Final Blog Post

This term as been quite a journey for me. I had never felt so inspired. I always thought drawing and painting did not come naturally for me and that I had to work really hard at it. I thought this art class was going to be look at the vase now draw it, now paint it. I was totally wrong. Every assignment we had was long and intricate. What I like about this class is its very free to adjust to everyones comfort levels in art. Every assignment turned out different and all the assignments had a meaningful point to them. There was no assignment that was just to draw a person. The assignment would be draw a person as a hero with some sort of meaning to yourself. One thing I did miss from Art Principles was the drop everything and draw day. I feel like I learned most on those days. All of the art projects I completed I was completely surprised by. With every project I struggled to come up with an idea. Some of the projects took me days. Looking back on all my completed art I can realized they every final piece is different from each other. No assignment was the same. I feel like I new know so much more about myself as an artist. I know that if I stick with an idea and give it more then 5 minutes before getting frustrated that I can actually come up with strong ideas.

Clean It up Project (Water cleaner)

For this project my idea was a little different then everyone else's. I felt that my project needed to have a strong point to it something that would make a difference. My idea really progressed through time. Over all I like my project. My favorite part is the background. My brother took that photo in Africa and when I formed my idea all I could think about was that photo. The photo is of the sewage line running next to a house and how gross it is. If I could change one thing it would probably be the tops to the objects. They look a bit funky. This was by far the hardest project for me. It took me I think over a week to figure out the project and I got really stressed about not being able to have an idea instantly.

Heros project

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For me I couldn't really find an idea for this project but I love how it turned out. I feel like I put so much work into the project and the message is very strong. If I could change one thing it would be that the people are not as strong as I wanted them to be and the trash pile is a little over powering. Overall I love how this project turned out.

Product Project

- Phrases with water

- good idea very strong

- Ironic

Mid- Term Reflection

So far in our art class we have worked on three major projects. The first project was the Nature project where we thought about a word that meant something to us and represented how we feel about nature. In my life I have a lot of nature. Nature is a big part in my life. For this project I chose the word simplicity but the finished project did not resemble simplicity. It showed complication which is exactly what I was going for. I am happy with the out come of this project I didn't want to leave it unfinished. I think the piece sends out the message I wanted it to. For this project I did a lot of background research to find pictures of landscapes and natural disasters. I also sketched and did not rush through this project at all seeing that I finished it only today. Overall I loved this assignment and found it very inspiring.

The second project. Or second project also had to do with nature but involved more creative thinking. We were supposed to think of a problem in the world that we cared about that has to do with landscape. My project took a lot of thought and different planning. I had many different ideas before i settled on the final idea. Lots of changes happened in my sketching before I was finished with the final idea. I did a lot of research for this project and found many helpful pictures for guides. I stepped a little outside my boundaries during this project and tried something new. I had never traced something with a projector which is what I used for the coffee cup. Also i drew the whole thing which is not something I normally do. I dont normally draw everything. I didn't trust myself when it came to drawing. This drawing was complex seeing that I had to draw a city which I had no practice doing. Overall, I am happy with where the project is right now and I want to keep working on it. I loved this project. This is my kind of a project. Has to do with nature and future and the earth and things I truly care about. I loved this project and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Our last project was the painting of the cleaning supplies. This was completely new for me! I dont think I have really ever painted before. And I love it. I was nervous at first. But I love the way the brush feels on the paper and how its not as tense as drawing it. And not so exact and you can go over lines. I would love to paint more. I think I chose a challenging position because their is one red item that is tipped over which is a challenge. Still I am very happy with how it is coming along and I would love to keep working on painting and learn more about it. I started the painting with a light watery color then moved onto deeper colors with more paint. Last weekend I wanted to paint in my grandmothers studio so I think painting is affecting me in a good way!

Blindfold Drawings

When you heard the directions what thoughts went through your head?

Right away I knew what I was going to draw. my quite spot. It was a place in my room where I could be quite and it was in a window in a comfortable space the relaxed me. This summer I took an art class and we had to do something very similar and that made me think of it so I was nom freaking out. Because I knew that I cant see so its not expected to be my best.

