Acrylic Black and White

This painting is a portrait of my older sister. The painting is separated between two canvases vertically. I am most proud of the lips on this piece because I accomplished my goal of drawing the most attention to them. I really enjoyed painting this piece in black and white. Even through to simple colors I was able to achieve many shades of gray to create value. I decided to add a black back drop behind her face to increase the contrast between her face and the background, eliminating any background that may distract from her face. I struggled with the proportions between the two canvases. I originally painted each canvas separately and when I put them together, I realized that the top half of the piece was larger than the bottom canvas. To fix this is simply slightly widened the mouth and the right side of her face. Thankfully acrylic paint is very forgiving. Overall I am very happy with this piece and learned that I really enjoy painting portraits.

Wedding Photo Transfer

This project is a mother's day/birthday present for my mom. The theme of this project is her second wedding to my step-father. I also added one picture with my younger brother in the top left corner so he wouldn't feel left out since he had not been born when the wedding occurred. I first did a photo transfer on each of the canvases of each picture. Then on all but the one canvas that is not from the wedding, I painted over the cloths. I placed extra emphasis on my mom's wedding dress by adding depth to each picture from adding different colors. Let me explain. The primary color in each dress is blue. The top middle picture with green darks to and white depth. The top right picture uses a deep purple for the darks and white for the highlights. The bottom right picture uses red for the darks and white for the highlights. The the bottom left picture uses blue as the darks and then pink for the highlights. I am still going to add more painting on the top left photo.

Acrylic Reflection

The assignment on this piece was to create a reflection. My family and I recently got a golden doodle puppy so I wanted make a piece centered around my puppy. Starting this piece, I first had to photoshop the picture. I reflected and distorted the image of my puppy so the reflection on the hardwood floor was more significant. I started from the background to the foreground. Painting the reflection, I watered down the acrylic paint and painted the reflection. I was very happy with the way this piece turned out. If I were to do it again though, I would more they eye further up and left.

Oil Landscape

This picture is an oil painting; the picture on the left is the actual picture taken and the picture on the right is the painting. While I was in Kansas, I went on a run around my grandpa's farm and came across rows of hay bales. The picture was taken in between two rows of these hay bales and is focused on several twigs sprouting from the ground. This painting was my first time using oil paints so the entire experience was new to me. It took a while to adjust to the transition from my normal acrylic paints because oil paints take forever to dry. I was constantly having to fix smudges. To begin with the painting, I took red acrylic paint, watered it down, and painted a thin wash over the background. Throughout the painting you are able to see areas where I left the red wash visible to bring attention to areas. The front left hay bale is the area where I left the most red to show through. I was happiest with the right row of hay bales because I was able to add all of the colors I wanted while still being able to add highlights with in the darks and lights. Also, while comparing the original picture and painting, I like how I added a stronger highlight on the front right hay bale. If I were to do this project again, I would lighten the sky to be more white than blue; because of the bright light blue sky, the entire painting has a cartoon effect that I did not want. My original plan was to paint the twigs in the foreground with great detail and many bright colors. Though when I added any green, blue, purple, or dark brown, the twigs were brought back into the middle ground. I ended up with simply painting the twigs with little detail and mainly white and yellow ochre. One of the things that I learned while using oil paints that differs from acrylic is to never use black until the very end of the painting; the black easily smudges and is very difficult to cover without blending. Though I enjoyed my experience with oil paints, I still prefer acrylic because of how quick the acrylics are able to dry and because I personally am able to capture greater detail with acrylic paints. The benefits of oil paint are definitely the texture and the vivid colors oil paints provide.

Obsese Chipmunk

 

This projects assignment was to create a sculpture of a fat animal out of white clay. Loving the naturally chubby cheeks of the chipmunk, I was humored by the idea of exaggerating the fatness of the chipmunk. It took many tries to form the hollow body of the chipmunk. At first, I tried in vain to create two pinch pots and stack them one on top of the other; this failed due to the inconsistency in thickness of the clay walls. Next, I tried to use a small bowl as a mold, however the bowl turned out to be too big. Finally, based upon Mrs. Rossi's suggestion, I took a big ball of clay and simply began to carve in the shape; using carving tools, I hollowed out the chipmunk after I was finished. In the chipmunk's mouth is a nut. The largeness in the belly and arms are greatly exaggerated, which foil the tiny feet and tail. I used an exacto knife to create the texture of the fur. After drying and firing the chipmunk, I painted it using acrylic paint and a clear glaze over top in order to create the shine. I decided to use acrylic paint to be able to have more specific colors; glaze is harder control exact colors. The acrylic was irritating to use at first because colors I didn't intend on blending would blend. This project was a success mainly because it did not explode in the kiln, which was my biggest fear. Also the I was able to portray the chipmunk with more fat than the average chipmunk. If I were to do this project again, I would make the nose smaller and would center the stripes on the chipmunk's back more accurately.

