Final Exam January 5th 2016

For the postmodern principle project, I chose to do appropriation as my art piece. The way I incorporated this principle was by putting my own colorful style into a painting of a famous monument, the Taj Mahal. I used a variation of colors, textures, and values in order to make the painting look bright and appealing. One contemporary artist that I'd taken inspiration from for this project was Leonid Afremov. Afremov's paintings are especially appealing to me because he chooses to use extremely bright and colorful paints, making the painting look even more attractive. The other aspect that I took inspiration from was his use of texture. In almost all of his paintings, Leonid Afremov has a certain technique that he uses for either the trees, sky, people, buildings, and roads. This technique creates an interesting visual effect for a painting that is just depicting an ordinary scene in a park or the streets of a small town. I somewhat demonstrated the same stippling technique for the sky and grass. In fact, many viewers have already told me that the Taj looks like it's on fire. I purposely wanted to create a completely different outlook for this project because it brought more interest for a monument that people are so use to seeing; and with the colors and textures of the painting, I was successful doing so. I grew as an artist by taking inspiration from Leonid Afremov. I not only took inspiration of his use of colors, but I made my own style for the stippling technique that he uses in his paintings. In most of Afremov's paintings, you will see how the brush strokes are vertical, almost square-like shaped. However, in my painting, I adapted this technique into my own style and used a circular motion with the paintbrush; therefore, making the background look more "explosive-looking". My growth as an artist is mostly centered around discovering my own style. I realized that I really enjoy colorful paints, and therefore made another project with various colors as well. My other project was the Teens-Inspired piece which had us take inspiration from a piece in the art museum. I again used my colors, however now I used them on a face. The important aspect of this painting was the geometric-look of the face. Instead of doing the same smooth and stippling effect I used in the Taj Mahal painting, I chose to use the colors in a different perspective. I realized the face looks more "futuristic" with the geometric shapes painted throughout the face. I also played around with the colors for the hair and eyes, making the whole theme of the painting to be abstract. Although I still used Leonid Afremov's colorful aspects, I didn't use his paintings as a big reference or inspiration for this project. However, this artist certainly allowed me to discover my style of painting in the first place, eventually making my projects more unique and personal. Therefore, my understanding as an artist has changed from taking simple, basic inspirations into very large and creative adaptations.

Printmaking project

One thing you've never got the chance to say?

-I am extremely proud of my brother, and will forever stand by his side. 

My project was based on my feelings for my brother, and therefore I chose to make a heart of infinity signs. I used the linoleum block to carve out the infinity sign, painted it black, and then made the shape of a heart using printmaking skills. I also wanted to do a silhouette of some sort, so I decided to paint my brother and I. I made it a point for my figure to be a little ahead, and with my head turned towards him because I wanted to represent the guidance I give for my brother. This project was less of a technique-based project, and more of an emotional one, that I think is respective towards each person's personal feelings; so I made sure I did something that was more personal and mysterious for people to be unknown to. 

Art Museum

1. I liked this piece because it reflects a lot of rush, confusion, and color. My personal style is based on lots of bright colors and emotion, therefore I was most attracted to this creative artwork. I also like how the majority of the splashes of paint are concentrated on one side of the painting. Also, the bright, neon background adds emphasis to the emotion and color. I admire the numerous types of brush strokes that vary between thick and thin lines of paint. Although this piece is just splotches of paint, there is something unique and beautiful about the aggression of how the paint is applied.













2. I particularly didn't see anything in this painting that could be interesting or creative. I admit that the technique was interesting since it was done through his "soak-stain" paint style, however the design itself was very ordinary. I feel if the artist made a unique design through his soak-stain technique, then the piece would appear much more impressive and impactful.











3. "Eh Piece": I liked this piece because the color pink contrasted nicely with the tan shade of the pots. I also liked the shapes of the pots considering that these were made a long time ago. However, I felt that they were very common or ordinary looking. I wouldn't have been attracted to it even now because I'm used to seeing theses traditional pieces from various countries. I feel that a common pottery-maker could easily replicate this design, therefore making this piece a little boring and common.

