Work of Art that I am the most proud of

I am most proud of my still life painting for many reasons. First, I spent the most time on this project trying to get the right colors, texture, and shape to the objects in the painting. From the start I felt very motivated for this project to see how well I could depict the still life I chose to paint. It really taught me to take my time and focus on the quality of my work in order to get the best product possible. Also, I am very pleased with how it turned out, I had remembered what I needed to change and do differently from my practice paintings. For example, like making my highlights a shade of the color of the object, rather than white. All in all This work of art is by far my favorite piece that I have done this class because of the time, and effort that i put into it, and the outcome of the painting.

Final Watercolor Landscape

Purpose:

To use and demonstrate what you learned from the watercolor exercises you did in class to create your own landscape painting.

In this painting I used the technique involving tissues for the leafs of the palm trees, the salt technique for some rocks, tip only for the ocean, and gradation for the sky. The slat technique did not work as well as I would have liked because the color I did it on did not stand out much. The rest of the techniques worked as I wanted them to. The most important concepts I learned from the watercolor unit would have to be planning out the painting ahead of time, and layering the paint. These were very important in order to make no mistakes in the painting, because once a color is put down it cannot be painted over or fully removed.

Watercolor Excercises and Techniques

Purpose:

To experiment with a variety of watercolor techniques;

To make connections between experimenting with watercolor techniques learned to creating your own landscape watercolor.

In the watercolor I have learned more than I have in any other unit. Watercolor is very different from any other medium for many reasons. First, I learned that it is best to work from light to dark layering paint to create a darker color. Also I learned about the endless ways to tamper with the ways to use watercolor paint on paper, including using salt, tissue paper, and the different ways to layer paint. Finally, I learned to be careful when i am painting because with watercolors, you cant just cover up an are you put the wrong color.

Linear Perspective

Linear Perspective is a mathematical way of creating an illusion of space/distance on a flat surface

Horizontal Line - A horizontal line is drawn across the surface mostly represents where the sky meets the ground

Vanishing Point - A point where all parallel lines that go away from the viewer disappear to one point

Orthogonal Lines - Straight diagonal lines to connect points around the edges of a picture to create depth

Transversal Lines - Are perpendicular to orthogonal lines, parallel to horizontal line, form the close and far edges of a rectangle

One Point Perspective - Uses one vanish point to draw an object

Two Point Perspective - Uses two vanishing points to draw an object

You can show depth/perspective by the size of an object, and the shades, or light variation it has. Atmospherical/aerial perspective makes objects at a distance, (mountain in this case) have a tint more to what the atmosphere is (most of the time blue). Leonardo's rule is to paint the first object normal color, the next one back with a slightly blue tint, and get bluer as you go further back with more vague detail. At perspective, a circle is an ellipse which is formed within the confines of a rectangle. 

Perspective Drawing Strategy

Purpose:

To review the perspective strategies that you learned;

To make connections between what you learned and demonstrating your understanding by creating a drawing using one of the perspective strategies.

In this drawing I used one point perspective. I chose to have a road and a fence meet at the same vanishing point. I learned to always take looks at what I am doing before I draw the lines to ensure that I did not mess up any angles to make it look out of place. Lastly, I leaned that in order to use aerial perspective properly the objects/land marks the farthest back must be the horizon line, and objects in front of it must (start) be below the horizon line

Lino Prints

Purpose: 

To become familiar with basic printmaking history, processes, and artists

To make connections between the Expressionist Art Movement and artists who worked in that style, including artists from our past and present;

To respond visually to artists who work(ed) in the style of the Expressionist Art Movement, by creating a work of art in this style.

To print 2 editions of 2 different drawings/designs, demonstrating understanding of the printmaking process.

One problem that arose for me was an issue of having areas that were supposed to be positive space have a little bit of negative space because some ink had gotten into the area and printed onto the paper. The biggest Issue I had was an issue of getting enough ink on the block, and making a good enough transfer to paper. The last problem I struggled with was keeping the paper clean, but tht just took extra care to ensure it wouldn’t happen.

I am most proud of my ideas for the subject of the print, and the time I spent trying to get quality prints. I like my designs, especially the second one, because I used positive and negative space efficiently rather than lines to depict the objects. Also, I am pleased with the quality of my final prints which turned out very clean and defined.

Watercolor History

Purpose:

To become familiar with the history of watercolor;

To become familiar with various watercolor artists throughout time;

To make connections between watercolor purposes and techniques from long ago to its uses today.