Distortion Project

The project assignment was distortion. Building off of my swimming background, I was intrigued with the idea of breaking an old pair of goggles and taking a picture through them. The top left picture is the picture I took at my swimming pool, TAC. Assuming that breaking a pair of goggles would be easy, I lightly hit the goggle with a hammer. For those of you how have never had the pleasure to experience breaking a pair of goggles with a hammer, let me inform you, it is hard. I ended up having to slam the hammer down onto the goggles, outside on the pavement. Of course goggles have two eye pieces, however the second eye piece's plastic did not break as neatly as the first. This being my first time using PrismaColors, I was slightly apprehensive. I learned quickly that you had to press down hard, and blend as many colors as you can. In my draft, the picture on the top right, I darkened the goggle too quickly, and wasn't able to lighten it again. Learning from my mistake, on my final piece I started out with a very light blue, and then gradually darkened areas. Another area of the draft piece that i needed to improve on was the girl in the foreground. Improving the shape in the final piece, I was able to successfully create the illusion that she was partly on her side under water. After finishing all of the blending of the colors, I went through with a white gel pen to highlight all of the bright whites.

There is a deeper meaning behind the broken goggle. For any young swimmer, the golden dream is to become an Olympic swimmer; as swimmers mature throughout their swimming careers, reality kicks in that though hard work plays an important role, there are physical factors that factor in such as height and wing span. Though these young, high goals are awesome and motivating to young swimmers, there is the backlash of reality once you reach the age around 13-16. The broken goggle symbolizes the shattering of the illusion that if you work hard enough, you will make it to the Olympics. In the background, there are young swimmers, though that just happened to be a happy accident. The goggle is very clear and detailed, contrasting with the less detailed background, drawing attention to the goggle. I think this piece was a success. I like how the goggle in the foreground is brighter than the rest of the piece so that it popped. Also, I think I did a good job at creating the shape of the background. If I were to do this piece over again, I would have taken more time on the background, especially the side of the pool deck, and the light refection on the pool deck from the water. I really enjoyed working with PrismaColors, and how smoothly the colors blend together. For a beginner working with PrismaColors I would recommend that you start off with lighter colors. It is easier to go from light to dark, than dark to light. 

Scratchboard

My scratch board goal was to achieve motion in the picture. The picture on the top left is of the picture that the scratch board was based off of and the top center and right pictures are of sketches. The picture is of a pool deck at the Triangle Aquatic Center. While I was completing the scratch board, I also became very impatient with the scratch board. The pool deck itself is messy and sloppy. At the end I was able to add splashed at the end each lane to symbolize the swimmers swimming past the pictures edge; the splashes were the most successful part of the piece. If I were to do this again, I would make the splashes the center of the piece and would have taken my time with the pool deck.

Surrealism: The Submerged City

For our surrealism project our goal was to reach outside of our "bubble". Trying to create a landscape where at first glance may appear normal, but when looked at more closely,  does not fit. My first four thumbnails all included a girl, where above water she is a mermaid, and under the water she is human.

In my more detailed sketch, I included coral above the water. The coral to the left resembles a tree, while the coral to the right resembles buildings. On the protruding land in front of the "building" coral, two fish are walking on their fins. The mermaid/girl is sitting on a submerged truck. Under the water she is human, while above the water she has her tail and top exposed out of the water. My original plan was to have the water, sky, land, and sand painted in water color, with color pencils highlighting and darkening areas for emphasis. The remaining parts were to be painted in acrylic paint. 

At this stage in my piece, I had completed the background in water color and had blocked in the colors for the objects. To create the texture in the "building" coral, I first painted the coral a peachy color, darkened some of the areas with a darker brown color, and followed through with blue highlights to stimulate the fuzziness of the coral.

In this stage, I had completed the girl's body, and the mermaids top. The "building" coral was completed as well. I had lightly highlighted and darkened areas with colored pencils but it didn't seem to be having the affect I wanted.

This is my final artwork. With the "tree" coral, I added red and blue highlights to have individual branches stand out. The fish were completed, and I added the rust to the submerged truck. The mermaid tail was completed, along with her vibrant red hair above the water and brown beneath the water. But I was still not happy with the water color background. It did not show as much depth as I had anticipated so I decided to paint over the water color with acrylic. The acrylic paint was able to show the depth I was looking for and add the extra emphasis of color I was looking for. At this stage I was finally complete with my art work: The Submerged City.

3D Fish Tank

I made a fish scene out of putty and then painted them with acrylic paint. My older brother is a marine biologist so all of these fish probably maybe live in the same ecosystem based off of his half attention approval.

