Art Journal

Did you try something that you weren’t sure about as part of this project?
 Yes. I'm not use to the layering of the materials that I used. Using oil pastels over the paper that was glued down was really weird. Also, not only using the one, also having marker blended in is really odd because I normally don't mix things like that.

Did you pick a material or technique that was new or different over something that was familiar?
   Yes. I decided to layer with multiple things like I said before. I wanted to just stick with one and figured I could just add a ton of detail so it seemed busy and creative and all that jazz. Instead I used many things and tested it out.

What is this artwork intended to say?
(lets get deep here)   It's suppose to be for the word grow. It's meant so kind of show nature and how it's always growing and how humans strive for such a thing. From the beginning we want to grow, grow taller, grow mature, grow older, always growing. While nature constantly grows at its own pace, we become adults in only 18 years legally, and even when we're old and society see's those as frail and done with growing, nature still grows on taller and bigger, far more than any human could ever be. I hope it subconsciously would bring the thought of us wanting that,  that's a piece of why we love nature, it's a constant growing thing that's always there throughout our short life of 'growing'.

What issues are you examining through your artwork?
   *sigh* Basically exactly what I said before. That we rush growing up from such an early age, and we should take a lesson from nature. The lesson to just grow as it comes and not to force something that the world doesn't force.

How is this artwork about who you are or what you like?
    I like nature and a lot of different colors which I showed in this piece.

Nature Art

How did you use your own unique ideas in your work?
   We did multiple different colors and there was no pattern to it. Not all the color blocks were the same size or next to the same color as it was before. I tried to make it as colorful and bright as possible, putting warm colors next to cool colors and darks next to brights.

Did you use a source for inspiration, then combine it with your own ideas to make it original?
   Yes. The source was the stereotypical yarn bombing. Yarn bombing is often seen when the yarn is crocheted and then wrapped around the tree. We used this as an idea for the subject and what we should actually do. Instead of crochet, we just wrapped yarn tightly with as little gaps as possible. 

  How did you respond to challenges that occurred as you worked? 
     We just worked around them. For example when there were tiny branches/leafs we would just wrap around the branch. Also another example is the gaps, we would look and see that we left gaps so we would just re-wrap a few times until it got covered. 

Did your work take an unexpected turn due to a mistake or did something happen that was unplanned?

  No. Though we had some obstacles, we tried to stay as close as we planned as possible. If there were gaps we would re-wrap or weave it through the gaps. If there were branches we merely went around them. We tried to make it look like exactly how we hoped. 

Sculpture

Did you try something that you weren’t sure about as part of this project?
Yes. I tried the book carving, but I attempted multiple layers; the layers of the tree knot. I wasn't really sure how to make it pop out but still look like it was in the hole itself.

Did you pick a material or technique that was new or different over something that was familiar?
 Yes, I picked a new material and technique. I"ve never done carving or anything with a book. I had a lot of fun though and liked the idea of it. I really like the look of it and how it looks normal from the outside but when it opens it's like the story isn't just written on pages, it's 3D. 

What is this artwork intended to say?
 It's not really intended to say anything, but represent a story. I used the book 'To Kill A Mocking Bird', and used the tree that the kids and Boo traded stuff with. I really like the side story of Boo in that book, and the mystery and innocents of the whole situation. The tree was a turning point in the kids perspective of Boo, and that's one of my favorite parts. 

What issues are you examining through your artwork?
 As I said above, the tree represents the situation between Boo and the kids. He's seen as a mysterious maniac, but this tree gives an insight to Boo's life to the kids. I added gifts that Boo had left in the tree knot for the kids, because the gifts are what changed the kids thought about him. It also showed how shy and odd Boo was. 

How is this artwork about who you are or what you like?
  This artwork is about one of my favorite books. I've read this book in 5th,8th, and 9th grade. I think it;s a good book to read at different points in life because every time, something new shows itself and has a different meaning to you. 

Perspective

How did you use your own unique ideas in your work?
   I used a picture I found online to base the picture off of. I chose all the places I want to travel to on the signs. I really enjoy traveling and I want to travel as much as I can when I'm older. The places written are some of my main locations I want to be in. 

Did you use a source for inspiration, then combine it with your own ideas to make it original?
    Yes, I found a picture online but then added in my own hopes and thoughts for details. 

How did you respond to challenges that occurred as you worked? 
  When the challenges occurred, I just hoped for the best really. I had a really hard time and figured the mistakes and challenges wouldn't happen again because I would try to learn from them.