On prehistoric cave paintings, temples, and tombs watercolor has been used since the beginning of painting. 
Albrecht Durer, he is from Germany, and mastered the watercolor techniques we know today. In his works he paints what he sees realistically, and does a great job capturing texture.
During the mid 1800’s watercolor was at its prime, and heavily appreciated by people. Also women looked into watercolor as a hobby partly because queen victoria took lessons and started a trend.
Partly because there are bio-friendly watercolor paints, another is that now the paintings can last longer than before. Water soluble oil paints are not coming to popularity.

alpine landscape, 1495

Frances Anne Hopkins, The Lumber Raft, 1870

She was an English artist who created works from the mid 1800’s to the early 1900’s, her family consisted of many famous artists.

Anthony Van Dyck, Landscape, 1632

He was a famous painter with success in Italy and England throughout his life.

Final Still-Life Painting

Purpose:

To communicate all of your knowledge about color and painting techniques to create a final, more complex, still-life painting (than your smaller still-life studies);

To use your knowledge about composition and placement to arrange your fruit and/or vegetable to create a strong composition.

Artists studied: Paul Gauguin, Vincent Van Gogh, and Paul Cézanne

I remembered to do all the things that I learned would make my painting better which I learned from my practice paintings. First, I spent my time choosing colors and making sure I had the right shades to depict the still life object I was drawing. Also, I remembered to dull down my highlights so that they are not just a white spot, but have a slight tint of the color of the object. Lastly, I made certain to add in multiple layers to my painting so that there are no see through holes/spots, and obvious bad looking brush marks.

First, I learned to be patient when I a painting. This helped because if I rushed the painting I could have messed up a color, and the the painting would look bad. Next, I learned to use the right size brush for the object I was painting. This may seem simple, however, I found that by using the biggest brush on the background really helped for the texture I wanted. Also, it helped just get some of my layers down before adding detail. Lastly, I learned to take frequent looks at the painting from a farther distance away. Doing this allowed me to see what looked good, and what needed to be changed which I couldn’t notice up close while painting.

Printmaking History, Processes, and Artists

Some forms of printmaking have been used for hundreds of years to replicate designs and copy images. For example, etching has been used in europe since the 1300's. From the 1800-1900's printmaking was mostly used for advertisements, books, and for newspapers. Printmaking has also been used for t-shirt designs and other clothing designs.


Wood
Woodblock printing uses positive and negative space to determine what the image is. The wood is usually carved or chiseled. The wood block can then be used to print its image onto other surfaces and materials such as fabric.

Fabric
In fabric printmaking there are many ways to transfer images to the fabric. One way is to use a woodblock as I've already explained. Another way is to take a roller with ink and a positive/negative space image and toll it over the fabric to transfer the image.

Metal
Etching has been used for hundreds of years to make images with metal. It is done by taking the surface of some metal, and putting a strong acid on it which will rot away unprotected parts of the metal leaving an etching when it is finished.

Stone
Lithographing allows an artist who doesn't use chisels or carving tools to make a piece of art on stone that can be transfered over to paper or other surfaces. It is done by painting the stone with an oil based greasy substance to whatever design is desired. Next the artist will wet the stone, in this case where he painted will not soak up the water, then he will add ink and press paper to the stone to copy his painting.

Art Movement: Expressionism

Purpose: 

• To make connections between the Expressionist Art Movement and artists who worked in that style, including artists from our past and present;
  
• To respond visually to artists who work(ed) in the style of the Expressionist Art Movement, by creating a work of art in this style.
  

Expressionism was made to express subjective emotions rather than objective realities. It began around the early 20th century mainly in Germany and Austria. In many cases artists were expressing how an event made them feel, in the case of Germany and Austria, artists were expressing how they felt about the war. Edvard Munch's work usually included emotions such as misery, sickness, and death. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was one of the leaders of Die Brucke, a group of Expressionist artists. Lastly, Franz Marc created some very moving works of Expressionist art but died young in WW1 at the age of 36

Comparing Edvard Munch and Siri Beckman I found that Siri is much more detailed than Edvard is in his artwork. Siri depicts her artwork as it would look with very detailed lines. Edvard depicts his artwork with less detail, but enough to tell what the work of art is easily. Also Siri tends to do more works of art to do with wildlife, as where Edvard has more of a focus on people.

J.P. Fisher

Edvard Munch, ...........

In the top image the artwork seems more defined and less scratchy than the artwork done by Edward Munch. However the top piece of work looks more like a work of art from a cartoon as where the bottom picture looks like it has more feeling to it.

   "German Expressionist Woodcut Prints." Pinterest. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.

   "Welcome - Siribeckman.info." Welcome - Siribeckman.info. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.