Best Art Store Doesn't Sell Art Supplies

I felt that this article was helpful in learning how to incorporate different, natural materials into art. I initially was never really interested in creating art that was made out of non-traditional materials like pennies, stones, seeds, etc. because I always thought it was hard to come up with a unique idea. However, after reading this article, I'm now more exposed to different and random materials that could actually end up being a fantastic art piece. Also, I always felt that a lot of artists who choose to do art with non-traditional supplies tend to make art pieces on a much larger scale. But with the examples of the smaller-scale materials, I started to understand different uses for these projects. I thought the hardware and garden store materials really helped in triggering art students into recognizing unusual resources for artistic uses. 

Postmodern Principles

My project was a painting of the Taj Mahal based on the principle of appropriation. I took a famous monument that is actually completely white in real life, and made it my own by adding a a
variety of colors such as purple, pink, yellow, green, blue, turquoise, black, orange, red, etc. The medium I used was acrylic paint, and was painted on a 3ft by 2ft canvas. I used appropriation by adding more colors for the sky, building, and landscape, which makes it my own colorful way of perceiving the Taj Mahal. The reason I chose appropriation was because I needed to work on creating ideas of my own with my own with no inspiration whatsoever. Therefore, I took the painting as my own and randomly splattered color on the canvas thinking that it'll eventually look somewhat like the Taj. This was a tedious and long process, but I enjoyed doing something different and took it as a challenge.

Olivia Gude

I feel the use of postmodern principles is important to know as an art student, however I don't agree that you have to study art textbooks in order to make great art. In that way, art is one of those subjects that doesn't require a specific curriculum because it's eventually up to the artist and how they would want to interpret their artwork. There are many art pieces in the world that have no connection to any one of the postmodern principles yet still worth millions. Also, I feel that artists have these principles within their artwork without even knowing it. Therefore, I believe that these principles are known to be just general ideas rather than specific vocabulary words for a student to study and be tested on.

My favorite postmodern principles would be appropriation and layering. I feel with technology advancing its way into works of art, many artists have adopted different ways of making art a lot more interesting. For example, with appropriation, there are tons of ideas you could create since it's just a combination of multiple types of art styles; therefore your options are limitless. I also agree that a lot of people create art based on their environment like with the example of living in the woods, which can also be an example of appropriation. I also like layering because it's more technological-based. I like the fact that you can layer piles of different art styles on top of each other to eventually create a whole new piece. It's also a fun way to incorporate photography into art. 

Essential Question Project 10/2

For my project, I chose the word "beauty". At first, I wanted to do a portrait of a young, beautiful woman but eventually changed my idea to do something completely different. My question changed to "How has beauty evolved?"; so I decided to do an evolution of makeup from the 1920s to the present day, 2015. There were 4 distinct looks that I chose to do on my model, Carissa Ayers. We then took photographs of each look and I put them on a powerpoint slideshow with descriptions of each look.
    I wanted to do this project because a lot of people underestimate makeup, or cosmetics, to be a kind of art. Many techniques we learn in class can also be applied to the human face; like contouring, shading, value, lines, color, etc. By researching about the different styles of makeup, I applied certain eyeshadow colors, foundation colors, and variations of lines on her face.

1990s

2015

1970s

1920s

The 1920s look: Flapper

• Bright red lipstick
• Defined, thick top eyeliner, minimal bottom eyeliner
• Long eyelashes
• Thick, dark eyebrows
• Heavily white, powdered face
• Rosy pink cheeks
• I also pulled her hair back and teased it in order for hair to have the '20s "puff look"

    The 1970s look: Disco

• prominent blue eyeshadow with bright purple eyeshadow on the creases
• winged eyeliner; heavy mascara 
• hot pink/magenta lipstick with pink lipgloss 
• lots of pink blush on the cheekbones 
• added a glittery hairband to represent the colorful, shiny look from the 1970s

    The 1990s look: Grunge

• fully covered black eyeshadow above and below the eyelids; silver eyeshadow in the creases
• thick, intense black winged eyeliner on top and bottom
• minimal mascara
• thick, dark eyebrows
• lots of concealer for bright, white skin
• Dark lips: dark maroon shade 
• No blush; just a little bronzer for contours on her cheekbones
• septum piercing; beanie; choker
• pin-straight hair

     The 2015 look: Modern

• Heavy contouring of the face: tan-colored foundation used on cheekbones, jawline, forehead line, and nose
• navy blue and orange smokey eye 
• thinner eyeliner
• heavy mascara
• nude lipstick/lipgloss
• bronzer and minimal blush on cheeks
• tight, high bun w/ shiny silver earrings

Is art without meaning decoration?

