This project had me in a major artist's block. I haven't done abstract projects very often, so this one definitely made me think. Originally, I was thinking about doing a collage that was just a bunch of tissue paper and miscellaneous objects I found in the art room. I didn't think about a meaning behind my work at all. Apparently, my brain thought a message would be good, since the collage ended up being a little bit deep. This actually made me like the work even more.
How do I reflect on my art? For a while at the beginning of this project I had absolutely zero idea what to do. I came up with a color scheme that I liked, and had to really work on planning what to add next. I often took different things like ribbon, feathers, and other objects over to my table and had to look at how they'd look on my artwork. Some things I really liked, like the cards and buttons, but others I decided not to use. I also had to look at the collage in different ways so that I could see different angles and compositions. In the end, I think it was worth it because I made something that I'm proud of. How did I develop art making skills? This is actually the first collage I've ever done, discounting elementary school ones with construction paper and glitter glue. I was really excited (and a bit apprehensive) to do abstract art, since almost everything I've done in high school art has been more concrete, I guess you could say. I learned a lot about how to make interesting compositions, and that you can't just throw some paper together and hope it looks good. It actually took a lot of thought. How did I convey a message? I didn't originally intend to have a message in this abstract artwork. I didn't even realize that abstract art could have deeper meaning. As I was making my collage it suddenly went from some blue tissue paper to a piece that had a theme about beauty. Not my original plan at all. The words I cut out from magazines such as "disaster", "blind", and "beauty" all make you really think. I guess what the message I see when I look at this piece is something about how society is very centered around beauty, and it can make other things seem less important. That being said, I also feel sort of calmed when I look at my artwork, because of all the cool colors and the way it is all tied together. I think that with abstract art the meaning is up to the viewer, everyone sees something different, and that is what I really enjoyed about this project.
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For this project we had to do a multi color print of a famous piece of architecture or one of the wonders of the world. I chose to do the Rome Colosseum because I've always thought it is a beautiful building, and it's such an important piece of history. How did I develop my art making skills? Before this project the only experience with printmaking was a very poorly done print of a tree. (you can see it in the Art 1 section of my blog for comparison) That project didn't turn out very well, so I was very hesitant going into this project, especially with multiple colors. I definitely surprised myself with this, as I'd somehow managed to make something I'm proud of. A few of my prints weren't very well lined up, but they mostly turned out okay. One thing I am still unhappy with is the details in the building itself. I wish I'd put more lines in the yellow section, since it looks sort of three dimensional and could definitely use more value. How did I create original art? The picture I referenced for this project was one I found on google images, and I thought it had an interesting composition. I knew from the start of the project that I wanted to alter the colors to make it more interesting and different from the real thing. I messed around a lot with the colors to see what would look good together, and ended up finding something I liked. I like the contrasting colors between the windows and the building, and how the yellow "stone" makes the purple windows really POP. How did I take risks? I think that for me personally, this whole project was sort of a risk. The print I made in Art 1 really left me feeling like I was terrible at printmaking, and that was only one color! When Ms.Rossi introduced this project I was definitely dreading it. I had serious artist's block, and took forever coming up with an idea. I ended up choosing one I wasn't totally comfortable with, but I think it paid off a lot in the long run. Another risk I took was attempting to add more details to the building. I would have been fine with simple, flat colors, but I knew I'd never get any better with that attitude. I'm glad I took some risk with this project, because I'm pretty proud of the turnout. For this project we were all given a famous artist that we had to research and paint a landscape in their style. I was given Mary Cassatt, an impressionist and chose to paint a landscape of a place I visited in Maine. How do I take risks? For this painting I had to use the style of an impressionist painter, which I had never done before. Using so many small brush strokes was different than how I'd usually paint, so it was really difficult at first. Another way I took risks was by adding a lot of color into my work. I had to add colors that weren't "typical", like purples in the water and pinks in the rocks. This was not something I've done before, so it was really interesting to see the outcome. How do I collaborate? As I was painting this, I had to ask other people for their input a lot. The people at my table gave a lot of encouraging comments on my work whenever I was frustrated, and they helped me see ways to improve the thing that was stumping me. The Art 4 students in our classroom also gave a lot of input on what they would do to make it better. This really helped me make my painting so successful. Also, my mom (who used to teach art) gave me some much needed constructive criticism when I took it home to work. All of these people and more helped me really bring my painting together. How do I reflect? I personally feel