Interim Reflection - Hero's Journey

Hero's Journey Intentions

My intentions for this project are to paint in watercolor a scene out of the heroes journey using the concept art style. Inspired by Transcendentalist thought of man awed by the glory of nature, I hope to show the literal journey of a person through nature. I have gathered images of mountains and forest scenes that I have been using as inspiration. I am compiling images of mountains now to get an idea of what I want the final product to look like. I am going to use cool colors like blues and grays to paint the mountains. I also want to have a contrast from light to dark and a clear path throughout the mountain pass. I will continue to do sketches and test out different color combinations for the next days. My final will be on water color paper in a vertical panel. 

Unexplored Territories - Interim Blog Post

Unexplored Territories - Statement of Purpose

For this project I hope to adress the theme by using maps and the lines in maps as my medium. After searching around for inspiration and reference photos, I found the artist Ed Fairburn, who uses maps as the canvas for his art. I liked his use of line and the detail in the faces that he drew. I hope to replicate his style in my own way using maps of California or the US. I plan to experiment with topographic maps as well, as those will provide more natural and curved lines to work with. The end result will look like a realistic face that works within the lines and countours of the map. I plan to work directly on the map possibly with pencil and paint. I am excited to see where this will go. (Preliminary ideas shown below)

First Week's Work - Unexplored Territories

I started by jotting down all the different ideas I had for this project. I tested a couple on a small scale, and narrowed down my choices. I sorted through some of the maps in the digital media lab, and found some of California, Chicago, Alaska, and France. I took tracing paper and tested out more of my ideas. I then went online to find a map of the US (shown below). I then experimented with line and negative space to get the second photo pictured. I'm not sure how I feel about it, because it is somewhat disatisfying. I printed it out and attempted to work with it more. Going forward I would like to recreate it in pen or ink and see where I can go from there.

Final Self Study Reflection

For inspiration for this project, I did what I typically do, and that is look up art I've saved previously on Pinterest. This offers me a wide basis of inspiration to work off of and often I like to emulate the ideas that I see. There weren't any specific artists that I looked at, however the project that we did to start off the year really helped me to find my end goal. If we hadn't worked with different materials and tried collaging, I might have taken a different route. In the beginning I did a lot of sketches and was unsure of what direction I wanted to take. These preliminary and less structured explorations of the self-portrait ended up being a large part of my final product.

In the beginning, to address the idea of a self-study, I did self-portraits, focusing mainly on certain features like my eyes or lips or hair. I never thought that the sketches would end up to be important, however as my intentions changed I found myself reverting back to earlier work I had done. I was able to explore my authentic voice as an artist by trying out many different mediums. And with the changing of mediums I found my intentions also changed. I was set on embroidering an image of myself. Unfortunately, once I got far enough, I realized what I really wanted to do was to accurately represent myself, and using the medium of thread, I couldn't fill that purpose. Maybe, subconsciously, I always knew that I liked the sketch that I drew very first day better? Luckily I gave myself enough time to allow myself the opportunity to change my medium and direction. In hindsight I wish I'd taken more time to define my purpose for the project, I also could have spent more time thinking about how difficult it would be to work with thread. I learned that I typically strive for accuracy and realism in my work, and that's something I can remember from now on. 

The critique at the end of the project was immensely helpful because I wasn't quite sure what my intentions were until other people defined them during the critique. Hearing people's responses and gathering their insights on my work made this project meaningful to me. I felt like I was having a real conversation between other people though my art. This connection through my work was gratifying and intriguing to me. The observations other people made helped me to see what other people see when they view my art. An example of this is how Audrey and Mr. O picked out themes of growing up and transition through the formal aspects and small details in the final collage. These are aspects that I hadn't considered, but had still consistently portrayed. This project was very meaningful to me because I was able to go through a process of editing and then starting completely over, instead of just settling. I learned what I like as an artist, and how unattached I can feel to work that I don't particularly like. 

I really enjoyed this project overall. Even though the end product was far from what I started at, I think it exemplifies how one person can be interpreted many ways is self-study.

Self Study Critique Notes

Statement of Purpose - Self Study

This work is a self study because I am attempting to capture my likeness in string and drawing. I plan to use embroidery string and graphite pencil and canvas (or paper) as my materials for this self study. I am confident using the pencil and canvas, as I have worked with both before. As for the string, I am not as comfortable with embroidery, there will be a lot of trial and error. It will help me to become more proficient with these materials, and it will be interesting to see how it turns out. The final portrait will be small scale and an unorthodox portrait style. It will be a single work and will include a variety colors, mainly pastel and dark reds. 

Emotion Collage Reflection

Look at the work or works you created last week. What is your initial response to the works? 

What emotional, conceptual, formal elements emerge as important in the final piece(s)?

How was working with limited time and materials helpful to you?