3D Project

For my 3D project, I made a me. Not a mini me, a full body me. We did this by wrapping the selected body part of me in sticky side up tape and then wrapping it it sticky side down. Then we simply cut me out, stuffed the body parts with newspaper and taped the appropriate body parts together. The questionable part being is it human?

Sounds simple right?

We were doing good, all of the body parts separately looked okay for the most part. Well excluding the left leg, that was just a mess. 

But when the time came to put all of the body pieces together, it did not look normal. In theory, the tape body should have been my exact height. However the tape we used apparently was not strong enough to hold up the weight and the legs collapsed in on itself. The body ended up a head shorter than me. The project ended up being a failure so we painted the tape weird colors just for fun.

Goldfish Swimmer

My portrait was of a random swimmer. I knew that I wanted to do a swimmer so when I searched for pictures I just chose the picture that resembled a swimmer the most after we have photoshopped it. 

I thought of the idea to use goldfish one night after my swim practice while I was eating goldfish. I thought the relation between the goldfish and swimming was funny as well. 

I was challenged with the fact that not all of the goldfish were the color I needed. I ended up spray painting the goldfish to get them the color I needed. I was also faced with the fact that I had to be very patient when hot gluing all of the goldfish down....I'm not very patient....I burned myself....a lot... 

When I had finished the body of the swimmer I was faced with the decision of doing all of the water surrounding it or simply leaving it. In the end I decided to do all of the water. Even though it took three more days I was happy with my decision to finish it. I felt like it really completed the piece of art.

A Sticky Situation

My idea for a sticky situation was to have an antelope surrounded by 4 tribal masks holding spears. The "stickyness" of the situation would come from the fact that the antelope was about to die. The theme of repetition was represented by the multiple masks. In this picture I had to project the image I had created in photoshop onto the canvas(don't judge me on what I was wearing it was inner nerd day at my school). During this first part of the project I learned a lot about photoshop.

  In this picture I was carving out the stencil. For the antelope and the masks I decided that I wanted to spray paint them while the background was acrylic paint. While I was carving out the stencils, I learned that you had to be very careful not to leave "white islands" or not leaving part of the stencil attached to the piece of paper.

When this picture was taken I had just spray painted my antelope. During this part I literally stopped breathing because I was so nervous.

 After I had finished spray painting my masks and antelopes, I decided that I needed to add spears to make it more clear of the masks intentions.

Not wanting to carve out another stencil, I "simply" covered all of the area that I did not want sprayed. This took a little bit longer than I had originally expected.....

I was very pleased with how the final piece came out. I learned a lot about how I could use different mediums together.

The Boy in Blue

 For this project our theme was up close and personal. When I first thought of that I thought of noses. To get my reference I googled up close pictures of noses. As we all know google never comes up with exactly what we ask for. The search came up with noses all either too close or too far away for my liking. There was one picture that was a  picture of camera taking a picture of a nose. I then changed my focus to cameras. I googled cameras and it also came up with security room screens. And thats what I decided to do. I painted a wall of blank screens on to 3 separate canvases and took 33 pictures of my little brother.

 Using the pictures I did a photo transfer onto the canvas "security screens". I glued the pictures face down and let them dry for a day. I then rubbed off the paper and the picture transferred onto the canvas. But as you would know if you have done a photo transfer before, the picture isnt a carbon copy of the original picture. Part on the picture comes off with the paper. Surprisingly I feel that this only enhanced the piece even more creating an effect that the tv screens were old and were snowing.
 I demonstrated emphasize in my art work by going over my little brothers blue shirts with a light blue water color. This emphasized that it was the same kid in every picture and made him stand out. Oddly enough I hadn't planned on making everyone of his shirts blue in the pictures. It just happened that almost every picture I had token of him he was wearing a blue shirt.
 I was very pleased with how the photo transfer turned out because it was the first time I had ever done it. With every picture I transferred I became better and better at getting all of the paper off.

 I think I did a good job with an original idea. I really liked how changed the perspective to make the pictures look like they were going around a corner.

What's the point?

 Some of my original ideas for the theme whats the point were people pointing, lions roaring or a person standing in the rain. I decided to choose a person standing in the rain because what is the point of just standing in the rain? I showed contrast in my piece by using charcoal. I used charcoal so I could make the black very black and the white very white. I used a white color pencil to draw the rain. Also to create contrast I made the umbrella blue. The message of this piece of art is that there isn't always a reason for something. Standing in the dark while it is pouring rain may not accomplish anything but giving you a chance to relax. I took a risk in this piece by using a spray to keep the charcoal from not smugging. While this spray did keep it from smugging it also made the paper shinny. I also took a risk by making the umbrella blue. I think by doing this it helped lighten the mood of the piece of art.