Mixed Media Blog

Mixed Media Project

This project was for sure my favorite project we did all year. I really enjoyed this assignment because it was different from any of the other ones we had done. I liked that for the most part we could make it about anything. I really like collages because they're just a huge compilation of whatever you want and I think its a great form of expression. For this one we had to choose a theme from the list provided and make a collage type thing from cut outs of magazines. The theme that I chose to do was a nature/forest kind of thing I guess. For the sky I cut out a lot blue and orange sunset kind of pictures and as it went down the page it transformed from sunsets to mountains and then to forest and animals. On the top right side of the page I decided to add a huge tree to change the perspective of the picture. Now it looked like you were seeing the sky and mountains through the leaves of the tree and that extended down the page. Further down on the right I also added in a body of water to fit the theme. I think the coolest thing about my piece are the little hidden things that you exactly see when first looking at it. The picture has depth and you really have to look into it to see all the hidden people and animals and just the little details. This piece was originally one of my practices that ended up really working out and turned out nice. I initially had two other practices but they were not as good as this one. I gave up on the first one and never finished it or went back to it because I just didn't like how it was coming out. It took me a few times to really get good at this but once I grasped it, it definitely got easier. I had a lot of fun with this project. 

First practice piece 

Second Practice Piece

Final Piece

Clay Project

Taco Clay Assignment

For this clay project my table was given the lunch category and I chose to do tacos. I thought this piece turned out alright. This isn't my favorite medium but the project wasn't too bad. I think the only thing I didn't like about my project was the plate. I had trouble making it the first few times so the final time I took a paper plate and laid it down. I took the clay to the slab roller and flattened it and then laid that over the plate and cut off the excess. I guess I didn't smooth out the edges enough because the edges were uneven and dried weird. We also had the option to add this glossy overcoat to highlight certain parts of the piece. I chose to do this to highlight the taco shell, the plate and the lettuce. I realized later that it would have made more sense to add the overcoat to the tomatoes also which is something I wish I had done. But for the most part this project was okay. Clay is a lot of hand work and takes more patience than just drawing which is what I personally prefer. I find that it is much easier for me to look at a picture of something or an example and then draw it rather than to have to make a 3D model of something. This wasn't my best work for sure.

Jolly Rancher Blog

Jolly Rancher Assignment

For this project we were also given a Jolly Rancher and asked to recreate it on a piece of construction paper but with oil pastels this time. I really didn't like this project because oil pastels are one of my least favorite mediums. It took me so many times to even get an okay looking Jolly Rancher. Once again we were asked to give it value and highlights. Mine did not turn out the way I wanted it to at all. I just couldn't get mine to look realistic. Part of that was probably recreating the transparency of the wrapper to look real on the paper. Especially on the black paper, imitating the creases on the sides of the wrapper and making it look like it twisted and giving all of that value was kind of difficult for me. The lettering for this one was a bit easier for me than the Dum Dum project but I still didnt think this one was as fun as the lollipop assignment.

Dum Dum Drawing Blog

Dum Dum Lollipop Project

For this assignment we were given Dum Dum lollipops and were asked to draw them using the prisms colored pencils. We also had to add in a light source and value to it using the colors that were appropriate to the color of the lollipop. I liked this assignment because colored pencils are for sure my favorite medium. With the colored pencils, I feel like I have more control over the weight of the value and how well they blend. Especially with these pencils, they definitely had nice blending to them and the white really helped while trying to add in value. I thought this project was fun and I enjoyed having a source to look at. We also got to use different colors you wouldn't typically use and that was different and fun too. The only thing I really found a problem in was trying to imitate the lettering from the wrapper onto mine. I tried a few times and I just couldn't grasp the same look as the real lollipop. That's when I decided to change mine and instead of doing what was exactly on the Dum Dum, I made my own lettering. I changed the overall look of it by repeating the trademark less times as on the real wrapper and changing some of the block lettering to just normal handwriting. I think this helped my piece because otherwise it looked like a hot mess. It also added my own kind of input to it which is always good as an artist. One other thing I had trouble creating were the creases in the wrapper at the bottom of the lollipop where it wraps around the stick. It got better towards the end when I had tried a few times but the initial one was not the best work. I definitely learned a lot using this medium and I really liked this project.

Banksy Project

The point of this project was basically interpret an artists art and do a piece like they would. I had the artist Banksy who was a very political artist who often used stencil and did graffiti type artwork such as this one.

When we were asked to interpret and recreate the artists art, I noticed that in almost all of his art he used mostly black and white and one color which was usually red. He also always had political meaning. For my piece of art I took the style aspect instead of the meaning and created this piece of art.

My inspiration came from this piece of Banksy's art. This piece of a solider with music notes coming out of his gun has a lot of meaning to it but I chose to look at it more in how he did this. The solider is black and white with the backgrounds different shades and the notes are a different color than the rest.

 I feel that I did a good job at recreating the aspects of his artwork

Perspective Project

For the perspective project, I chose to do a two point drawing. I did a Disney movie theme where I chose several different symbols from Disney movies that would be recognizable such as the clock guy from Beauty and the Beast, the big red apple from Snow White and the glass slipper from Cinderella.  I found my inspiration for this from a picture I had found on the internet. These pictures show both a two point perspective but also the candy land kind of theme. 

I got my inspiration more from the second one where as I just stretched it to match the structure of the first one and changed the theme. 










I feel like I demonstrated perspective alright in this project. I feel like I could have done better on it but with the very little perspective experience I had I feel like it was good. It was good practice with perspective and burnishing colored pencil.

Blog Post 5: Identity

Artists Communicate Through Their Work

Questions:

                                              What is this artwork intended to say? 

A) This artwork intended to express different emotions an how they make you feel. Its supposed to show how your emotions can cycle throughout all of these.  

What issues are you examining through your artwork? 

A) Trying to find ways to incorporate the feelings I wanted to use in with the book pages was hard. For example, one of the feelings I used was invisible, I chose to put that emotion on a page where there was a picture of a girl in the book. I painted over her to the point where you could barely see her anymore therefore  being "invisible". 

How is this artwork about who you are or what you like? 

A) It's not exactly about me of what I like but everyone has and experiences feelings or emotions like these. So I guess you could say it relates to who everyone is. 

Artists Collaborate

Questions:

Did you ask another student for feedback during your work process?   A) I did ask some of the people at my table for feedback and advice as in how to express some of the emotions. This ended up being very helpful for me as in being able to think of more ideas for the other pages too.

Did someone help you understand important information or inspire you? 

A) Yeah, some people at my table inspired me and had input in my project. Nobody really helped me understand important information. They just helped me with what to do for the emotions. 

Artists develop art making skills

Questions:

Did you learn new techniques or processes as part of the work for this project? A) I didnt really learn any new processes. I did figure out how to create textures within the paint to make a new lookfor the overall look of the piece. It really improved my work. 

Did you gain skill with familiar materials? 

A) I gained skill with paint. I figured out how to use and position paint to make the pieces all have a different look. This really impacted my piece considering all I used was paint yet all of the pages have a significant and individual look to them.