group work reflection

currently we are working on a colaborative project with 3 other people, to crate a a public mural that will be hung up in the dinning hall. The whole project is a very different experience than anything we have done before not only because it is a public piece of art we are making but also because we are working in a group. Though i like to hear other people's ideas and work together at times, its a challange to colaborate in an art project. I like to think that i am a good listener and i respect others ideas but i just don't have as much fun working in big groups. however this time is an exception, i am really having a good time on this project. my group members all have great ideas and i think that we work well together. at first it was difficutl to come up with ideas that we were content on doing ut we all ended up enthusiastic with one members idea of incorporating a three d aspect with plastic fruit glued onto the canvas. It was difficult to cominicate and move forward at times but that is inevitable with group work and im sure all the other group experinced the same types of obstacles. I am glad to work in this group and confident that if we all continue to bring enthusiasim and constructive ideas like we have been doing i am confident we will succede. in conlclusion i am proud to cary out this idea with my freinds and once again, bravo group

end of term reflection

Looking back on the whole term, I am really surprised at how fast it went by. I can say without a doubt that this class has been the most relaxing, and enjoyable. It has been a challenging class for me but I have had the unusual feeling for me of looking forward to a class. I think that the first few weeks of the term were not as fun for me as the other 2/3rds of the term but I felt it was necessary to do the types of projects we did at the beginning in order to get the comfortable feeling that I feel and I think others feel too, when I'm in the class. What I wasn’t fond of about the first part o the term was the few projects we did working with other people, like the pour paintings and the talk and draw. It had nothing to do with my partners, I enjoyed working with everybody I have worked with this class, but I just am not as comfortable collaborating on art. I want to make it clear again that this had nothing to do with the people I work with but rather the concept of creating a single piece of art with multiple contributors. Also it had nothing to do with artistic abilities, (I actually think that the projects were we worked together have come out better than what I would have ended up with working by myself) but I just feel self conscious and unclear of how to move the project along while working with others. I get worried I will bring the other person down or hold them back from what they are capable of doing, and I also just like to think my art over in my head or draw it out in the sketchbook, rather than discussing the project with other people. The later part of the tem was more fun for me because we gradually become more independent. The sketchbook was a little tough for me to get through each week at the beginning of the term but towards the end I have done a better job of completing spreads to turn in each week.  A issue that I am trying to overcome e as you know is completing more of my projects because it is a little disappointing for me to have al these nearly finished assignments but only a few completed products. You have helped me a lot with this by allowing me extra time to work on projects and announcing that you are not “a deadline type of person”. That makes me a lot less stressed and allows me to focus more on my projects at hand knowing that I will usually have time to return to the ones I am leaving at the time.

1 meter reverse

Pile of Sticks Still Life

Today in class it was tuesday so we did drawing from observations, with no tricks or cathes. Our task was to draw a large pile of stick piled on top of each other forming a campfire/TP/Eyeor's house (only sturdier).

Chair and Coat

the drawing of the chair and the coat wasn't necisarliy more difficult over all but it deffintly wasnt esier. drawing sticks and fabric was difficutl bedause there was a lot in the picture b

Princples of Design

         The work that I looked at was called "the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" and it was created by Grant Wood. In this painting the artist used a number of the principle's of designs in order to enhance the meaning rather than detract from the artists idea. It is clear that the principles of design were used with much consideration because they really are woven in well with the picture. It appeared to me that the artist didn't make an effort to use too much balance because the weight of the painting doesn't look even on both sides to me. I did however observe asymmetry by including the church only on one side and the forest on the other. These things didn't balance each other out and even though he is very small, having Paul Revere on the left side of the painting added the most asymmetrical feeling in my opinion. Grant wood also did a great job of putting emphasis on the landscape and background but not Paul revere himself. In researching i did read that when painting the picture wood focused on the scenery and not the character but i could visualize it better with the contrast of how detailed and colorful everything was. except Revere. Wood did a good job of showing the movement and creating a sense of rush that Paul revere experienced by drawing the horse in mid-stride with the legs out-reached to show the implied movement of Revere and his horse. The long winding road that stretched from one end of the painting to the other was a form of ledaing lines which also shows movement by showing action and events outside the painting s well as on the canvas. Last but not least Wood's use of proportion was in fact my favorite out of all his uses of POD in this picture. i find it clever and funny that woods painting was titled after such a minuscule aspect/part of is painting. I also like how the proportions of the scenery:character reflect woods's interest in what he was painting.

Fabric Drawings

Today i felt that once again my drawings from observation was a mess. As i have mentioned befoe, time limits fore tuesdays drawing from observation are relly difficult for me and by the end i usualy am not close to eing done but also unhappy with my product. THough i do like drawing from observation, i dont prticularly like hanging things or big groups of objects. I like to work close to the object and have it smaller so i can make it larger, not the other way around.

Mid Term Reflection

at the beginning of the year we were asked to write a document that identifyies signs that show that we are engaged in the class as individuals. I wrote that i dont usually like to speak up in front of everybody, but somtimes i do and thats a sign of engagement. I think i am getting better at speaking up ore but i still prefer to show mh enggement through the focus on art and through my sketchbook. Speaking of Sketcbook, i have a lot of room for improvement with that. I really like to work in the sketchbook, but i am struggling with the due dates. I tend to work slower in general and especcialy in art and because of my pace i dont end up finishing things. Even though it is a sketchbook i still am being too particular on how everything has to look and thats whats keeping me from finishing the spreads. I think i can change that and that soon i am hoping it will be less of an issue for me. As far as the work i have finnished up to this point, i am not that happy with. I like the assinmennts and i enjoy doing them but i just dont end up liking the way it turns out for me. This isn't unusual for me, infact after all the years i have taken art i dont have too many products that i feel really happy with. I also have a lot of projects that arn't finished. Drawing from observation on tuesdays gives me mixed feelings. WHile i do enjoy drwing still life somtimes , i am not into the time pressure knowing that we only have that one period to finish the piece. I am always happy to go back to the long term projects that we are in the middle of when D.E.A.D is over but i find drawing from observation relaxing, and some of my favriote pieces of mine in the past years ave ben still lifes. I also am more enthusiastic about it when we arnt all drawing the same thing and when we get to cose the item we want to draw. Maybe somthing manufactuerd like a toy becaus ewe have done lots of natrual objects.. But i like the class a lot and feel that i am the one who needs to pick up my pae and be more accepting of my art.