-I agree with the article because it helps art students to be more cooperative, connected, and intelligent about what kind of project they want to create. It's true that students are obliged to follow instructions that the teacher demonstrates, however it's eventually up to how the student would want to incorporate those skills into hes/her meaningful art pieces. I also feel like the "non-meaningful" aspects to art, like all the techniques we learn in class, enhances the meaning of an art piece. Therefore, I don't agree with the fact that "non-meaningful" art skills don't affect an art project that conveys some sort of theme, message, or concept. With every project of mine, I personally try to incorporate a message or purpose for why I'm doing something; otherwise I end up losing interest in working for it. So asking art students to present a theme for their art won't add any more pressure since we usually already have some sort of inspiration before starting an art project.

This is a project I did in Art 2. There's
 not any specific meaning/message or theme shown
in this drawing, However, with important techniques like
value and shading, the drawing makes the piece look very realistic
So I wouldn't consider this as just a random "decoration" piece. 

Element Project: Visual Arts III Proficient

What element did you use?

-The element I chose to do was Line. The designs portray line to be used in many different ways such as delicate curves for the shapes, shading within the designs, variations between thick and thin lines, and many more. In order for my element to really stand out, I decided to use a contrast of dark and light colors which was black and reddish-orange. This helped the intricate details of the designed lines to pop out from the canvas.

Why choose this form of media?

-I chose to do a painting one, because I enjoy painting, but most importantly because I've never tried to do extremely intricate designs with a paint brush before. Although it seems easy because the brush is so delicate, it turned out to be very difficult and tedious for me. That's why I enjoyed this form of media for this kind of a project because the experience was new and unexpected. Also, with acrylic paint, the background can easily be brushed and smoothed out evenly throughout the canvas; you can you use a variety of colors, brushes, and techniques to help cover the whole painting.

Why choose this subject?

-I chose to do a line project specifically because I'm quite comfortable with drawing unique designs. I do an art form called Henna, so I'm used to drawing these types of designs, however I've never put them on a canvas before. Therefore, I deliberately chose to integrate my style of art with a medium that could enhance my designing skills. I also really liked the fact that this painting displays nothing but a large portion of mixed designs. It allows the viewers to form their own views, opinions, and/or suggestions for it. Hence, this subject on painting designed lines helped me visualize a new form of art that I've never done in the past.

You can see the resemblance of my
henna designs with the designs on
the canvas.

Mixed Media Project-1/5/14

I Create Original Art: 

How did you use your own unique ideas in your work?

-For the mixed media project, my idea was to first paint a silhouette of a couple under a red umbrella, and then paste love quotes surrounding the painting. The theme I chose to do was romantic/loving; therefore I did a combination of red, black, and gray. I wanted the image to be shown as if the painting was depicting the thoughts shared between two individuals in a loving relationship. Therefore, I made the overall background to be just filled with quotes and words that describe love; this makes the viewer easily read what the theme or idea was from my perspective. Silhouette paintings are very common, but I wanted to show a contrast of the black and the red. I painted the umbrella red so it can be the somewhat focus of the painting itself; and then adding the rain also made the scene look more realistic and obvious. Another aspect of the mixed media was that I wanted the overall shape to be in a oval-like shape. This gives it a dreamy effect, as well as variation with different sized quotes pasted on a grayish/blackish background. And lastly, adding the corner borders, I tried to be unique in adding in shiny ribbon strips to give it a more presentable look.  

I Developed My Art Making Skills:

Did you learn new techniques or processes as part of the work for this project? 

