Spencer's Art Blog

Stuck Together Like Glue (Still Life Project)

2011-03-02T16:50:00.000-08:00

Shine On (Windows and Doors Project)

2011-03-02T16:49:00.000-08:00

Don't Look Back (Hero's Project)

2011-03-02T16:48:00.000-08:00

What if Oil Spills existed in Every Body of Water?

2011-03-02T16:46:00.000-08:00

End of Term Reflection

2011-03-02T08:17:00.000-08:00

PART 2:

How has this term gone for you?

This term has been a long bumpy road for me. I started this term as one of the least experienced artists in the classroom and feeling frustrated after every piece of art I finished. It was similar to having road rage on a highway with heavy traffic and moving at a slow pace. However, after time progressed, the road I was traveling on got smoother and the traffic began to flow better. My road rage disappeared and I kept moving forward. All through this term I kept on moving forward and did not stop moving!
2. What have you learned?
As an individual and as an artist, I learned key lessons not only that I could use in the art room, but also in the outside world. Patience. One of the important messages of life is to always have patience in any situation you are in. I remember one time in art class, we were standing up and had to draw our classmates in the type of posture they were in and count how many pencil lengths they were. After the first one, I looked around the room and compared my piece of art to my classmates. Anxiety took over my mind and I was completely stressed out over what I just created. This often happened a lot when I was assigned a project; like when thinking about a topic I wanted to draw or making a mistake and not being able to fix it. I never realized how much patience art includes, but I was lucky enough to utilize it in a relaxed environment.
3. How have you grown as an artist?
As an artist, I have grown a tremendous a lot. Even though, I did have the opportunity to take an art class last year, I did not have the same amount of challenge as I did this year. I now understand the rational behind time management and how important it is for an artist. When an artist is assigned a group of projects at once, it is important to make a schedule in your mind to know a certain amount of time you need to finish each project before the due date. Also, I have now become a more detailed artist. Before, when I created my own projects some of my artworks were very simple and unoriginal. However, now I am able to collaborate different pictures together and make it my own art piece, and incorporate previous lessons that we have learned in the past.
4. What do you think your biggest successes have been so far?
My biggest successes so far in Intermediate Drawing and Painting is my last project, the heros project. I was able to include a hero that I learned this year in my English class, Harriet Jacobs (a fugitive slave). In this particular project, I was able to include most of every thing that I have learned in my past art classes. Some of these incorporate, different types of shading, proportion, and emphasis. Even though I did use shading in this project, I also used it a lot in many of my other projects. Every time I used shading I improved more and more, and eventually was able to show specific detail within each of my shades.
5. What have been your biggest challenges?
After looking back at my art term, I would have to say my biggest challenges this term was any project or assignment that dealt with paint. I started off having a difficult time on how to hold the brush correctly in order to have fluent brush strokes. Whenever I put my brush on the paper, the paint would come off very dry and coarse, which would lead me to constantly having to soak my brush and get more paint. However, I eventually learned that you should always hold the tip of your brush and also if you use more water the paint will come out smoother. In addition, when painting I had a hard time mixing the correct colors in order find the exact color I was searching for. I need to be more careful when combining certain colors together, depending on if it is a light or dark color I am looking to make.
6. If you could, what advice would you give to yourself about the class at the start of the term?
If I could give myself any advice about the class at the start of the term is that frustration and agitation will get you no where. In my previous experiences (like I said before), I got frustrated very easily over my drawings which I thought did not exceed my expectations. The more a student gets a filled with anxiety, the worse they will succeed in the class. Like me, I may not have been the best artist in the class, but my lack of artistic skills did not get the best of me. I was not scared to question Mrs. Roberts of any advice or criticism that she had on my portraits and I carefully listened to the critical feedback she supplied for me.
7. Looking ahead, what do you need to consider and/or work on to continue to grow as an artist?
As an artist, I think I just need to keep on practicing in order to grow as an artist. Now since this term has ended I realized that I made a drastic improvement from the beginning of the term to the end and I do not want to lose that focus and determination. I want to thrive as an artist and not turn into the same person as I started as the beginning of the term. Whenever I have a chance now, I will grab a blank sheet of paper and just draw what I see and add some of the previous skills I learned this term in art class!
PART 3:
As a student in Intermediate Drawing and Painting, I am honored I had the opportunity to be put in an environment that made art exciting every day in the classroom. One word that wraps up my journey all through the beginning to the end of the term is challenge. I got put into a classroom with other students who had way more artistic skill than me and I did not even know it. However, I was no where near considered the "outcast" of the group; I was considered the "backbone" of the group. These students were able to push me and give me the drive I never thought I had in me. They may never thought they pushed me like they did, but when I looked around the classroom at all the amazing portraits, I thought to myself, "Why can't I do that?" I was never afraid to hear the superb advice or criticism Mrs. Roberts offered to give me and I never rejected her ideas. Nevertheless, that one question I asked to myself was answered one day. On the heros project, I incorporated different aspects of shading, proportion, and emphasis in my drawing. When I finished the assignment, I lifted my paper up and never felt so proud of myself in an art class before.

