Essential Questions

We can access images of anything via the internet and snap photos with our phones, so why are drawing and painting still viable methods for making images? What can drawing and painting do that digital and photographic media can’t?
Drawing and painting are viable methods for making images because people use it to express themselves and show the world how they see and view a particular thing. Whereas photography is a snapshot of a particular thing through a lens. Though photography is open to different interpretations, this is the case for any type of art, literature, and even everyday situations. Drawing is more open to creative decisions and thoughts though because the artist can put in or take out whatever they want. Drawing and painting is open to interpretation just as photography but some may argue that it can convey deeper meanings by the things that are added or taken away from a photograph.

How can we use the methods, materials, and techniques used by two-dimensional artists today to tell the story of our lives and to address contemporary issues?

Two-dimensional artists today can tell stories about their lives and try to address current issues within society and the world by using different methods, materials, and techniques. One could simply try and draw out their lives but that would be nearly impossible. Instead, if someone is asked to draw out their lives, they would probably try and pick out important things that have effected them. They could then transfer their thoughts onto paper figurally or symbolically. This would be the same case for issues; one could use dark colors or people showing distress on their faces and maybe provide hope or a solution somewhere within the drawing or painting

Artist Statement

You know when you're little and nothing phases you at all? For all you know, you could be the next president of the United States and anything before you is yours. Including that blank piece of paper that within seconds turns into a drawing of a girl with a triangle skirt or a boy with one eye bigger then the other (non-intentional of course.) Back then I didn't need to think about what to draw, I just drew like every other kid. However, the difference between then and now is the importance of the drawing. I'm not sure what it is, but I've come to realize I have a slight obsession with trees and drawing them. They don't directly hold a huge amount of importance to me, but yet when I see them, I'm overcome with emotions. My guess is that trees go through transformations every year just as people do but they also grow and depending on their environment grow differently which is also similar to people.

A lot can change in a short amount of time, so why not keep the memories on paper in a single shot? That's why the easiest way for me to create art is though photography. I love feeling the buttons beneath my fingers and capturing a certain second but remembering a thousand memories before and after the caption that elicits strong emotions from that time in my life. Blurred backgrounds, the smell of chemicals, timeless, and black and white are the first things that come to mind when I think of that one word.

A lot of times, people might not fully understand the art that I make. Sometimes I think I make it to please my audience and to look nice, but I've learned that this isn't the type of art that's special to me. The type of art that's special to me holds significance to me and is something that will make me smile when I look at it because I remember a time or a certain event or even person behind it. Yeah, my work might look nice too, but it isn't about that. I want my art to please, but I mostly want it to please myself and I want people to appreciate it for what it is, not for what it isn't. People can interpret what they want from it weather good or bad and they don't need to necessarily understand the piece, that part is for me to know and others to guess upon.

Process Reflection #1

In the beginning of this week I worked on my symbolic portrait and tried to figure out what I needed to do or order to be able to finish it. I struggled trying to think of a way that I could get my portrait to come though and to fill a lot of empty space. I decided that I would make it smaller and basically cut the two main parts that I had and glue them together while adding a background of a sunset/rise in pastel. 

 

This week I also started to think about what I was going to do for my independent project. I knew that I wanted to possibly paint a picture that was abstract for my room. Online I found a picture that was similar to something that I would like to create. I decided on a series of three paintings being the same thing only in various colors. So far I was able to put the frames together, stretch the material over them, and paint them. My biggest challenge might have been trying to find three frames that were the same sizes. I wasn't able to find any so I compromised on one that was a bit bigger to go in the middle of the other two.

My next steps are finishing both my symbolic (which isn't going to take that long) and also start the actual painting on my paintings for my independent project.

Sketchbook Archaeology

This year the sketchbook has been an amazing way for me to experiment and create things that I will want to hold on to and look back on. In the beginning I had detailed drawings and as I progress through my sketchbook I realize that there is a significant amount of more color and just using new materials like wax.

Pencil drawings
Paint pens
Collage

INITIAL REFLECTION

It was funny looking through my blog. I forgot about some of the projects like the Pour Paintings, Found Image Collage, and just some of the D.E.A.Ds that we did. It was strange when I remembered everything because some of it seemed like it happened forever ago, but I feel like the year itself has flown by. I think that my artistic strengths may have been drawing even though it frustrated me at times and the biggest challenge for me I think was the time constraints. Art this year was a lot more fast pace that I would have thought and it was challenging because for me I like to take my time and thoroughly finish something before I move on to another project and so I found that really frustrating even though I was told that I would be able to finish them at later times I don't think that I ever got to finishing projects that I started beforehand. I'm really sad that I'm leaving art class because I found it relaxing though difficult times and I learned a lot of techniques that I found helpful and that I'm sure I'll use during art classes that I'm sure are to come in my future.