The Changing in still life

In art class today we drew from still life and like always there was a variotion/catch to it. Today we had to dra a single jar using only charcoal (which barley erases) and without knowing we had to draw a new object and its relation to the jar. This consisted of overlapping and blockking parts of the jar and other objects that were added in. The hardest thing to draw for me was the string, not the ball but the strand that went from the top corner of one side of teh paper to the oppiste bottom cornor. Once we added all the thing probbably about 7 objects we had to take all but one object out that was the hard part.

three form drawings

eevery tuesday when we draw from observations

extending our findings from the pour paintings

today when we revisited our pour paintings (with little or big immages within the piece of art) i was stumped at first of what aspect i was going to carry over into a new project. I first looked to the actual pictures we drew within the picture but was still stumped. After i decided i didnt want to carry over one of the immages (dog, bird, fish etc) from the picture i tried to immagine what part of the pour painting i could expand on other than a figure. I thought about color, green but i didnt go very far with that idea. (or that idea by itself). Then i looked at the tiny bit of red and yellow on the painting and thought of mustard and ketchup, which lead to hotdog, which lead to food. WIth food in mind i went back to the main color, blue and green and the ringed sploches on the painting. FInnaly i found my idea i wanted to pursue. Mold (the green splochesh reminded me of moldy bread) and now i am doin a sepeate project on a loaf of wonder bread and how it hanges over the course of a week or 2. (by the end it will hopefully be appearent that i used the moldeiness of the pourpainting as a reference to my bread project)

Pour painting reflection

The pour paintings were interesting to make and i enjoyed working with Daniel but it was hard for me when we were asked to find/create images or a story in one of the pictures because i felt like i could only come up wit ha few ideas. I really liked working with Daniel and i liked how we helped each other when we were pouring the paint together. it was nice to work on one piece with collaborating on a project that uses an unpredictable method (pouring paint).

In the end when we chose our seepeate pieces to work on i only could find a few immages in the pours at first (a dog, a fish, a cursor, scisors) but Daniel helped me find other things like a shoe, a bird, and some other stuff.

talk and draw

I thought that my partner did a really good job drawing as well as describing the objects for me to draw. I on the other hand think i could have been a little clrearer with my directions though you couldnt tell by johns drawing. now after doing the activity i would probably save all the colors till the end because since we had  a time limit the that took up some of the time where we could have been getting more of the objects drawn in rather than a few objects with colors on them

Collabrotive drawing eric

In class today i had fun doing the collaboritive drawings where we got to add on to our clasmates pieces of art that they made. It was annteresting expeirince because most times whenever i try to add to my brothers drawings at home i get in trouble even if i was honestly rying to complement his work. Some people in the class i could tell wehere reliuctant to let somone else contribute to thier peace which is understantable, but i was excited to see how it got changed. I would be more likleyt attached to a pice of art that i did if it was somting i just came up with and drew alone, but since it was a assinment that we did with a limited ammount of time in which we all did somthing more or less simmilar, i was happy to see the changes and additions to my picture that i felt improved it.

What Makes and Artist

In my mind an artist is someone who is brave enough to try and explore new concepts and methods of creating all sorts types of art. An artist is visual and interesting, open to share aspects of themselves with others, in unique and fun ways. Artist is somone who can accept failure, or cirisizm and move on without staying bitter. They don't let one negative comment keep them from painting another picture, or creating another sculpture.

I think that being creative means having the ability to be original and impress others with somthing new, but also creativity is the ability to still produce a quality piece through inspiration, reproduction or colabiration. Creativity is realizing that not everything has to be done single handly or without inspiration.

I think that in order to be productive and creative, an artist needs three major things. One, is focus, because like many other activities if your not focused on the task at hand the final product will either never get completed, or wont be nearly as good as it could have been. Number two is devotion. If you are devoted to something in this case art, it is almost natural to know what has to be done to complete that last painting. And finally, support. I have learned over the years that when going out on a limb, it is much more manageable when i can count on my friends to be honest and supportive of what I'm doing. If an artist has those three tings, they are in a good place

response to picasso's quote

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up."- Picasso

 When i first read this quote the other day in class, I was not quite sure what to think. I could understand it fine and what this statement is reffering to, but what I am still trying to figure out is if i completly agree with it. Its not unsual for me to be indesiceve but there is somthing unusal about this quote that is persuades me to agree with it and then another minute i am questioning myself. I recognize that i am nowone to be second guessing such a great artistis belife but i do feel that the statement isnt always ture  to everone. Though i do agree with him that "every child is an artist" i feel differently about the second part of the quote. The way i see it, like he said, every child is an artist, if that is true they will be all there life. Simmilar to riding a bike, i feel with art once you learn it you dont forget it. Its true that 60 years down the road if you havent rode a bike since middle school your perfomance will probably be different. However, i consider being out of practice and rusty just different than never having riden before. Picasso is true, that unless you are a proffesional artist like hiself, an adult wont be spendng as much time drawing pictures because they will have another ocupation. In conclusion, i feel that, being an artist is natrual to everyone, and the only advantage childeren have is that they have more time to practice.