-The biggest skill I learned with doing mixed media was involving random pieces of paper (strips of quotes) with the overall theme. Starting with the painting part of it, I started with the gesso paint, so it'll be easy for the printed pieces of paper to stick. Then I painting the center of the canvas white, in an oval shape. I continued this with a grayish shade, eventually ending with black painting on the edges and corners. I used a fine brush to make the outline for the silhouette and the umbrella. I also tried to add some shading onto the umbrella, so it looks dimensional and not flat. At the bottom, I added somewhat of a surface where I very dryly painted some wavy lines. For the mixed media, I cut sections of doilies to frame a border around the oval shape I painted earlier. This added more texture, as well as variation in media. Again, relating back to the romantic theme, I stuck with the original color of love: red. So I dryly painted red on the doilies to give it color. With the quote strips, the hardest part was cutting the pieces small enough to fit the limited areas surrounding the silhouette. Also, I tried something different for the rain. I squeezed a paper towel that was soaked in white/gray paint, giving the raining effect. Then with a dry brush, I spread the paint to make it look like the rain had movement. 

I Communicate Through My Work.

What is this artwork intended to say?

-As I mentioned before, I chose the theme of romance/love. My artwork was not a specific message, but I revealed the theme through the painting of the couple, the love quotes, and the typical scene of rain in the background. Some quotes that I took from online were: "You don't love someone because they're perfect.", "Love never dies a natural death.", "Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind". So these simple quotes describe the innocence of a common topic known as love. I also intentionally added in the painting of the silhouette because I wanted the quotes to reveal something about a specific scene for the viewer to connect to. The red umbrella also gives the romantic effect because firstly, the color red represents love, and it also contrasts with the black silhouette and grayish colored rain. So I intended to present the common "love theme" with a different look of combining quotes with a painting. 

Clay Food Project

I Develop Art Making Skills:

Did you learn new techniques or processes as part of the work for this project?

            -For the clay food project, I chose to do blueberry muffins with a cup of tea for our "Breakfast Group". One technique I learned while actually transforming the clay to the object was how to make the clay piece evenly distributed on your wooden board. By using two rulers on either side of the board, you use the roller to evenly spread out the clay so not one side of the clay is flat while the other is thick. However, I learned most of the techniques when it came to painting the clay. First, using the wash on a clay piece was something new for me. I also discovered that the wash can become a much darker shade than what you would expect, so adding a lot of water to the paint was important. Next, when I started painting, I learned how to put in the highlights and shades on the cup and the blueberries on top of the muffins. With the cup, I added in black underneath the handle of the cup and underneath the cup itself where it sits on the saucer. Then I did the highlights on the side of the blueberries and a little on top of the handle of the cup. At the end, we also got to put the shiny, clear paint on top of our pieces to make it look glossy. Also with the muffins, I added in some yellow in random spots to make it look like the inside of the cooked bread. For this project, I mainly learned how to paint an object realistically.  

I Take Risks:

Did you try something that you weren’t sure about as part of this project?

         -The thing I wasn't sure about with doing this clay project was how to make it look realistic in terms of the shape and color. When I first started molding the clay, it took forever just to get the base of the saucer right. So I wasn't exactly sure about how I would make the saucer look realistic, since it wasn't flat like a plate. As you see in the picture above, I needed to even out the clay a lot more and add a smooth surface to the top in order for the cup to sit straight. Another thing I wasn't sure about was the choice of colors I should use for the muffins. Since the color of bread is a mix of some brown and yellow, getting the right shade for the muffin was hard. So I took a risk of painting the muffins with one solid brown color, and then added some yellow in random creases of the clay. I had never painted a clay piece with the focus of making it look realistic; in Art 1, I focused more on the designs and brightness of the colors, however, this project introduced me to some new risks, techniques, and processes that helped my clay food look more appealing.



I Reflect:

When did you step back and analyze you work during this project? 

          - My strengths of the clay project was that I attempted to correctly use highlights, shades, and overall color for the food. I liked how I added in the small bit of highlight on the sides of the blueberries. I also liked that I used a lighter shade of blue on top of the cup's handle to show its highlight. The shape of the muffins turned out good for me because it wasn't molded perfectly. Usually objects look more realistic when the shape of it isn't completely straight, curved, or flat. So I'm happy that the bottom part of the muffins weren't completely vertical, and by default, my finger impressions around the clay made it look more "not-perfect". The things I needed to improve on for the project was: painting, molding the cup/saucer, and to have a clean finish. With the painting part, I struggled especially with the cup, because the different shades of blue made it look like the cup itself was different colors, when actually I was trying to show shades and highlights. Also, I should've had a better understanding of what color to paint first, how long it should dry, and then what color can easily be painted on top. For example, when I was painting the rim of the saucer, which is white, I accidentally put black there before, which gave a grayish shade after I painted on top of it with white. With molding the cup/saucer, I should've improved on making the rim of the cup smoother, as well as the sides. Unlike the muffins where the uneven sides looked realistic, the cup is an actual solid object which should've had straight,smooth sides. Lastly, I could've improved on having a cleaner finish to the paint, since for me, it still looks a little unfinished with the painting and molding of the cup/saucer. 