like this is one of the best things I've done in all of my art classes at AHS. I went into this with pretty low expectations, since I'd never painted anything like this before. I really love the way it turned out, and the way all of the colors in the water made it look like an impressionist painting. I feel like this could have been more like Mary Cassatt's work but it was hard to recreate her style with acrylics, since she primarily used pastels. Over all I am quite pleased with the final product, and will definitely benefit from this project later in my art making career. For this project we were given the task of making food out of clay. I had a few ideas, but ultimately chose to make some yummy cupcakes. It was much harder than i had anticipated, but I'm still very pleased with the result. How did I take risks with my art? One risk I took was glazing my final pieces instead of painting them with acrylic. It would have been much easier to paint them with acrylic not only because I'm familiar with this medium, but because glaze is much harder to picture the final with. The hard part about glaze was that the way it looks as you paint it on is completely different than the way it will look when it has been fired. If I'd used acrylic paint it would've been much easier to visualize the final product, but I went with glaze nonetheless. How did I create original art? I used many online sources to find inspiration for this project. I didn't have any pictures of cupcakes that I'd taken, and I was crunched for time, so I used google to find reference pictures. The compiled sources all gave me a different idea of what the cupcakes would be shaped like, and I used my own ideas to decide what they'd look like over all. I also used my own ideas when it came to glazing the cupcakes. I had an idea of what colors (or flavors, I suppose) I wanted to make my cupcakes, and I used those in my final product. I also came up with my own idea for how I wanted to present the cupcakes, in a muffin tin instead of just on a plate. How do I reflect on my art? There were multiple times during this project where I had to completely crush a cupcake and start from scratch. It can be pretty frustrating to think you have it just right, only to step back and see something totally different. Something I wish I had done differently is made the cupcakes more similar in size. They would have turned out more realistic if I'd made a set size for them instead of just eyeballing it. Even though I wasn't totally pleased with this aspect of the project, I'm still really proud of the way my cupcakes turned out. I love how cute and fun they look, and would definitely do this project again! For this next project we had to make food out of clay. I decided to make cupcakes, because they are super cute and delicious! Here I'll show you my in progress pictures as I made the clay cupcakes. For this project we looked at Georgia O'Keeffe's work. The main focus was to take a picture of nature up close and use that as inspiration for our art similar to the paintings of O'Keeffe. I chose a picture I took of an azalea flower and decided to work with watercolor. I Developed my Art Making Skills: At the start of this project I was completely fine with using colored pencils, something I'd done before. When we started to learn about watercolors and the different techniques I found that I really liked using them. I've never used watercolors for a big project before, so this was a new experience for me. The technique I used the most was definitely transparent layers. I had to be very patient to make sure that I didn't put too much water on the page at once and ruin the paper. I also had to make sure there wasn't too much pigment at the beginning of the process. The picture I chose had lots of water droplets on the flower petals, which made me very nervous because I've never had to draw water before. I practiced a lot in my sketchbook before drawing the droplets on my final, but I think they came out pretty well! I Reflect: During this project I often had to step back and evaluate my work. Working with watercolor meant lots and lots of layering, so I had to make sure that all of the pieces were coming together. About halfway through the painting, I didn't really like the way it was turning out so I had to take a moment to decide what I wanted to change. I added more and more value and shading to the flower and it began to look more like I wanted it to. I also had to plan a lot of the elements that were going into it beforehand. I sketched the flower multiple times before starting my final piece to get a feel for where more value was needed, composition, etc. Even during the final painting I had to pause and figure out where to go next. For example, before I painted the background I decided to make it less detailed than the flower itself so that the flower would stand out more. I think that all of the planning and reflecting that went into my work really made it turn out the way I wanted it to! I Collaborate: Many times while creating this painting I asked people around me for advice on what to add to my art. I asked some of the other Art 2 students who sat at my table so that I could get the opinion of some people who aren't afraid to tell me if it's not good. I also got some tips from the teacher and the Art 4 students in my class who gave a more experienced view on my work. I even took it home and received input from my mom, who used to be an art teacher. All of these outside opinions really helped me understand what what missing from my painting, and also made me feel really proud when I was told that it "looks good". |
SOME info for youAll of this is art from my second art class, which I took the first semester of my sophomore year in high school. This was the year that I realized, "Hey, maybe I'm actually sort of okay at this." After I took Art Two I had pretty much decided in my mind that I wanted to go further with art and explore my abilities. Archives
January 2016
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