   "Collection Online | Browse By Movement | Expressionism - Guggenheim Museum." Collection Online | Browse By Movement | Expressionism - Guggenheim Museum. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2014

   The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (German Artist)."Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.

   "Marc, Franz." WebMuseum:. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.

   "Munch, Edvard." WebMuseum:. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.

Still-life Studies

Purpose: 

To use strong compositional skills to depict a fruit or vegetable 

To use knowledge of color and a variety of brush strokes to paint a still-life

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of what I remember from the last paintings is to make sure that I spend my time trying to get the right colors. Also, another helpful tip for myself is to do the background first so that way I don't have to worry about overlapping an important part of a fruit. Lastly, I want to remember to make sure that my highlights are not too bright and stand out less.

One thing that worked well for me was putting at least two layers on the canvas. This is because without the second layer there are many spots where white peeks out, and the brush marks are prominent in a bad way (in my opinion). Also, using a complementary color scheme worked out very well for me, I found that using the opposite color for blending usually created the color I needed.

Purpose:

To review the meaning of color;

To practice mixing color and exploring a variety of brushstrokes

What is a still-life?

Still-life is the drawing or painting of a non-living object, most often arranged on a shelf or a table. Still-life paintings and drawings have been created for thousands of years, as early as the ancient Greeks, and Romans. Artists will create this kind of art in order to express their status. In the 17th century still-life was limited mostly to religious works of art, containing some sort of symbolism. All in all, still-life has allowed artists to explore the inanimate objects of their world at the time, and express their status through the artwork.

Tahitian Landscape, Paul Guaguin

"Post Impressionism - The Roots of Modern Art." Post Impressionism. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar.

2014.

Purpose

To gain a basic understanding about the Post-Impressionism Art Movement and to identify Artists who work(ed) in this style.

This style of art was not very formal. This started from a few artists named, Paul Gauguin, Vincent Van Gogh, and Paul Cézanne, who rebelled against the limitations of impressionism. These artists developed more personal styles around the mid to late 1800’s catering around the emotional, structural, symbolic and spiritual elements which they believed were missing in impressionism. The art style they had developed shaped modern art for the next eighty years.

From this assignment I learned more on how to create a piece of art like this. It forced me to not focus on little aspects, but what I was drawing as a whole. It is not about detail, and exact colors. This work of art reflects how it was seen by the artist. Whether the artist is sad or happy would depend on the outcome of this type of work.

Half portrait drawing, sketchbook

Purpose:

To look closely at half of a portrait and complete the portrait by drawing similar features;

To practice drawing facial features: eyes, nose, and mouth

I overall enjoyed this assignment a lot because a regular pencil is my medium, and I enjoy drawing faces. By completing this assignment I learned how hard it can be to create one side of a face from the other. It involves more than just inverting the facial features. You have to also figure out the different shadow, or lightness of the other side of the face, while given one side to start with. All in all, this assignment opened my eyes to visualizing what I think is right, and then drawing it.

Color exploration-blue

Four interesting facts

• Blue is the #1 favorite on earth

• 53% of all flags contain blue

• In Belgium blue is for baby girls and pink is for baby boys

• Dark blue is the color of mourning in Korea

Realism, inspired drawing, sketchbook

Purpose:

To gain a basic understanding about the Realism Art Movement and to identify Artists who work(ed) in this style.

By doing this assignment I realized how hard and time consuming it is to draw realistic landscapes. The artist has to get the right color for each portion of the piece of art. Also he/she has to pay attention to very small details to make the work of art look right. One more specific thing I learned is how difficult it is to draw grassy meadows to make them look realistic, like you can actually see it blowing in the breeze.

Realistic self-portrait

First, my mouth was too close to my nose, and so I brought it down closer to my chin. Also, with my mouth one adjustment I was told to make was to make it narrower at the ends of it. Next, I had to bring down my hair line, and add more shape to the front of my hair too. Other than these three details, I only made very minor changes such as the shade of some areas and making sure everything looked right.

The first thing I learned is to take frequent looks farther away from the drawing so that I can see if I notice anything that I otherwise wouldn't see up close. Also I learned to focus more on the symmetry of my portrait, because I noticed in my other portrait my eyes were not very symmetrical. Next I noticed that I could improve on how I drew the mouth. I did this by adding shade to one side, and added more white to it overall, also I made the ends of my mouth thinner unlike in the first drawing.

Nose, mouth, eyes exercise

Purpose:

To demonstrate understanding of the structure for each feature: eyes, nose, & mouth:

To practice using black & white charcoal to render a drawing, using brown paper as the middle value