Close-up Drawing

I Create Original Art:

How did you use your own unique ideas in your work?

             - For the drawing project, I chose to do an up-close look of jingle bells. Originally, I thought of coloring the bells the original color, which was a golden brown. However, I thought the repetition of one color would look unappealing; so, I chose to do a mix of bright, colorful colors for each jingle bells. In order for the bells to look more customized, I kept at least two bells of the same color, but in different areas of the paper. I also decided to do only a small portion of my reference picture (which was a collection of 100 bells on my leg). To make the drawing look more detailed in terms of texture and colors, I thought if I screenshot only a couple of bells bunched up together. What I really focused on was the bells being on top, on the bottom, and next to each other so it looked repetitive yet different with the shadings and highlights.  Another idea I chose was to have the bells take up the whole paper. The more crowded the bells looked, the more opportunities I had to focus on the different positions of the bells. So while referring back to my basic reference, I put in my own unique ideas of keeping the bells to face different directions, as well as adding my own choice of bright, contrasting colors. 


I Develop My Art Making Skills:

Did you gain skill with familiar materials?

          -The medium I chose for the drawing project was prisma colored pencils. I have previously used prisma colored pencils but not as effectively. In this drawing, I focused on the use of different shades of one color to produce a more realistic look of the bell. For example, for the blue colored bells, I used white, light blue, teal, turquoise, dark blue, violet, light purple, and black. For the purple colored bells, I used white, magenta, pink, violet, light purple, baby pink, and black. For the green colored bells, I used, white, sea-green, forest-green, neon-green,parrot-green, and black. And lastly for the orange colored bells, I used red, dark red, white, yellow, orange, red-orange, brown, and black. With the whites, I made 3 sections on the 3 sides of the bell for the highlighted section. I used the black for the bottom of the bells or next to the bells where the bells intersect and where the light is darker towards the bottom of the bell. I also used black for the inside of the bells where there's no color and light. The technique I learned specifically with prismacolors is how to blend two colors successfully. From the bottom of the bell, I had the darker shades and then gradually blended in the light colors in the middle of the bell where the rim is. I repeated the same process for each side of the bell where the highlight is the center. I colored in a circular motion towards the center for the sides of the bell, and for the bottom section I dragged the pencil back and forth in a roundish motion to make the bells look spherical. 

I Communicate Through My Work:

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

           - I personally like drawing realistic objects. With this unique idea of a close up drawing of jingle bells, I wanted to show how I liked things that look somewhat realistic; and in order for that to show, I added in the highlights and shades of the bells. I also get attracted to bright colors, especially when there's more than one color being used in a drawing. So I added in the light greens, pinks, oranges, and blues to the variation of the bells' colors. With Christmas coming soon, I thought maybe doing jingle bells will make sense for a theme, however I changed the typical "red and green" combination to be a combination of different shades of the primary colors we usually see. For example, I chose to do a brighter shade of green instead of using the normal forest-green we see during Christmas time. I also like working with colored pencils. Prismacolors are really attractive because you don't see the gaps of the paper when you color something, making the drawing look more realistic. So I prefer any realistic drawing of an object to have full color, variation, repetition, and shape. 

Drawings-11/9/14

1.) Did you learn any new techniques or processes as part of the work for this art project?