Heroism Project

2011-02-10T05:25:00.000-08:00

For my Heroes Project, I am going to draw Harriet Jacobs, a person who was able to successfully escape slavery. The concept behind my drawing is going to be able to try to prove to people of why and how Jacobs is a hero. The way I am going to do this is that I am going to draw a person (in particular Harriet Jacobs) running down a long pathway, in order to symbolize the long journey she had to overcome. While running, Jacobs face will be turned over her shoulder, with a blank expression to show how dramatic her experience was. Behind her will be a long, broken chain to represent that she was able to escape the horrible nightmare of slavery. Lastly, in front of the long road will be two roads that diverge into two different pathways, and on one of the roads there will be an exit sign that will say "Exit Freedom". Beyond the exit sign will be New York (which was one of the city's back then that was considered a Free State). The landscape on the side of the road will change from a rural scenery to a urban environment.

Still Life Project Blog Post

2011-01-31T10:49:00.000-08:00

In my Still Life, I will be using four objects that will relate to my family. The objects are duck tape, a glue stick, an eraser, and a pencil. Even though these objects do seem very simple, they do have a lot of meaning to them. The duck tape will connect to my father, who is the person in my family who we can trust that will never let us down and who we can always rely on. When using tape in other circumstances, people always trust that it is the source that can hold other things together, and that is exactly what my father has the ability to do. In addition, the glue stick that I will be using in the project associates with my mother. The meaning between the tape and the glue stick is pretty similar but also kind of different. My mother is the individual in the family who "sticks" us back together when we are having insane arguments or if one another is angry at each other. When using a glue stick, people tend to use it when something falls apart and its suppose to stick it back together. That is exactly what my mother does and she does it very successfully. Next, the eraser represents my sister. When ever I make a mistake, my sister is always the one to fix my fault. An eraser is meant to fix some ones faults on paper and they eventually go away. When ever my sister fixes my faults, I learn from my mistakes and am fortunate I am able to have her as my "eraser." Lastly, I am suppose to symbolize the pencil. Due to the fact I am taller than every other object in the Still Life, it represents attention which I enjoy very much in my family.

Windows and Doors

2011-01-20T05:21:00.000-08:00

My concept of this project is having a girl in the corner of an empty dark room, but with a window in the other corner portraying a little bit of lights. This particular drawing is suppose to portray the meaning of loneliness and hope. The girl sitting in the corner of a dark, scary room with the blank walls surrounding here, describes the girls loneliness. However, the addition with he window in the opposite corner, along with the small amount of light coming into the dark room, describes that there is still hope for the girl and presents a message for other people as well.

Hamlett Dobbins

2011-01-03T15:11:00.000-08:00

After looking at Hamlett Dobbins artwork, this piece of artwork caught my eye immediately. You could tell Dobbins used very tiny brush strokes, in order to make a circular figure, as if it goes on forever. This particular painting amazes me because it reminded me of a spinning wheel that does not stop. However I was very confused of the two larger images on the painting and what he was trying to portray. This artwork looks completely real and I now notice the time and effort it takes to be an artist.

I have two questions for Hamlett Dobbins:

In this specific painting, what is the significance of the two large images in the center of the painting?
When I was looking at your collaborative work, I noticed a lot of swear words on many of the pieces. What did they represent or why were they included in many pieces of your work?

Blindfold Drawings

2011-01-03T11:06:00.000-08:00

While I was using the blindfold when I was drawing, I felt very lost. I never had the experience of drawing a piece of artwork, without even seeing it. When my pencil first touched the paper, I did not know where I was and even what I was drawing. Even though the blindfold was affecting me of seeing the paper, it also was making it difficult me to express my thoughts onto the paper. It was difficult for me not seeing the image of what I was drawing, and only imagining the picture in my head. However, the blindfold did help me lessen the stress of when I draw. Usually when I draw reguarly, I am too worried about perfecting my work and making sure each little object is exactly how I want it. Yet, with the blindfold I was able to just draw, without having anxiety of the placement or how good each image looked on the paper. When I took the blindfold off, I knew the outcome was not going to be very good, with many scribbles all over the page and disfunctional objects. I had the opportunity to fix my drawing and improve my work of art of what I wanted it to be in the first place.

