I really enjoyed doing this piece, even though I usually don't like painting. I had the image flipped upside down as I was painting it because I had no idea what it was, but when the other piece was put next to it, it made a whole lot more sense and I liked the outcome very much.
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This project began fun, I liked the design I'd picked and was looking forward to my colors. It got tougher as I began carving the linoleum, but I still enjoyed it. When the time came to print, however, I didn't expect it to be as hard as it was. Lining the little details up was painstaking and frustrating and I can't say I really like any of the prints I ended up with completely.
Through the course of getting mad at this project, I tried all sorts of techniques and ways to set the linoleum down as precisely as possible. I set it down long-ways, short-ways, all at once, little by little, and everything in between. Some methods worked better than others, some I only got right based on sheer luck, and some I plain old regretted. I learned from each of the failed attempts, and have a pile of them to prove it, and I think if I were ever forced to print again I'd do better than this first time I made prints. I feel like I took a lot of risks on this project. Not only had I never done printmaking before, but I'd never drawn a dinosaur before, let alone on in a dynamic pose surrounded by little prehistoric squids. With the small teeth and spikes and squids disappearing into the background, I was just asking for complications, but I still took them head on and think I did the best I was capable of doing with the little history I had. During the mixed media project, I have to be honest I didn't really enjoy doing it. I started over once because at first it wasn't going my way at all. But after a little bit of planning I chose a color scheme and a design direction to follow and I ended up not really minding the outcome. I'm not incredibly proud of it, but I don't think its all that bad. I do think, however, that it could use a lot more work if time constraints weren't so tight. I might redo it in the future.
Over the course of creating this I learned a good bit about tissue paper and using gel medium in art. Especially that red tissue paper has a nasty habit of turning your brush red very quickly. I also learned about how to use the gel medium and what ways work best when applying it and making it work right. While I was working, my classmates at my table helped me out with ideas on how to create a more defined texture and a less symmetrical, boring piece. They suggested the buttons I used and I ended up really liking the buttons on the project, I might even say the line of buttons in the corner is my favorite part. I'm glad I had them to help me, they definitely made the piece better. For my artist painting I chose Winslow Homer as my inspiration. He was a famous artist who did lots of realistic landscapes and animals in acrylic and watercolor paint.
Before I began painting, I debated a lot of ideas and concepts to possibly create. Homer did lots of seascapes and scenes involving the ocean or a lake, so I had a few ideas about what would be best to do based on his works. Eventually, I found a painting of his that was of a horse being ridden across some rocks, and I decided to do a horse as well because I love horses. I chose to do this horse because it was a friend of mine's horse and this was partially made as a present for him/his mom. I based the colors of the trees off the colors of the horse, which is a red chestnut, so I chose to have the trees' leaves changing color like in autumn. Horses were a big part of my life growing up, and I'll always like this piece because it reminds me of all the great times I've had with them. For the clay food project I chose to do s'mores, pieces of chocolate, and a marshmallow.
Over the course of the project, I learned all sorts of things and techniques about sculpting that I'd never known before. Way back in middle school I took a sculpture class but we never got the chance to make anything food related. I had to learn how to make the chocolate and marshmallows look like they were melting between the graham crackers and it was really fun and interesting. Lots of the students around me helped with what I could do better/change/add to make my project look its best, especially with making the piece look as real as possible. Not only did they help me with the sculpting process, but they helped me all through the sketching and brainstorming as well. For this project we had to find something in nature and zoom in on it like the artist Georgia O'Keeffe. I chose a Hibiscus flower because my mom loves them and we have a few Hibiscus trees we keep on our deck, and they inspired me for this project.
While painting this, I learned new techniques with the use of watercolor pencils. I had never heard of them before and they were really fun and interesting to work with. I also tried out putting paint on the end of my brush's handle and dabbing the paper for the pollen effect, and I really like how it ended up. The color scheme went in a much, much different direction than I had expected, but all in all I like how it turned out. In reflection, I do wish I had taken more time for this project and hadn't rushed it so much. I do believe it would be much cleaner and less messy than it is now if I had taken an extra day on it. Shading of shapes using both graphite and pen. The first picture also includes some notes on different ways to shade in pen and some spheres showing each style. The graphite ones are a little more boring and show normal shading of four different shapes.
This was actually surprisingly fun. Though the rest of the class got soda cans, our weirdly shaped bottle had curves and shines all over that were interesting to try and capture. I may not have done the best job, but nonetheless I enjoyed it more than I expected.
From colored pencil to chalk to watercolor, I've got an apple for that.
There aren't going to be any doctors anywhere near here any time soon, I can promise you that. Got apples for days.
This project was really, really fun to do. It started out as just a boring old street corner full of tall buildings going off into the distance, but when I realized just how bland that was and how bland dragons weren't, my daydreaming brain saved the day. Of the rest of my table, I didn't see anyone else doing anything similar to what I was, which made it seem even more unique since I had nobody to compare myself to. I think there may have been someone else drawing a dragon across the room, but I didn't get a chance to get a good look at it.
While drawing this, I struggled with getting a 3-D effect from the dragon's head in the very front, but when I deepened the darks and brought out the lighter colors in it's face, the problem was solved and (I think) it looks like it's popping right out at you. I'd also never drawn fire before, but i figured out how to make each lick of flame stand out with shading and they came out with a surreal-looking effect. I've always loved tossing things of the not-so-natural world into more natural situations in art pieces. Like one I did in Art 1 for example, I replaced all the people in a normal city with mythical creatures from minotaurs to cyclopses with pet gryphons. Dragons, however, are by far my favorite because they could look like anything you want. The 'typical' dragon looks nothing like the spike-covered ones I drew, but it's still clear they're dragons. Since they're just a piece of fiction, the creative liberty is unending and in turn very, very fun. |