- I learned 3 new techniques for the drawings of the Dum-Dum, Jolly Rancher, and peppermint. The first one was in the colored pencil media, which was the drawing of the Dum-Dum. I liked that I learned how to highlight the creases of the wrapper. The value of the color was also very important in order to show a variation in the colors of the wrapper. It was also interesting to learn that in order to make something look cylindrical, you have to highlight the center with white, and then have the sides or corners a much darker shade to show that the object is rounded. However, with this exercise, I mostly focused on getting the details of the wrapper. The second technique I learned was the use of chalk. I never really enjoyed using chalk because of how messy it can get, but I discovered that the most important part about using this media, is how much pressure you put onto the chalk. Even if I had put slightly more pressure on the chalk, the drawing would look unrealistic because of of that one darker color. Something new I learned was that in chalk, you should try avoiding blending the colors. This can cause the drawing to look like a mix of colors without any proper highlights or shades. The peppermint was by far the hardest of them all. The last technique was the oil pastel drawing. When I first started drawing the Jolly Rancher, I couldn't figure out how to smooth out the pastel so it would look fully colored. But once I learned the process of dragging the oil pastel back and forth, which takes a very long time, I saw the color had automatically filled a nice, smooth texture onto the paper. I also liked the fact that the values of one color (for mine it was blue) could be so distinct with adding white to the darker blues. The one thing I would've worked on more though was the shape of the candy, and better use of darks and lights.

 2.) Did you use a source of inspiration and combine it with your own ideas to make it original?

- The sources of inspiration I had were the actual objects: Dum-Dum lollipop, Jolly Rancher, and a peppermint. I used these candies to help me draw the specific creases in the wrapper; however, I played around with the colors in all three of them. For example, the peppermint's original colors were obviously red and white, but I changed the idea to put two contrasting colors together: Red and Green.
For the Dum-Dum, I chose to do more orange on the sides, more red near the creases, and then white as the main color almost. And for the Jolly Rancher, I chose to put a lot more white on the top and bottom where most of the highlight should be. I also added some black in the creases of the yellow part of the wrapper to emphasize the deeper creases.
Having these objects in front of you is very helpful in terms of keeping up with the realistic look of the drawing; and also just to have a basic reference for colors, orientation, details, etc. of the object you're drawing.

3.) How would you analyze your work?

- I would say I need to improve a lot more on how to blend colors correctly, because I definitely feel like although the highlights and shades are there, it still doesn't look very realistic to me. Especially with chalk, the proper technique is very important in order to not have it look messy or too blended. For the Jolly Rancher, I feel I could have less white and more of the darker blue. The shape of the candy also should have been better sketched out. It was also difficult for me to properly color in and around the letters of the wrapper, so I would really work on outlining next time. For the Dum-Dum, I feel that I didn't give a good range of value for the orange. I tried putting the darker red in the crease, and a lighter orange next to it, but maybe adding some yellow and browns could have made it look more varied. I also feel I may have put too much white, probably because I was focused more on the white part of the wrapper and not the actual colors. But overall, I think I did good in drawing the basic object, and trying to include the creases and highlights of the objects. In the future however, I'll focus more on outlining, variation in colors, and better technique with whatever media I'm using. 

Blog-Style of a Famous Artist

Question: Did you find inspiration from another artist or culture?

(This was my reference painting)

---I took inspiration from the well-known artist, Winslow Homer. He was known for his realistic paintings of the seaside, lakes, oceans, or any sight of bodies of water. He kept his paintings very scenic and peaceful. So, for this style project I copied his kind of visual. I painted a lake with a sunset background; and to make the visual look like an actual place, I painted the lighthouse and a shelter on the right side of the painting. Homer was also known for his unique style of blending different colors together to make the visual bright and attractive. I used his style by blending a lot of yellow, orange, red, and pink together for the evening sky. For the reflection of the sky onto the water, I added more black to have it a lot darker than the sky; this made it look like there were little pools of water in the lake. Homer had most of his personal life spent near a lighthouse, so I decided to choose a painting where I could include a specific object/building that was special to the artist. 

Question: How did you respond to challenges that occurred as you worked?

----One problem I faced was painting the lighthouse. Initially, I had not sketched the lighthouse correctly and it turned out a little crooked and not exactly straight. After I discovered this problem, I had to cut off some of the right side of lighthouse and paint white over it in order to make the lighthouse look wider. Then, I painted more black on the left side border so it shifted to the center more. Another problem I faced was making sure I didn't blend the wrong colors together. A lot of the painting consisted of black, so it was important that I didn't mix the darker colors with the bright oranges and reds. Especially with sun, I didn't want my brush to have any other color but pure yellow on it. Another challenge was painting the rock, where the lighthouse/shelter stand on. I didn't want to make it pure black or pure gray because that's not part of Homer's style. Homer was into blending colors, so I decided to mix green, dark purple, black, and white together to create this "rocky" looking sediment for the rock. 