Critical Feedback

2010-12-13T10:39:00.000-08:00

Today during class, I was able to get very good feedback from my classmates on my current project. Some helpful comments they made on my project was that they agreed with the my idea on using different shades to contrast the dark oil spill and the color of the ocean. Also, they also liked my plan of showing how oil spills kill many animals in the ocean, which shows how we need to stop this natural disaster. However, my peers also gave me very helpful criticism as well. They suggested me to change my idea to a more creative concept. Instead of doing something very simple, I now am showing how oil spills are affecting our country, but in more of a expressive manner. The ideas that my classmates gave me was extremely useful, and will be very helpful during the process of my project.

Pictures of Oil Spill

2010-12-09T06:26:00.001-08:00

What if....?

2010-12-09T05:32:00.002-08:00

What if there was no air pollution?
What if environmental problems did not exist on our planet?
What if there were more oil spills and all the animals were killed in the ocean?

2010-12-09T05:32:00.001-08:00

Proportion and Perspective

2010-12-07T06:59:00.000-08:00

While making the two drawing from observation, yesterday and today, I had a quite a hard time throughout the process. Yesterday the objective was to draw what we saw from our own perspective from a bunch of different objects, such as chairs, bowls, and a large bulletin board. Today, we again had to draw from our own perspective by looking at different sized shapes on a large table. One of the things I felt was pretty easy for me was noticing when I made a mistake while drawing. For example, if I placed a certain object to far of where it was suppose to be, then I would erase and use my eyes to see of where would be the ideal place to put the object on my paper. However, I found a few challenges through the process. One was drawing all the objects unproportional to what I was actually looking at. One time I drew a chair very large and did not think of how looked proportioned to the other objects on the paper. Also, I had a hard time multi-tasking. When doing perspective drawing, a good drawer can always multi-task and look at what their drawing and their paper. However, I tended to just look at my paper and have the image in my brain, rather than having a better sense of what I was really drawing.

Marks Made Drawing

2010-12-02T06:57:00.000-08:00

When I first started this project I knew exactly what I wanted to do, a tornado. While looking through the unique cut-outs that my classmates cutout, my eyes zoomed in on one specific picture. It was a painting of a gray, spinning object that reminded me of a tornado. I then cut out a large piece of paper of black charcoal that resembled a dark sky. After cutting out bits and pieces of the black charcoal paper, my paper had overlapping shapes on the top. Under the sky, I attached the distinct portrait of what looked like a tornado, with "twirly" strokes of ink coming out from it. I decided it would be a good idea to put a base at the bottom of the paper, so I cut out little pieces of grass of what looked like it was crooked from the wind of the tornado. When I was finished with my project, I knew I could have done better. Some areas of my portrait was disorganized and hard to tell of what I was actually trying to portray. However, it was my first assignment and it is never to late to improve!

Reflecting at the end of the Course

2010-02-24T08:04:00.000-08:00

If I could connect my art experience to anything, I would relate it to a rehab center. However, in this rehab center it is calm and different from the other ones. Many people go to rehab centers to get cured for a certain disease, issue, or sometimes advice, but instead, I went to this rehab center (art class) in order for my art skills to get cured. At the beginning of the year, I did not know the basics of art and how to draw any type of figure. Sometimes getting help at other places can be very frustrating if you cannot do the right thing and that was the problem for me. I could not please my own self by drawing the perfect picture or drawing what was assigned to do. However, in a rehab center as people keep going for help and getting advice from others, they get better and turn into a different person. Each time when I went to art class, my skills increased and whenever a new project came around my motivation also grew. All my life in different art classes, my art teachers and classmates gave me comments like "You can do better next time" or "What is that", but at the end of this course the comments that they gave me were, "Wow that is good". I remember saying at the start of this year that art has never played a huge role in my life and that I have always been terrible at it, but now I can say the opposite. I see myself drawing whenever I have the chance to, whether it is in class or watching T.V. At the end of some ones experience at a rehab center, there goal is to restore into a normal life and that is what art did, it restored my energy in life by making me do something that I love!

I See The Light Drawing

2010-02-22T09:22:00.000-08:00

My goal in my light to dark drawing was to emphasize the girl who was looking up at the stars and to make the starts scattered and small. I also wanted to make the sky really dark to make the trees catch other attention so they would be to hide in the background. By using the light in the drawing, I decided not to color in the girl so she would be the only white figure in the picture, and make some of the trees VERY dark so it would represent that they are not able to be seen. Also I wanted to make the areas with starts around it bright so it means that, that area is brighter than the others. This idea came into my head by looking back at my peaceful past experiences when I was a little kid and that I miss very much. These moments are the ones that I wish I could continue but now I know when you are older you forget about the calming moments. I realized that when using different shades that I am able to portray different images in the picture and emphasize others.

