Book Carving

I developed the design for my book carving by thinking of something that wouldn't be too difficult to carve but still look good as a carving. In the end I chose and asteroid because it required simple shapes and had enough layers to fulfill the desired look for a carving and the project requirements. It was very important to have a clear plan before starting because it can be very difficult to un-carve something. You need to know how big your carving is going to be, where exactly the layers are going to be, and how deep the layers are going to go before you start. Some challenges I faced during this project were mainly carving related, it could get difficult in some areas to be accurate enough to look good. I overcame them by concentrating and almost getting carpal tunnel, easy enough. The design is of an asteroid/comet flying through space with a fire trail behind it. It provided a cool looking design and enough layers. I didn't really take any risks with the project and I think it was successful. I like the way the carvings look even without color. Overall I felt it was a difficult yet rewarding project to end the year, and I enjoyed it.

Mixed Media

I tried to show amusement in this project by picking an activity that amuses people. Either playing or spectating golf can be considered a form of amusement so that fit the bill. I don't know how much variety I showed in the piece because all it is is a club about to hit a ball off of a tee . After I chose my subject it wasn't difficult unifying the piece because it's just one golf based piece. My experience using mixed media was good and no too difficult. I chose to do pen and ink and colored pencil as the different types of media for my piece. Visual journaling helps you to expand what you think you can imaginitavely do on different pieces. Especially with mixed media giving you a wide variety of styles to choose from. I faced the minor challenge of drawing the different objects in the piece correctly and getting the different medias to go together well enough. In the end it worked out without to much difficulty and the project was completed to my satisfaction.

Portrait

I chose to do a portrait of myself because I thought it would be easy and I could just get.a picture of me from my parents. While I was brainstorming I found it difficult to decide what to use for my project, I thought I had decided on one material and changed my mind, then I chose a different material but decided against it. I finally chose to do my project in bubble wrap because it's a non conventional material to use and easy to paint. I think my material choice adds a lot of depth and texture to my project because of the bubbles. The paint is not only on top of the bubbles but runs in the cracks which act as a natural shading device. I found the use of bubble wrap really brought my piece together and made it look good. I don't think choosing bubble wrap was risky because it's flat and adds texture, the only concern I had with the material was that the paint would not appear good. The only challenges I faced we're getting the colors to look right on the bubble wrap, I had to add gray or black to areas already painted to get the right look. I think my choices came together in the end to make the piece look really good and unique. My choice of materials was not influenced by my portrait I only chose bubble wrap because I was stumped with my other materials and I looked at the wrap and a lightbulb came on. 

Sticky Situation

I developed my ideas for this project by thinking about what would be considered a sticky situation but also be outside of the box some, something not literally sticky. I tried to think outside of the box some and do something a little different under the definition of a sticky situation. I accomplished some repetition in my painting with the trees in the background but that was all, I could've added more repetition. I chose to use acrylic and it was easy to paint the large areas like the sky and ice but didn't work so well for more detailed painting, I had to modify my idea for the painting because acrylic wouldn't allow me to be detailed enough. I learned that I should add more repetition I the future and try to paint with something other that acrylic for more detail or make a design that doesn't require very detailed work.

Up Close and Personal

I developed my ideas for this project by thinking about what can be drawn up close and personal and what would look good. I chose the ladybug on the blade of grass because it fit the theme and i thought it would look cool. I tried to emphasize colors in the art work by making the ladybug a bright red and saturating the blades of grass. Then i put it all against a light blue background. I chose to use oil pastel because it looks good, it's easier than colored pencil, and I hate chalk pastel. I tried to take a risk by using oil pastel because i had never used it before in an art project. I used technique, concept, and medium in my project.

What's the Point?

 1. What where some of your solutions to What’s the Point? Different drawings with pencils and mountains.

2. Which solution did you chose and why? I chose to draw five pencils in order of height, with the pencil in the middle broken.

3. How did you show contrast in your work? I added shading on each of the pencils

4. What medium did you decide to use? Why did you choose this medium over the others? I chose pen and ink as my medium because it was the easiest to use and made the most sense for my drawing.

5. What techniques did you use to create this work? I used lines for shading

We encourage risk taking in art. Risk taking can be as simple as trying a new technique or learning about a new medium to as complex as trying something totally new.

6. Did you take any risks with this project? I dont think I took any risks, I just drew what I was comfortable with

7. What message are you conveying? How are you convey this message through the use of your images or use of art elements or principles? I don't really know what message I'm trying to convey. I just took the topic and drew what came to mind.   

Pastel Still Life

I planned my composition in a way that would show all three bottles but still focus on one in the middle. This would include all of the bottles in the composition but maintain a focus on just one bottle. A thumbnail sketch is a quick sketch that the artist does to plan out how he is going to arrange his props in the composition. A thumbnail sketch is small and brief only for planning. The viewfinder helped me find the best way to show all of the props at once without making the final drawing too small or too big. I made my items appear three dimensional by making some areas on the bottle darker than others, adding light streaks and zones, and adding shadows on the final composition. I created a light source by bringing in the light from one side of the Still Life. This allows all of the bottles to have light on the same side and int he same areas and have similar shadows coming off of them.