Reflecting on group work.

Working in a group has been more challenging then I had expected. At first I thought that it would be a lot easier and more enjoyable because I would be with three good friends of mine who are also creative in art. However, we all contributed great ideas, but we didn't always agree (in fact, most of the time we didn't.) Though you may have more work to do, I think this is the reason why working individually is in a way, easier then with a group.  BUT, when we did figure out what we wanted to do, we got right into it and had a great outcome rough draft. Another good thing that we did as a group was reminding each other to think of the whole. As in, we reminded each other that this was going to be a public painting for anyone who goes into the cafeteria to see. All-in-all, I am anxious to see how the mural turns out. I am sure that it will look fabulous because I know that everyone in my group is trying their hardest and I'm sure that our hardest will be more then adequate.

End of Term 1 Reflection.

This first term of art for me has been more then I expected. Coming into Beaver, I thought that art principles was going to be a pretty dull class that would teach me fundamentals, but not necessarily have me put them to use. Yes, I have learned basic fundamentals of art such as shading, sketching, principles of design and many others, but I have put them to use. After learning how to shade (though, I'm no expert and still need to work at it MUCH more) I was able to on later assignments (such as other D.E.A.Ds) put the skill to use and make my picture look better then it would have in the beginning of the year.

Though I thought that it would be dull, I also thought that art was going to be easy. I didn't realize how high the expectations were going to be set and it came as a surprise to me that there was homework, yes HW! (Then again, it IS high school. Yikes!) I think that my biggest issue is feeling like I am doing a good job because I really haven't finished many of the projects. (Yes, I know you're going to tell me that I have -ex. the found image collage project, glass half full project, and MAYBE one other if I'm lucky. BUT I DIDN'T finish my pour painting project, sculpture, collage, and probably a few other projects as well.) So the hardest thing might be that I do not feel accomplished. I hope I will have time to re-visit projects and start and finish more in this upcoming term.

On a happier note, I'm very glad that I am in art principles with you as my teacher and I think that I will keep learning new skills and techniques and I look forward to putting them to use very soon.

Chair With Coat.

This week, I found our D.E.A.D. less complicated but harder to draw. There were less objects that were needed to draw, but the couple that were there, I had a hard time getting the proportions right. I think that I only skill that I used today that was needed in the previous D.E.A.D.s was shading. However, I didn't get much shading done because I was really trying to get the proportions finished correctly. I think that this might have been the most frustrating of all, because in the end, I didn't feel quite as satisfied.

Beauty In the Eye of the Beholder

When I started the glass half full project, I had no idea what to do. Eventually, I decided that I wanted to do my project on women and how there are good thing and also bad. However, the bad good and bad things were really hard to translate onto paper. Then I had the idea of working with the   medias image of beauty verses natural beauty. With the consent of Ms. Robberts, I combined the concepts into one picture. I emphasized the two different faces and made all of the other images in black and white. I was able to do this by glueing all but the two faces that were going to be in color and copied them into black and white. After that, I glued the two faces on. The two faces are so different, one of them has a lot of makeup on, and the other one is very natural looking. These faces are definitely the first thing that people see when they look at the collage. After they see the faces, they see the surrounding faces. I think my point was successful in making people see the differences between the two concepts.

Fabric Drawings.

Today I found our D.E.A.D. really difficult. I had a hard time getting the shapes down and it really frustrated me trying to get the movement of the fabric. (Or like, the positioning and how it turned in such in some places.) It frustrates me mostly because it was hard to be accurate with the way everything was set up. The shading was difficult too. I just didn't enjoy it. It was hard for me, and I hope I don't have to do it again. It was different then last weeks drawing of the sticks because of the shapes.

Principles of Design Research

Kate and I looked at the work of art, Midnight Ride of Paul Revere by Grant Wood. The artist used the Principles of Design to help guide the people looking at the photo through it. By using the path the artist told a story from start to finish without having to write anything. This way a very good way of helping people understand what he was trying to portray. Also, he used different sizes to make people notice the more important parts of the painting. This was helpful too because then the viewer would not focus on the small details like the trees. Instead they would be able to get the main points of the painting.