Self Portrait as a Penguin

2010-02-22T09:03:00.000-08:00

The reason I chose a Little Blue Penguin is because i thought it fit my personality the best. The name of the penguin fits me best because I have always been little and also people have always acknowledged me as a penguin if I had to be an animal. The reason why I put the penguin on top of a sun is because many people would not think of seeing penguins in a hot region, and rather see them in cold weather, like Antarctica. However, I am the type of person who would rather be in hot weather and not be cold. I did not get to the part of using different textures upon the penguin, but if I had the chance to i would have tried to used a tool that would of let me make feathers all around the penguin and try to make then smooth but also bumpy!

Me-Scape: A Reductive Block Print

2010-02-22T05:48:00.000-08:00

This project was very difficult for me because I was not very coordinate by putting my block on the paper in the correct position. I think my process was not the best because should have been more patient and should have done a better picture that would have been easier and more orginial. My results for this project were not what the best because some ink ended up in different places at the incorrect places of the paper and made my picture very confusing. Also, the colors did not match the drawing, so I could have maybe mixed some of the inks to make the correct colors. Instead, i would have changed my picture to make it easier for me and, like what I said before mix the colors so the colors would others attention.

Thinking About the Use of Light in Art

2010-02-06T14:02:00.000-08:00

Every day and every place that I am at, some how light is their. However, their are certain and situations that light plays a big roll. In many conditions, people tend to use light to catch others attention or sometimes a small amount of light to emphasize something. I have seen many pieces of art that contains a small area of light from the corner of your eye, or other artworks where the art is surrounded by light and other objects. I remember when I went to a play and there was one huge spotlight on the main character and the other small characters were just in the background. This told me that the light was pointing out the importance of that one person and how she stood out from the rest of her crew. Another time where light played a large role was when I was looking at this random painting and there was this pathway that was lit up and then when you looked on from the path, you saw darkness. Many questions popped up in my head and it made me wonder what how light can be symbolic in a work of art. Then I knew that when an artist puts a cast of light it means that they are emphasizing a portion of their picture and the light is playing a major theme in their artwork.

I am Me!

2010-01-25T05:06:00.000-08:00

I think the strengths of my work of art is that it gets a message across of who I really am. I get to tell the most important aspects of my life, but in a piece of art. If someone I did not know very well would look at my artwork they would know that I come from an Austrian background, due to the red and white background, and would also realize I spend most of my time with my friends, family, and playing my favorite sports. While looking at my art, the parts of my story that come through the most is my heritage. I tried to make that part stand out the most because my Grandma was a very big believer of where she came from and always wanted to continue her proper Austrian ways. The artistic choices that allowed this to happen was that, since a orginial Ipod has color on it and people choose an Ipod that is their favorite color or that represents themselves, I decided to make the background of my Ipod the color of the Austrian flag. Those colors represent myself the best, since it is where my family came from and it is who I am.

Artist-in-Residence: Alexander DeMaria

2010-01-05T16:08:00.000-08:00

I chose to pick one of Alexander's newer art piece's called Collecting Honey. Immediatly when I saw this drawing it reminded me of a picture being in a children's picture book. It made me think of all kinds of crazy ideas that came to mind. For instance, if this picture were in a book, "Could the story be about a fox in a lonely desert and going to collect honey for him and his family?" When I look at artwork I love think of how the artist came up with this type of drawing and it leaves me pondering. This type of artwork fits in with his other newer pieces because many of them look like he was trying to draw his own utopia. However, this type of drawing does not fit it with the others as much since they are very complicated and "busy" within the painting. In Collecting Honey Alexander chose to draw a very basic drawing, but also have a very clever story line with it. If I have the opportunity to ask him a question I will either ask Mr. DeMaria, "What was he thinking at the time when he drew Collecting Honey?" or "Why are many more of his older drawings in color, while most of his newer sketches are in black and white?" I am very eager to hear the answers of DeMaria and what he has to say.

Reflecting on Self Portrait

2010-01-04T05:29:00.001-08:00

While discussing my work, I was able to share my self-portrait with my group and the progress that I have made throughout this term. They thought that my story was much better than it was on the first day I started and when I finish it they think it will come out very well. As for my work of art, my group could tell what story I was trying to tell by looking at all the tiny details that was showed on my self-portrait. The feedback that they gave me about my work up to this point was to cut out by drawing at the end so it could look more realistic. Also, they told me to make it more colorful so it could catch other peoples attention easier. The only thing I still need to do is connect my pictures with string on the headphones. Approximately, I need only either one or two more classes to finish this project to be done!

