Art Journals

Artists Develop Art Making Skills...
In class we did a project on art journals and this was something new as well as exciting.  I liked how we were able to pick out slips of paper for a word or phrase to show what our topic was about in our art journal. It was easier to know what I was doing for my project instead of having this long thinking process in what I should do for my project.  The word I got was secret and the phrase I had was a best moment shared between me and my mother. It was a challenge to find a best moment shared between me and my mom because there has been so many and hardly any magazines I saw had a picture to explain a great moment. So instead I just decided to use the word "secret" for my art journal, which at first I didn't know what to do for my journal since a lot of things can be associated with secret and then after I had an idea. I did learn new skills in which was adding tissue paper as the background to my page with some glue that you put on the back, then place the paper on top, to then add more glue on that paper, and to have the glue dry clear. At first I was having a hard time with the glue and never adding another coat on top when later I knew what to do and my background was much better. Also during this project it was something different because usually we are always drawing or sketching out our pieces, but this time we were able to get pictures from magazines and then paste them to the page.
I did gain some skills with familiar materials such as pictures when I was pasting them on my journal page, I also learned more about glue and how it can help a lot with projects such as mine. This project helped me a lot gain new skills, and it was something new to try that I really liked.
Artists Collaborate...
When I first started this project secret was a good word to use, but like I said before there were a variety of options I could have done that involved secret. After thinking for a long time I asked one of my classmates on what I should do and she said that by me liking the show "Pretty little Liars" I should do that. Once my classmate told me that idea it really helped me out a lot and finally I could start working on my piece. Since pretty little liars is one of my favorite shows it was easy to elaborate on it and to get some ideas on what pictures I should have and how my journal should be formatted. The show pretty little liars is all about these 4 group of friends who are trying their best to keep a secret but the more they try to keep it the more danger they are in.  This is why I think this series matched perfectly for my art journal.
My classmate pushed me into the right direction on what I should do for secret which was a big help, also she inspired me a little. In my art journal there are some lyrics to a song in which my classmate told me would be a good idea to have on my page. This song is all about keeping secrets and also its the theme song to pretty little liars as well.  At first my project was challenging to me since I didn't know what to do, then after I had a little guidance which I believe made a good art journal.

Nature Art

Artists Take Risks...
In art class we decided to try something new for our project in which was nature art. This was my first time ever hearing about nature art, and when it was first introduced I thought this was going to be a very challenging project. After learning more about nature art it can be really easy and even the simplest things such as a print in the sand can be defined as nature art. I wasn't sure on what I was going to do for nature art, because there were many options but also I thought about my project's outcomes. At first I wasn't sure if I wanted to make my art out of sand because when drawing on sand it can be difficult sometimes, based on how deep you should go, if there is enough sand for a print to be made, etc.
I did pick out a new technique in which was going outside and working on sand, and usually while doing art projects I use pencils or colored pencils. But during this project I had used a different material to make my piece and this new material was just a plain old stick. When I first began this project it was really new to me because I never did a art project in the sand and I felt as if I was doing something wrong, even though I wasn't. When I was sketching out my details in the sand I noticed it was just like sketching something in my drawing pad, but instead I have a stick and its on sand. After that I did my drawing on the sand, and I think I did well on it and the stick helped me get the right details. At first it had been hard since the sand would blow away or cover my piece which meant I had to go over it but once I started going deeper and deeper in the sand my piece stayed where it needed to be.
Artists Communicate through their work...
My artwork was intended to say that art is unpredictable and doesn't have to always just be on paper it can be expressed in many ways. People express who they are and what they like in many ways it shows us who they are and can be shown in many different forms of art.
The issues I'm showing tells my audience to not be like everyone else, and to think outside the box. Its good to be unique that's what makes everyone special we are all different in a good way, and shouldn't be a follower but a leader.  its not good to always be plain its good to go out and try something different, like for example nature art.  Usually people just do art on paper, clay, walls, and more but its good to try doing more than that and to do something never before...like nature art. Its hard to believe art can be done in nature but its all around us and even though it stays and then goes its still something fun to do.
I never heard of nature art until this project, so after doing this project I learned how fun and exciting it was. This art expresses me because I am unique and instead of doing what everyone else was doing I went outside and started drawing on sand, which most people don't do. Also I like doing random designs on my drawing pad and on the ground so doing this project helped me learn more about what I like and also I think this is one of my favorite projects.

