Artist: Natalie Su

---

Writer: Keira Audrey Sarimento
Editor: Nathan Turnbeaugh

Natalie Su’s gorgeous and brightly-colored self-portrait represents going with your gut feeling and not being afraid to express yourself. Originally, Su painted her face in her actual skin tone but then decided to switch to an iconic bold green, her favorite color, that made her piece “POP.” To continue her exploration of colors, she used teal and orange highlights on her face and painted her lips and clothes a bright red to contrast with the shades of green. Her outfit, a 旗袍 (cheongsam), was inspired by her recent trip to Taiwan, her ancestral home. Su spent a lot of time and effort on the elegant designs across the sleeves. It stands as a testament to her family’s culture. 

Su’s creative process was a lot of experimentation in terms of color, composition, and more, but in the end, it came together to create a piece that embodied herself and her culture.

Artist: Julia Bissell
Writer: Nathan Turnbeaugh
Editor: Michelle Lo

The End, an oil painting created by Julia Bissell, features a vibrant and small cluster of flowers amongst falling pink petals with The End painted at the base of the scene.

This particular painting represents a new experience for Bissell, as she was able to create this work shortly after using oil paints for the first time. However, her choice of materials also posed a unique challenge, as it took far longer for each coat to dry in comparison to other mediums she’d used in the past.

Inspired by a bouquet of flowers, Bissell’s search for beauty also explored deeper philosophical avenues of thought. “The End” that she wrote of is a deceptive topic seeing as time heals even the most grievous of wounds and creates new beginnings.

Though she hadn’t originally planned on taking on such depth in her artwork, Bissell is happy her piece developed as she had initially intended—a simple practice to hone her technique with paints.

Artist: Kylan Wang
Writer: Nathan Turnbeaugh
Editor: Michelle Lo

Inspired by abstract and surreal photography from the likes of Instagram user @ican1ii, Kylan Wang, a sophomore at Carlmont High School, pieced together a vivid and aggressive visage in his piece, Test 1. Emphasizing non-conformity, Wang refused to describe the piece. He stated, “I’m not going to tell you how to interpret my art.” 

Utilizing his years worth of experience in photography, Wang spent hours tackling the complexities of shooting this piece. After mulling over his choice of lens, angle, and setting in addition to making post-processing changes, Wang finally found himself somewhat satisfied with the result. However, this is far from the end of his romance with abstract photography.

Artist: Sophia Shen-Yip
Writer: Nathan Turnbeaugh
Editor: Michelle Lo

Bombyx Mori, meaning silk moth, is an abstract self-portrait born out of Sophia Shen-Yip’s polarizing perspective on her personality and identity.

As for her background, despite her adoration of digital art mediums beginning in 2016, Shen-Yip was only able to begin her journey and develop her abilities in 2021 using Procreate on her iPad. This budding interest in digital art stemmed from Shen-Yip watching her brother paint using their family’s iPad. The allure of art was simply too much for her to resist, so she found herself browsing YouTube for more inspiration—feeding her interest.

In terms of this particular piece, Shen-Yip utilized only two brushes in Procreate, both of which were given to her by a friend. Shen-Yip also wished to communicate her personality through the symbolism of the Silk Moth which has no mouth. She uses this detail to convey her own introverted and lesser-spoken nature in addition to her favoring wearing a mask in public.

On an even deeper conceptual level, Shen-Yip mentioned that the blandness of the moth in comparison to its vibrant counterpart, the butterfly, played a crucial role in creative choices as she finds herself to be less outwardly expressive in comparison to others. Ultimately, after spending hours on this piece, she finds herself satisfied with the result of her self-expression—proud of the techniques she refined in its making.

Artist: Rachel Hong
Writer: Jonathon Park
Editor: Shiori Chen

Rachel Hong, a freshman and passionate creative, makes art to express herself and share her skills with the Carlmont community. Her piece, Memories, depicts Hong and her sister, smiling, in front of Korean palaces and imagery. The piece took her 10-12 hours to create, with Hong utilizing charcoal for the main subjects, and an eraser to add highlights, thereby enunciating the illustration and conveying the sense of glinting sunlight.