Why do people make art?

2009-12-01T18:10:00.000-08:00

When asked the question, "Why do people make art?", many thoughts come to my head. However, if I try to put myself in an artists shoes or anyone else who enjoys art, I think the reason that they enjoy making art is because it is another way for them to express themselves, rather then saying it out loud. There are many ways you can share your feeling or emotions, whether it being for poetry or a painting. Nevertheless, creating art is very different from writing or poetry. People could sketch a rainbow with a bright sun and that could represent a happy feeling but others could draw flowers dying in pot with a black sky surrounding it. There are many different ways people could share how they are feeling in just a simple drawing. For example, the drawing that is shown to the right with the two rhinos staring at each other with other objects in the background, makes me feel that the artist in this painting was feeling angry or crazy. Rhinos represent themselves as wild animals and also filled with anger, but also I would not know if the artist was trying to persuade the viewer if he was feeling a different emotion.

Reflecting On Four Hour Project

2009-11-30T08:51:00.000-08:00

I feel like this project was different from others that we have done in the past because instead of doing a project that we got assigned, however the class had the opportunity to create any assignment we wanted to do. We have been focusing on proportion and emphasis in all of our recent projects, but this time we could focus more on our work than what we have been learning. This impacted me because I was very excited to make my own self-portrait throughout the first term of art, and I finally had the opportunity to do it. I tried my very hardest, by looking in the mirror and seeing my skin tone and all other specific details on my body that I could relate to on my paper. During my process I had some "bumps in the road", but I overcame them and my final product turned out very good. Along the way, the difficult parts I experienced were that I mixed some paint with other colors, which led up to messing up my skin tone, as it turned red rather than a beige/tan color. Also, apart from painting and sketching out my self-portrait, I had a hard time cleaning up at the end of each class. I was so caught up in all my terrific work I done, that I sometimes forgot to clean the paintbrushes properly and wash the tables, as it led to a big mess at the end. I learn from my mistakes that after doing my work I have to clean my mess and not let others clean the mess that I caused. In conclusion, the final piece came out how I liked it to because all the colors from my skin tone to my hair was correct and all my hard work payed off. I made everything in proportion and attempted to make the drawing like you were seeing my face in real life. My favorite thing to do in art is to draw myself and I got to do that in a good amount of time, which I was very happy about! This was my favorite "short project" out of all the others we were assigned and I hope we have the opportunity to do the same thing next term!

The Book Project...progress and planning

2009-11-09T06:47:00.000-08:00

The original plans for The Book Project is that I am attempting to try tell a story of a chinese women who got slapped from the leader of her "group" and then left on her horse to start a new life. While she is on her journey, she goes through different towns, trying to find a place where she wants to settle. Finally, the women comes upon a trailer where a mother lives and they become very good friends. So far, the challenges that I have faced are that it is difficult for me to put all the "rules of balance" within each scene, such as proportion or emphasis. Also, the two pictures that I have chosen are hard to make story that is easy to understand, so I am trying to make the whole story very simple and basic. However, the part of the project that is going well is that even though my story is somewhat basic, it is also creative. I thought very hard on how to make a good story, and I think the outcome is going to turn out well.

Drawing the Human Figure from the Inside Out

2009-11-05T11:05:00.000-08:00

The goals for todays class drawings were to draw different classmates in the class, while they were in all kinds of positions that were difficult to draw. Ways that I achieved these goals were to start from the center of their body, the waist, and work my way down by drawing the legs and feet so I knew how long the body is. Then, I drew the top of the figure, stomach and head, so I balanced the sketch out, instead of drawing different parts of the body at different times. When it came to the finish drawing, it didn't look anything like the person, since I had to work very quickly, but also because I didn't focus on the little details that were involved in their posture or outfit. In some drawings, I didn't sketch out if their knees were above their head, or if a piece of clothing was hanging loose. Next time, I could focus more closely on the person while I draw, than my own paper, so I could get every little detail within my drawing!

Shades of Gray

2009-10-29T13:02:00.000-07:00

The goals of todays drawings were to first grab a piece of charcoal and spread the whole piece of white paper with the charcoal. Following, you had to grab a piece of paper towel and wipe it against the paper, so that the charcoal that was drawn on the paper turned lighter. Then, we looked at different figures arranged in a certain way and we erased to make the shape of each figure. For example, since there was a pot in the center of all the objects and erased in the center of the paper so that there was a good balance between everything. After erasing, we could use pencils or certain types of crayons to make the erase spots more detailed. However, after looking at the other students drawings I realized I could have done a better job through out the process. One example is that I could have looked more at all the figures and how were they arranged before going right into drawing because I didn't have enough room to add everything. Also, I should have noticed more of the colors and lighting because other objects were darker than others and some were transparent. Next time, I know to look more at all the figures and less at what I am drawing!