How did the blindfold help or hinder your ability to picture a place?

It helped me to think about this place because with my eyes closed I just thought about that place the whole time. And now about what It would look like.

How did you start to translate your thoughts into marks on the page?

I felt out the page to get a feel for how big the paper was and what I would be working with. Then I just let my hands flow with the pencil and my thoughts of what it used to look like.

How did the act of drawing blindfolded change if at all as time went on?

Overtime I felt more relaxed about it. I sure how it would come out. But then time felt longer and I wasn't sure how long it would be before time was up and I didn't know what else to add.

How do you feel about the outcome?

The outcome is a little messy but not to bad. It shows the curtains and I can tell what it is but I dont know if anyone else would be able to tell.

How is the resulting drawing similar or different to drawings you have made in the past?'

Well I dont think I have ever tried to draw my quite spot but I know this drawing means something to me. I dont know if I have ever made a drawing like this in the past though. But it wasn't exactly from imagination it was more from memory.

Reflecting at the End of the Course

Art has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. Everyone in my family is an artist. My mom works with ceramics and all the plates and cups and bowls in my house were made by her. My brother is a very serious photographer. My aunt designs business cards. My Grandmother makes paintings and collages, and my grandfather was an architect. And my cousins makes jewelry and drawings and paintings. So pretty much everyone in my family does some sort of art. I also have an extremely artsy house instead of spending money on expensive shoes my parents spend money on art. It makes them happy but I think someday soon my house will burst open with overload of art! Last year I chose to do art instead of theater. I spent the entire year working on designing fashion. I took a course two summers ago on fashion design and ever since I have had an interest in it. I am also really interested in collage. I have a wall in my room that I worked on for a long time and it is covered in a collage of fashion designs and pictures and other interesting things I found along the way. The wall is very overwhelming but it makes me happy when I look at it because its so detailed and it represents me. This class has helped my art and inspired me soooooo much! I feel that I learned so much and it wasn't soo strict on exactly what the assignment was we still had space to make it our own. Before this class I did not feel so confident in drawing but now because of all those drop everything and draw days I felt it got much better. Art has been my favorite class this year. I have felt I have worked so very hard in the class. I would come in to art an extra 1-2 hours a week during x-block or lunch so that I could spend extra time on my art. My art grade was important to me and I wanted to feel satisfied with my art. For me my favorite project we did was the found objects sculpture. I felt very inspired making my house and I could just keep adding to it and I loved the outcome of it! However the project I am most proud of is my self portrait. I spent so much time working on it and I had a little struggle in the begging but by the end I loved what I had created. I was sad to see the flower had broken but we still have a picture of it so its okay! This class was a good get away from other classes I was always happen when I walked into the open room. I also made so many friends from this class it ended up really helping me! I see art playing a big role in the rest of my life. I know that when I am older my house will be artsy. I also want to keep taking as many art classes as I can next year and the rest of my life so that I can get better. I truly loved this class and I think I have never had such an organized art class in my life. It was just a great experience for me! It made me feel very inspired with the variety of work we were doing! I also think drop everything and draw days were very creative and a good way for a break and to learn. If we really think about it we probably learned so much from those days (even though some of them made us hyper) I dont think that I can answer the question how does it end? because it does not end. I dont want it to I want to keep doing art and keep being inspired!

Self Portrait as a Ostritch

When we started this project I was stuck by choosing between animals. I knew my animal had to be something that could run and was tall and had characteristics like mine. I realized I picked that hardest animal to make out of clay. I picked an Ostritch because it can run and its tall. Making the animal took alot of time and was definitely a challenge. At first I was a little stuck because the clay was being difficult and I was having problems making the legs and neck. The hardest part for me was picking a place to be in. If i could go back I would change the place. I put myself in a city because I love the city and the marathon takes place in the city. But if I could change it I would put myself in an airport. I would be there because I love the airport I think its so much fun and I love to travel. Also I think its interesting that this one place can take you so many places. And you can get on a plane in Boston and get off somewhere totally different with a totally different culture. I love traveling and I think that an airport is kind of a magical place that opens new dreams and ideas!