Found Object Reflection Feedback Discussion

On your blog, describe the feedback you got on your work. 

Mention at least one sculpture from your group you thought was especially successful and why.

Good concept, but that:

I should put more objects on the 'nature' level.

I should put less objects on the 'electronic' level.

I should try to even it out more.

Mid-term Reflection (due Sunday, October 17, at noon).

In art class so far this term, I think that I have been doing pretty well. I think that my strength is thinking outside of the box on projects, and when I take the time, sketching. For the second half of the term, I think that I need to work on using new strategies to draw. As in, like on one of the D.E.A.D days, when we had to draw the big structure made of paper and Ms. Robberts told us to do a quick sketch of the whole thing. Instead, I focused more so on trying to make it perfect, then just getting the shapes down on the paper. I also think that I should try to make more time for my sketchbook so that I can do more detailed drawings. Lastly, I'd like to finish the projects that I finished the first part of the term.

Found Object Sculpture Reflection.

The concept of my sculpture project was to have different levels that represented different parts of life. The first level (top) was going to be like the ground with sticks and leaves. All of the other levels would have this magnetic piece that I would hang stuff on. For example, one of the levels was going to have a bunch of objects that were magnetic and connect to the other metal piece. The problem that I encountered is that I thought about the project too much and only got to starting it but didn't quite execute it.

The Changing Still Life

Today, in our DEAD our still life wasn't really still...objects kept being added to the table which made us have to erase and change parts of the objects that were already there. Finally, when there was a fair amount of objects on the table, Ms. Roberts started to take AWAY objects. After an object had been taken away (erased) on our pages, we had to re-draw some of the old objects if there were now visible. In the end, we were left with one object on a box, and many, many, many somewhat erased charcoal marks on a piece of not so white paper. If I had known what we were doing, I would have waited until all of the objects were on the table until I started the actual drawing.

Found Images Collage Reflection-"A Vintage Twist"

The thing that I struggled most in in this project is the fact that my original idea really only developed once I started working further into the project. My original idea helped me get to the state that I am at now, but it did not stay the same.


At first I had this concept of different elements coming together in harmony with each other by making say, a city out of something that was once a picture of nature. But as I was doing this, I decided that I just wanted to see what would happen if I just started putting thinks that I liked down on my paper. I ended up with this really cool collage that is sorta vintage looking and glamorous with pictures from a while back and NYC.

Three Forms Drawing

Today in our D.E.A.D. we sketched a cup, a pin-cone, and a wooden rectangle block. Going in I felt confident in what I was going to be drawing, but when I started, I got really frustrated mostly with the shading. I felt that it was difficult to be drawing something that didn't have the same colors. I think the best way for me to describe it more clearly is like, if I had to draw a colorful forest in just black and white. Though the colors weren't that drastic, I still found it really difficult. I mostly spent my time on drawing the cup. But at the end, I started the pine-cone and I think it would have come out somewhat okay. The only problem that I had with it was that there were so many little connecting things that went off of it.

Pour Paintings

My pour painting wasn't even originally mine. I chose to pick a painting that someone else had made and then to turn it into my own. The first thing that I saw was this pretty big black ring in the center of the painting. This caught my eye and I immediately thought of outer space and planets. Because of this, I tried to create a somewhat intergalactic feel mostly trying to accentuate the blues that were already there and also adding in more. However there is one place that I used bright orange to represent the sun and a planet kinda meting when touching it. Then there is a road near the sun that has caught on flame that goes off of the page.

Collaborative Drawings.

I started out with an okay drawing. I will admit that it was somewhat boring  but it still looked alright. I had the two bears setting up camp, and the penguin collecting sticks for the fire. And a stream and small forest. But when I came back, I was a little surprised to see a castle, my bears being kings, and the penguin holding some sort of weapon that was going to be used to hurt the bears...I didn't so much mind it as find it not as attractive as before. However, I wished that the penguin didn't turn out evil.

Thinking about the Artist

Anyone can be an artist; you don't need to be artistically inclined since what one person my consider a 'great' piece of work, another may think is 'awful.' Art is about what you make it out to be and about how you feel about what you make. Sure other people's opinions may be important if you sell your work, but it really is all about how you feel about what you make. Creativity comes from inspiration of all types and forms. It can come from anywhere and anyone. To be productive, an artist needs to have an open mind to let ideas flow through and to be able to look at the world with a new perspective.