Memories is more than a reminiscence on a past memory: it details her complex relationship with her Korean-American identity. Hong, despite being born in America, and not being skilled in speaking Korean, still feels intimately connected to her Korean heritage. This is made clear by the cheerful expressions on the subjects’ faces: Hong and her sister’s reaction to traveling to Korea, a feeling of comfort and joy in being surrounded by their own heritage. 

Hong hopes to remind us that no matter how close or far we may feel from our roots, no matter how Americanized we may believe ourselves to be, we will always be connected to our homeland. Though it may be challenging to reconnect with your place of origin, Hong makes it clear that taking the time to explore your roots is incredibly valuable. 

Artist: Derek Chang
Writer: Keira Sarmiento
Editor: Nathan Turnbeaugh

Derek Chang, a 16-year-old sophomore at Carlmont, relies on his intuition when it comes to photography. For example, when he took this photo “A night in the past”, he had just been wandering the city with sophomore Alaina Yung, the image’s subject. He stopped, recognized the unique atmosphere, then snapped a picture. The editing followed a similar process; he experimented with nearly all the different settings: exposure, contrast, highlight, shadow, etc. until he was satisfied.

Chang said he doesn’t try searching for the perfect photo-worthy spot for every image he takes. Instead, he goes about his day, and whenever he sees something interesting, he takes a picture. With this in mind, it seems this scene, with its red hues, dark shadows, and relaxing late-night atmosphere, is simply a snapshot of Chang’s life. 

Artist: Alaina Yung
Writer: Lucas Kishore
Editor: Nathan Turnbeaugh

Alaina Yung, a sophomore, poured two and a half hours into creating a digital art piece as part of 7-part lighting study. She has been drawing for as long as she can remember and improving her skills over the years. In middle school, she started using digital art, now using it most commonly to create art. By referencing pictures on Pinterest to expand her knowledge about shadows, lighting, and color theory, she was able to create her latest work, Andromeda: Lighting Study.

Artist: Alaina Yung
Writer: Nathan Turnbeaugh
Editor: Michelle Lo

Xandra, an original character designed by Alaina Yung, a sophomore at Carlmont, comes to life in this piece, a perspective study of hers. Inspired by the creations of other artists, Yung reimagined a character she had designed during quarantine for a novel project she had dedicated herself to. To create this piece, Yung utilized only one brush type during the hours she’d spent developing this work. In her words, “I only use one brush for my art since I believe color theory and anatomy are much more important than what brush one uses.” 

Artist: Shiori Chen
Writer: Oliver White
Editor: Nathan Turnbeaugh

Shiori Chen is a 15 year old girl who created this painting, “Remnants,” for her Art Studio Class. Although her artistic abilities are evident through the brilliant use of acrylic paints and the prominent shining of the orb, that reflects the “Remnants” of memories. The particular use of color in this painting defines the way that the portrait is perceived. For example the idea of past memories and mistakes lighting one’s way for a brighter future is portrayed with the ball of light. The process of making this work was no easy task, Remnants began as a simple sketch in Chen’s sketchbook during winter break. She wanted put time in a piece of hers as she finds herself quick to finish her artwork, although this task seemed more difficult than expected due to her unfamiliarity with acrylics.  While she believes she could improve the painting if she were to recreate it, ultimately, she was able to come out with an artwork she loved.

Artist: Keira Audrey Sarmiento
Writer: Oliver White
Editor: Shiori Chen

Reflection of a Guinea Pig by Keira Sarmiento portrays her former pet guinea pig Oreo. This Painting displays Oreos in the famous “banana pose”, which is what Keira’s family likes to call it.  Oreo has a mirror behind her, her reflection had been replaced with that of a banana, properly exhibiting the joke of the banana pose. Keira painted this piece at her and her twin sister’s birthday party, which was made with her friends. She knew she wanted Oreo to be in the painting right from the get go, so Keira drew Oreo and her sister drew her other pet Guinea Pig (Nugget). The process was using acrylics was no stranger to Kiera and the painting displays that in how good it looks. Keira hoped to capture one of  her guinea pig’s favorite sleeping poses so her And no one else would  Ever forget about it, in her own words “sometimes I fear that my memory of my guinea pigs is fading away or getting distorted over time”. Keira made an amazing piece that will never be forgotten and everyone who sees it will all know the famous “banana pose”.