Non-Traditional Materials

I used lipstick and eye/lipliner for my non-traditional medium and drew fall leaves. I chose lipstick because it's one of my favorite things, and I picked leaves because I thought the colors of lipstick would work well. I like the final product, but I wish it had some yellow. I used a gold eyeliner for the orangey leaves, but I would have liked a strong yellow. 

My favorite leaves are the dark ones; the color is really rich and beautiful. 

Post Modern Principles Project

I chose appropriation for my principle and recreated a "self portrait" I did from elementary school. I didn't try to make it accurate, I just wanted to get the gist of the piece. I chose this because 1) I needed something to do, and 2) I found this picture when I was cleaning my room and thought it was really funny. I liked the idea of remaking something that I already did and thought this would be a good piece. I don't like the way it turned out, but it was already done so I went with it. 

The Best Art Supply Store Doesn't Sell Art Supplies

I agree that some of the best art supplies can be found in places like hardware stores. There are plenty of great non-traditional supplies to use, but I also think that the best pieces come from using both non-traditional and traditional media. Things like paint can be difficult to replicate, and when combined with more creative supplies like rice, trash, or Cheetos can make a really awesome and creative piece.

Post Modern Principles

Reading the article by Olivia Gude, I agree with a lot of what she's saying. There is a disconnect between what we learn and the projects we do because most of the lessons are focused around warm ups. When we learn techniques or principles, we practice them in our sketchbooks before moving onto our projects about essential questions, adjectives and what have you. Up until this year, I don't think I ever really learned the principles of art and things like that (which I don't necessarily think is a bad thing), but I think that we should apply what we're being taught to out projects. 

Can light create darkness?

My essential question for this project was if light can create darkness. I chose this because 1) I couldn't think of anything better, 2) because I like the idea/challenge of capturing light in a painting, and 3) because I wanted to combine the ideas of cold, loneliness and light. (My original question was about cold.) I found a picture of a street lamp on the side if a building for inspiration and decided that besides tweaking a few things, I would use that picture. I ended up changing my mind after doing the back ground, and decided to just do a single light bulb. I like the way it turned out, and I think it's one of my favorite pieces that I've done. 

Original reference picture:

Final product:

Art Without Meaning is Decoration

I think I agree that art without meaning is decoration, but I'm not completely decided. On one hand, I feel like art is sort of meant to be decorative; on another hand, I think that people often use art to express themselves. I think any art can be decoration, even if there is meaning. 

Elements of Art

I did a portrait of Audrey Hepburn to show the element of value. I used both graphite and charcoal; I am more comfortable with graphite but I used charcoal to get darker value. To begin, I used a grid that allowed me to do an outline of the drawing. I then added the details and some light value to build on. I wasn't careful enough with the grid and ended up with a nose, eye, and jawline that didn't match what I was going for. I also had trouble getting enough value. I couldn't get as dark as I wanted with the graphite so I used charcoal, but I had issues with putting the charcoal on top of the graphite. It gave a grainy, uneven texture that I did not like, and erasing didn't help. Overall, I am indifferent to the final product. I like everything but the face (save the eyebrows), but as a whole I'm not impressed.