Relief Part 2

I like the shapes I was able to create and how detailed yet simple the cardboard piece came out. Next time I would like to focus more on the glaze and getting everything even and perfect. I hadn't used glaze before I did my tile, so it turned out a lot worse than I expected it to look. I originally planned to do a mask for my final piece, but the proportions were off and there was too much detail for such a small piece. I then got the idea to do a flat duck/chick, as before I had wanted to do a little bowl but couldn't. I tried to make my duck design simpler and larger so I could achieve more details if I wanted to. The tile definitely helped me in deciding how to go about my main piece because I was able to learn from my glazing mistakes and issues with proportion. The cardboard not so much, but it was fun and I liked it. I had issues with the eyes and eyebrows of my duck and how to create them. I initially tried carving the eyes out, but it was creepy and difficult. I also did the eyebrows and then decided I didn't want them. Of course, I changed my mind and had a hard time getting them the way I wanted them in size, thickness, placement, etc. One of his wings also fell off before being fired, so I had to glue it back on after glaze. 

Relief Part 1

I was originally making a tile with the theatre mask, but it turned out horribly. I then decided to do a duck/chick tile after seeing an adorable little dish that looked like a duck. My sketch is below, but I ended up adding some feet (per your suggestion!) and also eyebrows and texture to the wings. 

Initial sketch: 

Final idea sketch: 

Kiva Ford

Kiva Ford uses glass blowing to create really intricate pieces of work. I really like the tiny details, especially the suction cups on the octopus and the shape inside that globe thingy. I like that it's a different kind of material than I would think of for a sculpture and the composition is really interesting and realistic. I don't know how the tentacles were able to be curved to nicely, but it looks very smooth and beautifully formed. 

Kivaford.com

Final Blog

I feel that I grew a lot from the beginning of class to now. I learned different techniques and skills not only from the artists that we looked at, but also from those around me. In particular, I feel that I learned a lot from my classmate Anam. I feel that I really grew as a painter from watching her do her pieces and noticing some if the techniques she used. 

I did this painting around the time she did her boat, and I feel like it was better because I saw her work. The blending and layering she did with her paint inspired me to take some of the techniques she used. Her colors were not completely blended into one another and it looked beautiful. I knew that I wanted the light to look as if it was coming from the lightbulb, and a lightbulb's light gradually fades. I took some of the techniques I saw her use (layering and mixing her colors slightly) and combined them with my favorite techniques to get a really great color  gradient. I'm really happy with the way the painting turned out, and I think a lot of my success is from watching her work on her painting piece by piece.

I also took a bit of inspiration from Anam on this piece, although not as much as the last piece. She was working on a pear painting when I started this, and again, I liked the blending and layering she did with the paint. I don't like painting realistic pieces very much, but I did add highlights on the trunk and branches to give the tree more dimension. I also used a mix of grays, browns, and blacks to give the tree some differentiation and a bit of texture. I also used many different colors on the leaves and tries to create texture with the stippling motion I used. I was much more open to experimenting with color after seeing Anam use so many different colors and hues. 

Something I Never Got to Say

My thing I never got to say was "broken can be whole." I displayed this by taking the features of the face and drawing them separately. They had originally been on a white piece of paper, but it looked too empty so I decided to make a print in the blank space. Needless to say, I ruined it. I ended up cutting the features out and putting them on the black piece of paper, as shown.  

Art Museum

This painting called Madonna and Child in a Landscape is one of the paintings that I changed my mind about. I hated it when I first saw it, but after I stared at their repulsive let small and misplaced faces, I began to like it more. I also like the coloring of the skin and hair texture. 

This blue square painting is THE ABSOLUTE WORST PIECE OF ART IN THE WORLD. An empty trash can would have more meaning. Anyone can paint a blue canvas, and after hearing the artist talk about it I hated it even more. It's not art, it's a math project. There's no depth or meaning to the piece, let alone an interesting composition. Disgusting.

This painting is one of my favorites that I saw. There was so much detail and it looked so realistic. The sky is really beautiful, too; the way it sort of fades into clouds and how the light source is coming from behind the thing on the left is really nice. I like how simple yet beautiful this piece is. 

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.