Studying Nighthawks

2009-10-26T15:20:00.000-07:00

1. -This painting is called Nighthawks

-The Artist is named Edward Hopper

- Hopper is from Nyack, New York

- The painting Nighthawks was made in 1942

- The medium that was used to make the work was oil on canvas

2. My first impressions of the painting was that I pictured a calm theme going on through the artist's head when he was drawing this picture. By the picture, it looks like a cafe that is on a lonely street with not many people in it. The cafe seems to look like it is in a city with the buildings behind it. When I first looked at it the thing that caught my attention is the inside of the cafe where the white is because it looks like thats where all the attention is and it is very bright compared to the other colors in the drawing.

3. Nighthawks shows people sitting down in a downtown diner in Greenwich Village at night. The painting can refer to the term 'night owl', which is used to explain "someone who stays up late." It is one of Edward Hopper famous paintings, as many people could acknowledge it in art today. He started painting this right after Pearl Harbor, as it was an event that had feelings have depression all around the world, just like the attitude in the painting. The painting includes three people lost in their own unknown thoughts.

4. The artist uses the principles of design in some ways. He contrasted the white in the diner with the other colors in the painting. The white really stands out from the other colors, since it is so bright and the other colors are dark and dull, which doesn't catch my attention ask easily. Also, Hopper shows asymmetry in his painting. There is no balance and if you cut a line through the middle, nothing would be even on either side of the painting. In addition, I think that the artist is grouping the guy in the black jacket, and trying to emphasize him . There are two people across from him that are in a conversation, and then a lonely guy who looks like an outsider and unhappy.

Balance

2009-10-26T07:01:00.000-07:00

Symmetric

Radial

Approximately symmetrical

Asymmetry

Reflecting on Found Object Sculptures

2009-10-20T17:28:00.000-07:00

After the process of hammering at all the objects I chose to work with of creating my "Found Object Sculpture", I looked at all the figures to see which stood out at me the most. I noticed that I had a red candle that was in the shape of a cylinder, which could be a head of a person. Also, after ripping up my flashlight inside was a spring which could work for a neck, eye, or hat, but I chose it for the neck. Then as I was building all my pieces together I noticed I had a women and the only thing I needed was hair, which my classmate found inside a tape recorder that looked similar to black curly hair. However, before making a women out of my objects I had a tough time of thinking of something that I could make from putting together "junk". I first started off with an alien, since my figure had two wires on top of its head, and big eyes that were alien-like. Then someone gave me the idea of a rain-deer, but that only lasted ten minutes since I didn't have all the materials that would work to make it look like a rain-deer. Then I finally decided to go down the easy path and not stress myself out, and make a women with different materials. Meanwhile, after looking at all my classmates sculptures, I realized that I could have been much more creative and spent more time thinking of what to make. If you look closely, the body of the women is a barbie dolls body, and instead I could have took time to "play" with different objects and see if I could put them together to make something that would look like a body. If I could do this project again, I first would bring in objects that could make my sculpture grab someone's attention more easier. I would of also created something completely different that would have made someone stare at it for a couple seconds and then realize what the sculpture really is.

The Principles of Design

2009-10-20T07:58:00.000-07:00

The Principles of Design- Help artists organize shapes, lines, forms, and colors communicative effectively.

Balance: is when the visual "weight" of an artwork feels equally distributed.

Symmetry- if you draw a line in the middle of shape it is the same on the right and the left

Approximately Symmetrical- Almost symmetry

Asymmetry- Opposite of symmetry

Radial- A line that you can draw in many places and it will be the same on either side

Emphasis: Putting a special focus on something or someone, when one element in an artwork appears to be more important or attract the most attention

Unity- is the feeling that all the elements in a work belong together

Variety- is achieved by introducing some differences into the picture to increase visual interest

Contrast- Something is very different when it is around it

Placement- Where artists place things matter, always thinks about things where go.

Grouping- When an artist decides to take a bunch of elements and put them right around the thing that they want to emphasize.

Rhythm and Movement: How the artist guides the viewer through a work of art

Repetition- The same elements, alternating elements, and with progression

Alternating Elements- Switch elements, like a pattern

Progression- A repeated element that changed in some way and gets a feeling of distance

Leading Lines- Lines that help you travel through the painting

Implied Movement- Makes like that it has been moving

Optical Movement-When there some kind of repetition going on and an allusion.