I See The Light Drawing

For me this project was a little challenging. I know that I got a late start since I was in Germany but I came home and got to work. I wanted mine to end up alittle creepy. I had quite some time to think about this project because when I toured last year they were working on this project. So I have known that it was coming for awhile. I thought I was going to do a sunset for awhile until I wanted it to be alittle creepy. So I thought that if it was in the woods it could be creepy. I wanted it to be night time and a car going down a dark road in the woods. I dont think mine exactly portrays what I wanted it to portray. It dosnt really look like its dark at night. I was thinking about putting a runner in the road but I didn't really think it would work out. I worked pretty hard on this drawing and I dont think its my best but I dont hate how it turned out.

M- Scape: A Reductive Block Print

We were told that we were going to make a print and it would be the hardest project we had done yet. We were also told that we would all most likely make a mistake. I went into this project now worried because I have done print making at camp before. As soon as I found an image that I liked I printed it and started. I think that picking the colors was sort of hard because I did not choose them before. I also messed up pretty bad by carving a part out before I printed with it. So i had to carve deeper so that I could have that color. I struggled a little during the project to fix it but Mr. Books helped me and i ended up getting two nice prints. The other ones were a little to off centered to work out. Anyways I am now happy with how the prints turned out!

I am a Friend, and a Student

When I look at my finished piece of art I smile, and feel success. I know that I put many hard working hours into this project including at least two extended lunch periods. The finished product is different then I had planned it would be. I realized I am much happier with he finished product then I had planned to finish it in the begging. During the project I kept adding parts or seeing what looked right. I definitely took advice from others especially Ms. Robert's and Mr. Brooks. I am most proud of the face that i drew and the flower that I made in her hair. The flower was made out of pencil shavings. I never believed that I could draw, but when I worked on this project I knew what I wanted to draw and I am happy at how it turned out. I think that the project tells that when I walk in the room I have this story about my life so far. I think that it also shows that I have alot of ideas in my head. I wanted the art to come off as it also shows me as an artsy funky person. I like how the pictures I used for my family stands out of the paper because they are in black and white. I think the main idea when looking at this art is showing that it is a story that I am trying to tell and that it has an artsy feel to it.

Reflecting on Self Portrait progress

Today in class we talked in our groups about each of our projects. I got some helpful feed back on what i need to fix in my project. I had not thought about the background of my piece yet and my group helped me realize that. They gave me ideas of making my portrait stand out more then it was. I am pretty far along with my portrait but still need to work on putting color into it. I liked everyone else's ideas on there portraits as well. Some were way more creative then I could have thought of. When I explained my portrait I explained all of the parts in the book in the thought bubble. I think that I will still need at least three more classes to work on my project. But it is coming along and I am very proud of it!!

Reflecting on Four Hour project

For this assignment we were assigned to basically think of a project that we wanted to do and we have 4 hours to complete it. Right away I new what I was going to do. I am very interested in fashion (fashion design, fashion photography, modeling) So right away I new i wanted to make fashion designs. I have taken some classes on fashion design before and last year I did a whole project on it. Right away i opened my sketch book and started sketching out the designs. My fashion designs are not meant for people to really wear. They are more meant for an art show or the be worn on the runway. After i made four fashion designs i knew i needed to think of a way to put them together. Like paste them on paper. So i got a a piece of black paper and put the designs on it and then put on pieces from fashion magazines. This project was very different from all the others because it was very independent. We had the option to do something like drawing to making a sculpture. This project was very laid back. I liked that the final project was whatever we wanted it to be.

The Book Project....progress and planning

My original plan for this book was a story about a guy who was asleep and missed a bomb threat that caused everyone to leave the palace. He then wakes up wondering where everyone is. The story ends with the mans son running back to the place to try to save his father. So far I have only done the sketches for this because I was out sick for so long. I think that the story I made up is still an interesting and intriguing story.

