Principles of Design

The work of art I looked at with my partner was called "Dempsey & Firpo." by George Bellows. It depicted one boxer knocking another out of the ring. There was Emphasis on the boxers because there was light on them and they were in the middle of the ring. The picture's balance was asymmetrical and movement was implied. It was clearly shown in the punch thrown and the boxer falling. There was proportion on the picture, because audience members were at different distances. All the people were grouped together, and the light shone in a way to contrast the boxers from the audience members.

Fabric Drawings

This exercise started out difficult for me. It required us to make vague shapes which we would gradually transform into fabric. I guess the concept of vague shapes didn't compute with me while drawing fabric, because of all of the intricate folds. It was different than drawing the sticks, because rather than adding clarity to a mess, we had to use shading to make folds out. Rather than shading specific parts, it was more comfortable for me to shade all of the cloth and use an eraser point to make the drawing appear to have shadows. Overall, the end-product was good, but unfinished.

Found Object Sculpture Reflection Discussions

I didn't get much feedback on my projects, mostly because they were supposedly perfect and had nothing to improve. The only feedback I got was, "That's cool." My group members both had cool projects, but Sammy and Mandy's Sailboat was especially cool because of the moving aspect of the project, involving the gears of a stereo. My group's discussion didn't do much as far as improving my current work, but did however give me ideas for projects in the future.

Sculpture Reflection

The idea of this project is not to have an idea and find materials that work, but to get inspiration from the objects you are given. John and I had a big box of technology and random objects, and we were told to look for objects that looked like something, objects provocative of ideas. There was a piece of a scanner in the box that one of us said looked like a gun. I took this scanner, and hot glued a phone battery case to the bottom, a piece of a hanger to the middle, and something that looked like a trigger in between. It came out looking exactly like a gun.

Extended Pour Painting

For my extended pour painting, I took the element of drip-painting from my original pour painting. I used this concept to create a log, with brown paint. I went over the drips with further diluted paint, so as to preserve the lines made by the dripping. It was a fun project, but the log alone seemed plain. Over that log, I stuck on non-dry clay to make a hatchet, and covered the head with aluminum foil. The end-product was mostly good, expect for the yellowish oil that seeped through the paper directly around the non-dry clay.

Stick Drawings

Today's assignment was to put aside our perfectionist sides, and start out scribbling. We had to draw a pile of sticks, and add shape to the mess. My endproduct felt good, because the process took so much revision. The middle, where the sticks crossed, comprised of probably about 500 layers of graphite. On the outside, I drew sticks that were realistic, eventually shaping the entire clump in the center into a realistic-esque scene.

Found Photos Collage

Title: God Bless America

This was an interesting project. I came back to art class/school from having a bad but brief case of mononucleosis, only to be told that I should make an image with photos that I found looking through magazines. I was immediately drawn to a section in a magazine about a multiple-statewide flea market. The photos taken were colorful collections of toys, clothes, and guns. I liked several of the photos, so I cut them out. The image of all of the mint-condition toy cars was particularly colorful, so a picture was taken on a digital camera and printed out. Once that was out, I layered the original image in the corner of the larger print-out, and another bright collection of toys in the other corner. In contrast, I cut out an assortment of rifles out from another collection, and had them strewn across the bottom. In the center, a cutout of the back of two babies sitting down, with an action speech bubble from one baby, saying "YES!" I'd say that this image represents children in America, growing up in a land of luxury, toys, and violence.

The Changing Still Life

What our class did today was definitely not the most fun exercise we've done. We were crowded around a blue box, with easels in front of us, armed with charcoal and pieces of eraser. The box started out with just a jar on top of it. Simple goal: draw what you see, from your perspective. This seemed easy, until things started being added. We had to start erasing, which doesn't turn out well with charcoal. Things were added, then taken away, and we had to keep up with what was going on. The only real-life scenario I can pair this activity with is one of those people who draws defendants in courtrooms, since photos can't be taken. The end product was messy and sloppy on everyone's part, even though we have a class full of meticulous detail-artists. This shows how challenging the test presented to us really was.