Did your work take an unexpected turn due to a mistake or did something happen that was unplanned?
   Yes. I did not expect to have such a hard time on perspective. I struggled a bit during the practice but for the actual project I had picked a piece that seemed simple. It was really difficult for me and turned out to be frustrating.

Shibori Dyeing

Artist: Laura Hunter
    Laura Hunter now lives in Washington State, making silk scarves using the shibori technique.She specifically uses the  itajime shibori, a technique where designs are created by dyeing the fabric while it is folded and clamped between tiles, wood blocks, or other shaped objects. 
    She said "I am also fascinated by fractals in nature, repetition on different scales, often caused by growth and change." This explains why she is drawn to dyeing in the technique that she does. Using the shibori technique shows the specific pattern. The specific material you use to cover the shirt with will protect that area from dye, which will then leave the imprint of what you did.  
    Her use for this art is retail, she dye fabric then sews it into a scarf that she then sells.She has been doing this for 20 years as her job. She has experimented with the shibori technique, which has led her to the Itajime shibori style which was mentioned earlier.
   









 I chose this artist because her work seems cool, and we have things in common such Washington State. Her works color and design is really eye catching and cool overall. 

Snap the Whip, Art History

The piece above is named 'Snap The Whip', by Winslow Homer. This piece what made in the 1872, in oils.

This what made in the realistic movement, which was a movement in which artists tried to create their pieces based on the human eyes perspective; the real truth. There was no paintings of Gods, or mythical creatures, and the times of royalty were grown out of and art was focused more on the common man. As the art above shows, a realistic painting of common boys playing a game in front of what would be assumed their house. Many realistic and fine details allow you so infer that this was during the realistic movement.

In our group...
Sarah-

• found spot to film
• helped with poster
• started camera
• was in the shot
• helped with information  
• helped with position to shoot

 Travis-

• was in the shot
• helped with information
• helped with position to shoot

Me-

• found painting
• helped with information
• was in the shot
• helped with position to shoot
• helped with poster

If I would do this project again I would pick a painting that was more emotional and detailed so it would be more of a challenge to represent the same feeling from the original painting. I would chose that because although picking a painting that was so realistic and following it was difficult, the feeling that comes across from paintings would be a cool challenge to try to re-invent. 

survival

portrait

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

I did this often, I would step back and look at the overview every time I would finish a certain aspect. For example if I had finished the nose I would step back and look. I tried to never really look at the whole view before I was fully finished with the piece because I often find that a drawing always looks very wrong but you have to keep going and then it'll turn into a good finished piece. I try not to put myself in a position where I get frustrated because it "looks weird".

Did you consider how ideas would work before you tried them?

Honestly, most of the time no. While I drew the hair I did, but that was the only characteristic. For this piece of art I kind of just went with it.  What I did notice however, was that the hair turned out the most unrealistic and that is what I consider how ideas would work before I tried it.

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

I tried to focus on layers if a problem occurred. I would notice it quickly and focus on using layers to cover it up or morph the mistake into what I first meant it to turn out as.

Did your work take an unexpected turn due to a mistake or did something happen that was unplanned?

Not really. I had no set idea of how I thought this drawing would turn out as, and I had no huge mistakes or an epiphany on how to do something so there was no un-expected turn in my process/ work.

iPad Monster

GIF-Traveling Around

    This relates to me in a few ways. First of all, I have traveled a bit in my 15 years. I was born in Fort Bragg, moved to California, then to Kansas, Washington State, and back here(all driven). We weren't planning on staying here though, but after my dad retired we were stuck. So the title "Traveling Around" is because I have.
     Since I've driven all over the country, I've learned to love traveling. I want to travel anywhere I can once I'm older, or even now if the opportunity shows itself. I went to New York this past summer, I'll be spending 5 weeks in Richmond for a summer intensive, and although I don't have the time, there was a point where Uganda was in my summer plans. Traveling has been forced upon me, and has also been what I want my life to be like, just traveling around.
     

Print making

Did you try something that you weren’t sure about as part of this project?
  Doing this whole project I was unsure of what I was doing and didn't feel very secure about the carving. Although that was really out of my norm, what I wasn't sure about was the background options. I chose to do a checkered kind of style but I decided to not make the checkered pattern even. 

Did you pick a material or technique that was new or different over something that was familiar?
Since we were kind of limited on what to use I didn't choose anything new. What was assigned to us to use was new though. I don't usually carve ever, and the whole paint thing isn't my thing so it was definitely new.