Shades of Gray

Today in art we worked with different char coals and whites we started off with making the paper a shade of gray from the char coal. We then had to add in a few items that were on the table. Our task was to have five shades of gray in our art. I liked this assignment because it was fun to have different colors and actually draw some still life. Something i could have done better is add the towel i decided to leave it out of my art because it looked really bad when i put it in. But overall i really liked this assignment.

Reflecting on Found Object Sculptures

Over the past few weeks we worked hard on building sculptures out of objects that we brought it. To start this project we took our objects and destroyed the larger of them. I brought in a laptop to destroy. Destroying the laptop was much harder then I had expected. After i had destroyed the laptop i took the pieces and looked at them for awhile. Right away the idea of a house popped into my mind. I had this idea because I had four larger pieces that could be walls. Right away i got to work putting the base of the house down. After the house i made a wall out of a jean skirt. Then i started decorating the house. I took some outdoor materials to use as trees. Then i made a garden out of beads. After i started to decorate the inside of the house making sure not to miss details. I then had extra time so i added a garage and and a car. Overall i was very happy with the way the house turned out. If i had had much more time i probably would have used a different material then hot glue so that the project wouldn't end up with a bunch of stings everywhere. In our class discussion we got a chance to look at the other sculptures. This was intersitng to see everyone else's creative ideas.

Reflecting at mid-term

So far in art class this year i feel like i have improved my art skills very much. So far the main part of what we have been learning is to be open minded, work on the process, and sometimes not even care about how the art looks. I feel like some things i have improved on is being less strict on my art. If I messed up I could look at it and then just make the mistake a part of the art. I feel that i need to work on planning out my art in my sketch book. In the begging of the term we talked about what it means to be an artist and to be creative. After talking about it and hearing everyones idea i learned that an artist can be many things and is not just someone who is amazing at art. Some of our projects involve partners and some involve switching your art with someone else. Those are the projects that teach us to step outside the lines and be more open with our art. On Thursdays we have a drop everything and draw day. Lately Thursday's have been hard and frustrating for people because the task is very complex and involves a lot of flexibility. Now that is is half way through the term we are supposed to grade ourselves. I think that i am pretty much very attentive in class but i should work a bit more on being open minded and contributing to the class discussion. My favorite assignment so far was the sculpture project. I loved the process and how we took a lot of time to make this. I was also very proud with my result. A more challenging assignment was the penguin one. We were not sure what was going to happen with the project but it ended up that we had to switch art with other people. Over all i have been very happy in my art principles class and I hope that the rest of the term and the next term goes as well as the first.

What's in the sack?

Today in art we were supposed to draw a set up of bags filled with things that we didn't know. We were given paper an eraser and char coal. We were supposed to start the project generally and get more specific. This task was very hard especially the getting specific part because its hard when all u have is char coal. One of the hardest parts for me was when I was drawing the cardboard box. The box didn't exactly come out how i had planned. I realized my box didn't exactly have the right shape. Also its very hard to erase char coal because its so dark. We also were not supposed to look at our art as much as the set up. And also we were not given a whole lot of time to complete this task.

Still Life

Today in art class we had to draw with charcoal and then we had to take out some of the things and add more. This task was very hard because quickly things changed. Also we were told not to look at our drawing to much and not to care about how it looked. I think this may have been a scary thought for some of us. Somethings we had to work on to try to keep up with this was to quickly erase, quickly sketch, and most of all pay attention to what was changing in the still life. Another part to this that was hard was that erasing coal is not the easiest task. By the end our drawings had all sorts of eraser lines. We started off with one small plate then lots and lots of objects were added. By the end on the only thing that was still on the table was one small flower.

my first art crtique

Today in art class we critiqued other peoples are story's. I was told that my story was filled with alot of color and had an interesting story. Getting critique was really very helpful. I almost wish that i had gotten the critique when i was working on the project so i would know what to change and make better.