Question: Did you learn new techniques or processes as part of the work?

----One technique I learned was how before you start your painting, you have to add a tone wash across your canvas. This helps with areas of dark colors and areas of light colors throughout the painting. Since I had more black on the bottom half of the canvas, I figured more tone had to be painted there. I also learned the technique of blending/mixing paints to create random and unique colors. An example of this would be on the left side of the water, where you can see a tint of purple and blue. I also like how the purple in the sky really stood out because I painted the shaded purple on top and the tinted purple on the bottom, giving it somewhat of a contrast. Another technique that helped was sketching lightly on the canvas before actually painting. It helped especially with drawing the basic shapes and borders of the mountain in the background, the lighthouse, the rock, and the sun. 

Art 2: Prospective Project

How did you use your own unique ideas in your work?

     -For this perspective project, I wanted to use an object that was used in one point and also somewhat repeated. The main idea of the drawing is the rings being stacked on top of each other from a close-up view. I didn't repeat exactly one object, but I did draw three rings in one point perspective. My source of inspiration was my own rings that I wear all the time; using this as a reference, I stacked them in a way to be directed to one point. I also wanted to make this piece look realistic, so I wanted my reference to be a legitimate object and not a picture that I took or got from the internet.

Did you learn new techniques or processes as part of the work for this project?

- The main technique used in this project was value and shading. In order for such simple objects to look a little realistic value was necessary. I kept the light source on the right edges of the rings; that's where you can see the highlights. Then I focused on the darker value to be on the edges of rings, and especially when the rings would touch each other. Also, to make it look like the rings are stacked, drawing the shadows was really important. There was value in the shadows too, going from dark and fading into a lighter shade.

How did you respond to challenges that occurred as you worked?

- To make the piece look more interesting I had to think about what kind of a surface I had to put the rings on. It was difficult in the sense that I didn't really believe at first that anything would be very interesting to look at. My first idea was a table, but it didn't seem that people could tell it was just a regular table. Finally, I got the idea of a drawer, or some kind of a jewelry box. Then I started drawing the edges of the boxes in perspective, and thought of drawing a handle on the left edge. This way, with value and the handle, it would look like a jewelry box which looked much more interesting to me.

Art 1 Final Portfolio

Essay Questions: 

1.) How did you apply what you learned in Art 1 to successfully complete the Identity Project? Talk about your knowledge of materials and what you've learned about working with themes.
            - Firstly, my identity project was a sketch of Mahatma Gandhi using his own spinning wheel to make his clothes. In this sketch I decided just to use the basic skills I've learned throughout this course. Such as, value, perspective, and proportion. I learned that value is a skill that can really make your artwork look very realistic and appealing since it can also consist of highlights and darker shades vs. lighter shades. On the wooden piece where the spinning wheel is placed on top of is the area where I tried putting the most amount of value. I thought that the corners and especially wherever there were two things intersecting, was the area I would put a much darker shade. On the edges of the wooden piece, I put the highlight where light would reflect in real life. This made this piece of the work more realistic. Next, I used perspective. Since the spinning wheel was placed in an angle, I had to make sure each element of the wheel was facing towards a diagonal instead of a front profile. This was maybe the hardest part of this project, since the spinning wheel had to look symmetrical yet in an angle. I also made Gandhi sit in a diagonal position so it could correspond with the direction of the spinning wheel. Finally, I learned how to use proportion in the correct way. I mostly used proportion obviously for Gandhi's body. Based on an image I was referring off of, I saw how his head was rather larger at the top and got a little narrow towards the bottom. His ears were also noticeably pointing outwards, with the glasses resting on them. His physicality was an interesting part to draw since he had a skinny and bony structure. Although these were the main parts of the body, the smallest part, which were the hands took the longest time to draw. I wanted him to be seen as if he was holding a threading spindle that was coming off of the thread from the spinning wheel. I had to draw the thumb in front of the spindle's handles, and the rest of the fingers underneath like he was gripping onto the object. The fact that this was the smallest feature of the drawing was a challenge since I had to make the details of his hands to still look realistic.  All of these ideas and skills I learned in Art 1 so far, have really helped me in drawing objects and people in a complete different perspective, which eventually made my artwork look a lot more appealing. 