Did you ask another student for feedback during your work process?
Yes. I asked what they thought of it as it was in progress and discussed whether I should add more, do less, what to fix and not to fix, ect.

Did someone help you understand important information or inspire you?

They helped me see that things didn't have to line up exactly and be precise on every line. Things could be a bit messy and different. 

My meme

My first definition of art was the following-
    Anything that provokes thought, emotion, and or feelings.

My new definition has not changed, I still agree with my first definition and I think that it still applies to all art.

The Legs

This is what I based my drawing off of.
It's actually a larger picture and I just zoomed in, my cropping is a little off though, I post this too so you can see what it's suppose to look like.

This is what I drew to practice my shading with oil pastels. I used oil pastels back in 4th grade once for a peacock, and that was my first and only time since this. So I figured I should practice, when it turned out to look pretty cool. I never really got to finish the tutu, but it looks cool so I haven't messed with it.

Origami

So for this project, I was utterly confused on how to make anything. I tried with what I knew though, which is only really fans. However since it was still plain I chose to doodle on it to add some color.

Color project

             For the color project I chose to draw a mask. The picture is only half a mask to add even more of the "disguise". I chose the theme disguise, so a mask, and hiding the mask was oh so clever (or I thought so at least). The reason why I chose disguise as a theme is because it was the first thing that came to mind and I felt I could easily represent. Plus there are so many different way to represent a mask.
             I used color penciled. It's more inside my comfort zone considering I've never used the other mediums before coming in art 1. There's no reason other than I've used them before and it seemed the most logical considering I can draw some of the strict lines.
             So! This project was not as easy and comfortable as I figured. I have no idea how to shade which sounds ridiculous but it never came out smoothly. This may be because I got into the practice of smudging, or it may just be that I suck at shading with colored pencils.

Finished product on the right.
  If I could go back and redo something I would use a different medium to better draw details and to seem more life like a mature\
  Though it may not have a lot of details I'm proud of the blended colors of the mask. I tried to focus on the sight over lapping of the colors so it gave the illusion of almost fading from one color to the next. As I said before I think I suck at shading so I'm fairly proud that the shading seems to blend well.
  What I learned is that my 'comfort zone' may not actually be the best zone for me, its more of a shameful corner that I've given up on getting out of. But now when stretching my use of different mediums, I see that my comfort zone is really pathetic and I'm not even that strong in. Although I worked hard on this piece, and it turned out as best as I could, I feel that maybe if I just risked using something I never had, like water colors or oil pastels, I could have had a better outcome.

Two in One

      For this project I decided to morph an eye with a music note. I decided to choose the music note since music has such an impact in my life; being in the school band and having a large music history in my family. The eye has no sentimental value to me other than the eye being so important to life, although I also find drawing an eye really interesting because eyes can differentiate so much.There are simple ways to represent change in eyes such as looking different ways, the color, and even shape. But what's really stunning in drawings of eyes are the emotions that are shown. Eyes can show fear, love, sadness, confusion and so many more emotions, and for that to be shown on paper really interests me and makes me want to strive for the same.  I've transformed an eye to a music note by lengthening the soft curved eye lashes so long that it eventually becomes the straight harsh line of the stem to the eighth note. The eye can easily mimic the wide oval shape of an eighth note, making it easy for someone to see how it actually is 'two in one'. 
      I've been on the fence deciding which medium to use. Pen was immediately voted no because of the struggle of the light shading to the white of the eye( the struggle is real). Drawing with pencils is definitely inside my comfort zone; practically being the only medium I've ever used. However the range of lights to dark isn't as big as charcoal could give. The final choice had to be charcoal so details could clearly show and the dark and light can better contrast. I'll use a charcoal pencil for the eye, but not for the stem of the music note. The stem of the music note is very even and rigid; no details needed.
      So far all I've done is the sketch so nothing has gotten tricky yet. Looking at the sketch I can tell the proportions are gonna trip me up though. Also the eye will most likely turn into a war with myself trying to get the details just right since my view and standards of a drawn eye is so high.

These are my two in progress pictures. The first one is where I had outlined it with pencil and had started shading. The second one is where I have done it all over in charcoal but haven't started really layering.  

  This is my final drawing, I added a 'back round' which is the number four, this is actually a time signature and is cut off to go with the cut off note. I added the time signature to point out that it's also a music note not only an eye.
  Throughout this project I had most trouble one shading in the basic things such as the time signature and the stem of the music note. I feel like the eye itself turned out well with the details and shading however. If I could do it again, I'd add more detail to the back round.