What in this quick introductory practice would you like to take into your regular creative practice?

My initial responses to the first work were confusion and anger. There is an element of suppression as well as rage, which are emotions that are far from my initial intentions. The collage does not portray the theme accurately. However I do enjoy the completed work on its own. I like the composition and the message it sends, even though it wasn't what the assignment asked for. Emotionally, I appreciate the bright colors and feeling of anxiety that is brought forth in the collage. Conceptually, I see how the hasty craftsmanship contributes to the portrayal. The composition as well as layering of paper of different opaqueness contributes to the formal elements. 

Working with limited time and material was helpful to me because it forced me to think more quickly and to look at the project more from an emotional standpoint.

I would take in the practice of thinking on my feet into my regular artistic process, to help generate ideas and think outside the box.

Year in Review

While reviewing my previous blog posts, I really enjoyed reading over the reflections I made about my early modernism painting. This was a very engaging project because I was fully immersed in emulating the work of a painting that I only had a strip of. I had fun trying to master the semi-abstract brushstrokes and making it up along the way. I really owned the process of mixing colors to get the right hue, it was also the first project of the year that I spent a tremendous amount of time on. I got used to the process of refinement and editing the painting again and again. I got lost along the way and forgot that I was trying to expand upon another person's work, and ended up creating a blend of the style of the original artist and of my own. 

I have grown the most in my reflection on my art. I have really learned to take a step back and attempt to see the places for improvement. I don't always fix the problems, but I acknowledge they are there. I feel most comfortable crafting the art, I am confident in my ability to bring artistic knowledge to any project (even ones outside of art class). I enjoy making art just for the sake of making art, for the sake of accurately representing a place, person, or feeling.

The most engaging project for me was the Artist Emulation project. I really enjoyed the sketchbook part of it, and emulating on a small scale. It reminded me of how much I like sketching. I learned that it's difficult to copy another persons style without a lot of practice, and somehow your personal style always influences it. I have more respect for people who forge famous paintings because it takes a lot of skill to precisely imitate someone else's ideas and style on canvas. Another one I enjoyed was the Biomimicry project. I didn't really have a plan of attack, but I spent a lot time looking for images of nature and for images in nature. I now have a better understanding for composition and shading. 

The most successful project to me was the mural, we really learned to cooperate with each other and we pulled it off in the end. The most frustrating project was the printmaking project because I couldn't come up with a subject for a long time, and after that I trouble with developing the print. I never really ended up with a final print. Mr. O is very accommodating to my needs and helped me to see where I could improve. I would allow for more variety in the beginning and not just focus it on the cameras. Maybe start with shorter drawing projects to get the year started. Overall it was a very fun year.

Artist Emulation - Sargent - Final

I received lots of informative feedback about my final project, even though I never felt done with it. I am, however, very proud of my emulation sketchbook that I compiled. I loved how the variety of sketches popped when placed with a black background, I loved placing in the pictures and quotes alongside my work. In the end I was very satisfied with the final product. Some feedback I recieved was that the noses on the faces were really good; one in particular stood out (the boxy face).

       As for the final painting, I heard lots of great comments about it. After seeing the progression of the painting, Franchesca noted that she liked the addition of the light and shadows to the portrait. She said that the fabric looked realistic and had a shine to it. Some critiques were the arm not looking attached to the body, and the lack of depth in the background. I agreed, and attempted to fix this by adding a leg and more shadow to the table. Over all I am very happy with how it turned out, and I will continue to work on this in the future. 

Illumination Reflection

Oranges, by Gary de Soto

"The first time I walked

With a girl, I was twelve, 

Cold, and weighted down

With two oranges in my jacket. 

December. Frost cracking 

Beneath my steps, my breath 

Before me, then gone...

I smiled,

Touched her shoulder, and led 

Her down the street, across

A used car lot"

I had read this poem, Oranges, by Gary de Soto, a while ago in middle school, and I always imagined it as a snowy setting in the 1950's. When translating that image into an etching I wanted to highlight the range of value from the bright lights to the darkness of the night. Originally, I had many, many ideas of how to show those intentions in my work. I decided on a somewhat literal interpretation with an old car dealership in the snow. I thought it had a lot of potential to be better than how it turned out. Unfortunately, when the plastic plate stopped printing I was unable to develop the drawing in the way I wanted. However I was able to literally illuminate my drawing by adding a backlight to the inked plate. Some comments that people pointed out were:

-Good contrast, light behind illumination 

-Texture is good, 3-D look with shadow 

-Mood with darkness is eerie 

-Etching around the light adds interest

-Can't tell it's an etching  

I agree with the comments and I was overall glad with the way it turned out. The etching medium allowed me to really add in detail and see the medium in a new light. I didn't enjoy etching as much as other mediums like pencil and paint because it is difficult to see the end result beforehand.