Actual Movement- When a piece of art can move without touching it

Proportion:The size relationship of the parts to one another or to the whole thing. (Colors,Shapes, and Forms are examples of proportion)

Shapes, Colors, and Forms- All to evoke emotion

Installation- An artist puts a lot of stuff in their work and talks about it

Reflecting At Mid-Term

2009-10-19T07:40:00.000-07:00

Through this term of art principles, I think I have made a huge improvement of not only my artistic ability, but also of my performance, process, and participation in the class. As an artist, the first thing I do now is to not pick up my pencil and draw, but rather to think of something that would make my sketch look amazing. When working on different projects I notice that I have become more creative and have a wider range of ideas and thoughts going through my head. I ask myself, "Can I make this drawing have more colors", or "What is it I have to do to this painting, to get someone's attention easier?". Meanwhile during class, when getting assigned a project I am able to follow the directions through the whole entire assignment. For example, when doing the project of creating lines into a story, I was able to make different lines into metaphors and then use them to make a story. As for my process in art, I am learning everyday about the tools more, and the basic concepts of the class. Lastly, I am participating more with my classmates and asking them questions based on what we are doing in class that day. I am not afraid to speak up and either ask a question or answer to my peers or teacher and have a better friendship with them! So far, I think I am doing well in Art Principles, but there are certain "places" where I can be better in and I am willing to take that challenge!

What's in the Sack?

2009-10-15T11:11:00.000-07:00

Today you made a drawing of bags filled with different materials.

In your own words, describe what the goals for today's drawing were.
How well did you achieve these goals? Give specific examples from your process and/or from the finished drawing. You might even describe what challenges you faced.

Today in class the goals were to draw from a scene of bags that were either over trash cans, or other items that were placed right in front of us and to visualize that if a person was looking at your drawing that they would be able to see all the lines in the bags crinkling and the figures in the right order, like I saw it. However, the challanges that I faced was that I didn't know if my objects were to big or to small, so I kept erasing and the final product turned out to be a big mess and a blob of black dirt. Meanwhile, I did work as hard as I could and if I had another chance to do this project I would of concentrated more on all of the figures and how they were arranged, instead of how I was drawing them on my paper

The Changing Still Life

2009-10-08T11:00:00.000-07:00

Today in class we had to look at different objects and draw them, but in a limited in amount of time. The teacher put all kinds of objects on a table and we had to look back and forth from the table to our paper, to make sure we were drawing the correct figures in the right order and if she added something new to the scene we were drawing from. Three things that I had to do to accomplish this goal was to work quickly, because if I didn't then I would of been far behind and could have missed an object in the drawing I was sketching. The second thing I had to do was concentrate, since I had to focus on the placement of each object and if they were overlapping or far apart from each other. The last thing I had to do in order to achieve this goal was to listen carefully to the teacher, since this particular activity had many instructions, and if I made a mistake during the process, I could have made a huge mistake and messed up the whole sketch.

The Potential of Found Objects

2009-10-06T09:13:00.000-07:00

The reason why the artists chose the objects they did to make a certain object is because they wanted to do challange themselves and do something different from making a painting that was in their head and rather finding different items within the world and see what they can form. The designs that people make by doing this particular project can come out very interesting and catch many peoples attention. In my opinion, when I always see different paintings in different places, I find them all the same. However, if people started to find objects and do something with them, like make a dog, or a person, etc, I would be more intrigued. So, in the objects that were shown before, those artists were determined to find random objects and put them together to form that figure.

Reflecting on my First Critique

2009-10-05T07:18:00.000-07:00

The positive feedback I got back from my story collage is that my group liked the story that was showed on my collage. The story caught their attention very easily and they really understood what was going on. Also, they also liked all the different colors and lines that surrounded the different pictures within my story. However, the critical feedback I got back was that I could have cut my pictures out more neatly because each picture was cut out not very proper, and I could have done a better job if I focused more. Otherwise, my group really liked my story and they didn't tell me any other critiques! It felt good to get feedback from my classmates because I know the critiques that I get, I will take in and do a better job the next time.

The Work of Ingrid Calame

2009-10-04T17:11:00.000-07:00

The work if Ingrid Calame does seem familiar because it looks similar to the painting we have been doing in class. For example, like the project on the pour painting, many of Calame's work looked very much like the images of the pour painting assignment. Ingrid Calame is an artist who does her paintings and designs by looking at stains or a clutter of things in the world. She isn't the type of artist who thinks of an image to paint and makes it perfect on a piece of paper. Instead, she goes out into the real world and looks for stains within the ground that catch her attention. If she sees something then she will sit down adjacent from the picture she is attracted to and trace it out, then bring it back to her office. After, Calame then colors in the traces she created with all different kinds of colored pencils. After starting, she creates a big picture full of all different colors that looks like a map, but really it is a huge painting of found images within the world. Calame makes her drawings thew ay they are because when she was a little girl she always wanted to draw maps of the world, and that she has the opportunity to go around and do something different, she chooses to do that. However, instead of making a real map, she makes a map of found images that she finds on her own and traces! The image that I have chosen got my attention really easily and I love all the colors. Also, you would never know that there are found images in this painting that Ingrid Calame created.