2.) What was your most successful project this semester? Describe the project and your work, then explain why you picked it. 
            - I believe my most successful project was the tea lamp (flower piece) and the zentangle. The zentangle was my first project in this class, and was luckily an area of art that I was most comfortable with. For that piece, I used dividing lines to separate the specific areas of where I would fill it with designs. This helped me a lot, especially since the paper was quite large. As I kept going with the intricate designs within the dividers, I didn't even notice when the whole paper got to be filled. Using lots of designs from my henna ideas, I used the technique of repetition. This was the main factor of this project that really caught people's attention. Although people thought that it's a paper filled with very different designs, it's actually just patterns that have been repeated randomly throughout the piece. For example, at the bottom of the paper, where there is the circle, I used the same pattern over and over again to fill up the circle. This gave a detailed effect since the pattern itself was so intricate. Doing this, I kept going on to fill the whole paper within a span of 3-4 days. I also learned to put value and emphasis onto the major lines of the art piece. 
         For my tea lamp, the medium I used was clay. That was my first time using clay to mold into something that was functional. I felt that the best part about this project was the painting of it more than the sculpting. I decided to use a lot of vibrant colors along with white to highlight some of the designs. I noticed the the clay piece was going from up to down towards the bottom center. Using this idea, I wanted to use a repetitive design that would get smaller and smaller as I was painting downwards. With the many options I had for colors, I used bright yellows, pinks, and reds. On the contrary, I also used a dark blue, a light blue, and a magenta color at the top. Since the clay piece was quite small, I had to really make the designs tiny in order for the detail of the painting to show. I also learned that layering colors on top of each other can also give an interesting effect. For example, on the border of the piece I drew petal-like designs that had white layered on top of it. I liked that part a lot just for the fact that it looked like actual petals. These two artworks are very special to me since I did my best while learning so many things throughout. 

3.) Do over - what was a project this semester you would change if you could? Describe the project and your work, including what you didn’t like about the work, then explain what you could have done differently to improve the result. 
        - If given the chance, I would definitely want to redo the block printing project. This was a project that I didn't really realize was going to be so difficult at first; therefore I took it as an easy project at first, later seeing that it affected my prints quite a bit. I think I should've known how to use the tools on the rubber pieces a lot better. I also was a little confused on what colors to put for the piece, since we needed 2 different colors. The matching of the first color and then the new color on top of it was the biggest challenge, since you didn't know how it was going to look after you peeled it off. If I had more time to practice and learn how to match up the colors then I would definitely would want to redo this project just because it looks so interesting in the end...if it turns out correctly! 

4.) What is a media that you enjoyed working with this semester? Write about what the media was, explain why you liked it and give examples of work you created with it.
           - I really enjoyed the stop motion app for the change project. I did a henna tattoo on someone's hand and took pictures of the design developing from the beginning to the end. I have done henna for a very long time now, but I never thought that I could make it look even more interesting through this type of media. The stop motion really made the design look like it was growing from a simple design to an intricate design. Seeing something that I'm so used to doing, now through a different perspective made the change project really interesting for me. The fact that it was something new and different made me want to choose this media, and then use it through a type of art that I'm so used to doing. 



Artwork and Reflection:

         - For my reflection I chose to redo one of the warm-ups, which was drawing a face. I feel like I did this better because I added a lot more value, especially in the hair and below the neck. I emphasized her eyes a lot more, with the highlight within the eyeball. Overall, I kept the features on her face very dark, with subtle detail within. For example, the lips have a dark outline, and then within the lips I drew lines to show the curve, or shape of the lips. I also changed her hairstyle, and position of the flower to make it be seen in a different perspective. I think the proportions of the first try were not as great, since the eyes were a lot larger than any other feature; so I made sure the nose wasn't too small, and the eyes didn't dominate the entire face. I tried to balance this with her hair to take up most of the forehead so the face wasn't awkwardly large. For the flower, I put more value that radiated from the center, as if there were two colors blending with together. Overall, I tried to focus more on value for this piece. 

Original                                                                                                       Redo