especially if
the 16x20 panels do not arrive soon) I will begin a portrait of a
friend playing the violin. I would like to do this for my
personal portfolio, and I would hope that this would be a good
practice for painting hands and capturing my subject’s
personality.

Week of March 25:

Over the break and this past week, I have been practicing my
still life painting skills. I got some 5”x7” panels from Texas
Art Supply to do quick floral/still life paintings. They take
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only an hour or so, and they help with how I observe shape and
color. While I am used to faces, I find that being able to
represent any object is very useful in portrait painting. I’ve
also begun studying other artists’ works so that I can understand
their thought process while painting. I plan on moving to a
larger size for a bigger still life project in the coming weeks.

Week of March 31:

This past week, I finished working on my series of floral still
life studies. I think this has taught me to be more colorful as I
paint (I can be less muddy). It has been a good practice for
keeping my colors clean and mixing them faster. Later this
quarter, I would like to make one of my products a large-scale
still life. Something I started this week was another portrait.
Even though last quarter was dedicated towards portraiture, there
are still projects that carry over to this quarter.