Activities Over the Past Week

2009-09-27T14:45:00.000-07:00

In class, over the past week and a half we have described a work of art with the postcards, collaborative drawings with the penguin, pour paintings, and mapped the still life. Meanwhile, the thing that all these activities have in common is that we had to either draw or create something, but we to base it off directions or something that was already created. For example, in all of these activities, we didn't have the option to draw a painting that we wanted to, but instead we had to draw something that was unintended to be. As in for describing a work of art with the postcard we had to follow the directions from someone else, without seeing a postcard. For the collaborative drawing with the penguin, we rotated around the room and kept on drawing from another persons, without knowing what their main idea of their art piece was suppose to be. For the pour paintings, my partner and I just mixed different paint together and dropped paint on a piece of paper to see what kind of figure would show up with us just splattering paint. Lastly, with the mapping the still life, we were able to draw something that was right in front of us, but we had to draw it as that a person knew where exactly everything was. In my opinion, I really liked all these activities and I thought that my art ability got better each day.

Re-visiting observation/description activity

2009-09-24T10:30:00.000-07:00

When I looked at the drawing that the person drew of the postcard I attempted to describe, it didn't turn out how I wished. However, the part that worked was that she drew small bushes in one row, on the left side of the paper. The part of the drawing that look like the actual postcard is the grass going in all different directions because since the postcard was a picture of a farm, there was a lot of grass, so she drew a lot of grass all over the page. The part that was missed in the drawing was the trees all around the farm and different size hills going off into the distance. I think they did not draw these objects because I described them to specifiaclly and it was to hard for her to draw these figures. The part I would do different next time if I was to do this activity would give less information on the directions on the drawing on my postcard, and go right to the point, so I can make it easy for the person who is drawing from my directions.

Re-visiting my pour painting

2009-09-23T05:12:00.000-07:00

The images that I observed in my pour painting were:

A tornado
A fish
A volcano
A mama bird spitting food out
A tree
A cloud
A river
Alien blood

Giving Up Control: Pours

2009-09-22T08:35:00.000-07:00

The process of creating paintings through pouring paint was that you pour a couple colors of watery paint on a piece of paper and then it will turn into large circles or blobs. Then, you take the paper and move it around, so the colors can ix together and form a shape or figure. After, you can grab a paint and see if you can make your original shape and se if you can make it more real. It felt better to give up some control over the shapes I created because I got to see how the watery paint turned out, by just pouring it on the paper, rather than using a paintbrush and creating my own drawing and knowing how my shape turns out.

Collaborative Drawing

2009-09-21T08:28:00.000-07:00

In the exercise in class today, I started with my drawing, which was two penguins in a marathon, just entering the finish line. Then I got up from my seat, and continued my other classmates drawings from what they started on. I first did a picture similar to a experience of Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy was spinning in the tornado in the air. Instead, a penguin was spinning in the tornado, and then I added different objects surrounding it, like an apple. Then, I came across a police chasing a penguin, and I added to the picture children tackling the penguin, as they were trying to stop it from getting away. Lastly, the last picture I had to add different designs was a picture of a penguin facing the opposite direction from a slug shell. The figures that I added was a head to the slug, rain coming down to make it have more pictures, and there was a pattern in the shell, which I added to make it a continuous pattern. Overall, I thought the exercise was very fun and I learned a lot from it!

Blog #1 by: Spencer C

2009-09-18T11:50:00.000-07:00

What makes someone an artist? (An artist is someone who...)
What does it mean to be creative? (To be creative is to...)
Describe at least 3 or 4 things an artist needs to be creative and productive. (An artist needs...)

An artist is someone who can not only draw or pain pictures extremely well, but has a creative mind. They can come up with many ideas if they were offered an assignment or write down a few ideas, and make a picture. Most artists just need either paint and a paintbrush, or a pencil and crayons, and still make a great sketch. To be creative is to have a wide range of ideas and thoughts, and not only make a drawing out of them, but a poem, or essay. People who are creative can go very far in life because they can use their skills of being imaginative with many different things and activities. In order to be creative and productive an artist needs a wide range of ideas to draw different pictures, materials so they could use them to sketch pictures, and lastly they need previous experience so that they know somewhat of being an artist and what to do.