Sculpture

Artists Develop Art Making Skills...
When this sculpture project was first introduced to us, I had a hard time planning out my piece. At first I was thinking about making jewelry but I didn't know what to make for that. After that I decided to do a clay tile for my art work. It was very challenging at first when I started to do my clay tile, and it involved a lot of steps before actually doing anything to the tile. I first had to pick out a story in which I decided to do a scene from the movie tangled, then I had to draw that event on tracing paper, flatten my clay tile, trace the paper on top of the clay to get the outlines of my picture, and then I started to begin working more on the clay. This was very challenging for me and it was a lot harder then what I thought it to be. The new techniques I learned for the sculpture project was how to add on clay to bump up your image to have that 3d perspective. Adding clay to my image was easy for some parts but when it came to me putting more clay on the two characters I had a difficult time with that.  It was hard getting every detail on the face of the people so I had to get another slab of clay and make it more thinner to retrace the image of just the faces and then after my piece began looking more realistic.
I had done clay in the past, so I did have prior knowledge on what to do but there still were new methods I learned during this project. In some of my previous projects I did in art such as pop art I used carving tools, and when I had to use carving tools again for my clay piece it was much easier to work with.  At first my project was very challenging to me especially when I had to add more clay on but later I learned the techniques and soon start to get the hang of it and I think my project turned out really good.
Artists Collaborate
By this sculpture project being something new to me and I wasn't sure on how to first began my piece I did ask for some intake from some of my students as well as teacher. The main part I need help on was when I had to add more clay to the image to bump it up.  At first this process was really hard to me then after some of my classmates told me what to do which made everything more easier and I started to use more appropriate tools that made my piece easier to work with.
I did learn a lot of important information that helped me during this project and my piece turned out as a success. My main problem was bumping up the faces of my characters and after I learned how to get a new slab of clay and then to retrace the faces so I can get the details, helped me a lot and I'm glad I asked my classmates and teacher for feedback I never saw me doing a clay tile until I got some inspiration to try something different in which I enjoyed doing.

Shibori Dyeing

  The artist I felt was unique and had a really interesting technique is Michael Smith. Each of Michael's art work pieces are different in their own way. Instead of Michael just making art he has made art with a purpose. His art is wearable art which is very impressive and he has done this for over 25 year, which is a very long time. His technique isn't a traditional style and he has been working under three names which were three wishes, chaos, and Mystic Eye. I searched where Michael Smith is from and I couldn't find anything.
  While Michael uses a non traditional shibori technique he also combines discharge, immersion, and a variety of colors on fabric and does his own designs. He places his dye on white fabrics like silk or chiffon. Michael gets shirts that have white or black cotton shirt blanks, the fabric is folded between one and three times. When the t-shirt is soaking wet, it is manipulated with the artist's fingers such as Michael's and put through the Crinkleator to set the patterns. The shirts are stuck between stainless steel grids, and the fabric that is already done goes in a series of fiber dye solutions. Michael uses three separate color tools so his art can have more of a variety of color combinations. When Michael is done with the dye it goes in hot water to clear off some of the dye, after the shibori  fabric is sewn into garments.  I think Michael's art is more retail since its wearable and is more of a garment then a flat piece of work that can be in a gallery. I picked this artist because I like the way he does his style, instead of using one color he decided to make a bunch of colors.  Also unlike most artists I have learned about never have wearable art so I enjoyed how he has made a lot of garments, that some people wear.  His techniques are good and I hope to one day use those same techniques to make a dye shirt.

Perspective Project

Artists Communicate through their work...

While doing my project i did a lot of planning/thinking, and wondered what subject i could do for my perspective art piece.  After i picked the subject on what fuels me, and this really helped me plan out my piece even further. So my artwork is intended to show my audience what fuels me and that is a phone booth that we can find in the UK area.  This fuels me because its my dream to go to London and to explore the sites, and to make a phone call in a phone booth.

In my piece there isn't that much of issues i'm trying to indicate, but just that the littlest things can be inspiration to many people.  As for example me i picked a phone booth which is something small but that one small thing gives me dedication that dreams can come true and that one day i will be able to be in that phone booth in London a place I've always wanted to travel too. Traveling can he a hard thing to do because of money, flights, gas prices and cars, etc. Even when people can't travel to that one place now they are still trying to, and that shows that most people never give up on their dreams and the smallest things can be happiness to them.

This artwork shows who i am because i want to one day travel to London. My project just shows that one object, but that one object expresses many things about me. Like me wanting to go to London, i love the red color that phone booths have because red is one of my favorite colors and it makes the booths stand out and be unique, also i enjoy how phone booths have been here for many years.  Phone booths give off a old fashion style and styles like this interest me especially when they are still very popular in our present day.  

Artists Collaborate...

Perspective projects are very challenging to me, and during this project i did have some difficulties. While doing this project i never knew how to angle my booth so it looks perspective and the shapes and sizes were hard for me to show that my piece was suppose to be dimensional. I angled my squares further from one another while they were still connected so it looked more perspective and when i thought i was done i asked my teacher and classmates what they thought of my piece.  Each one said that the right side of my booth needed to be more parallel to one another.  At first i was having trouble making everything parallel but after i was done with the side of my booth my piece looked more perspective and it looked more like a photo booth.

When i was done communicating with my classmates and teacher i understood more about perspective and when the sides are more parallel that gives more of a dimensional shape

rather than changing the angles on each side.  I'm glad i asked the people around me for help or i wouldn't have understood perspective and my piece would be flat.

Art History

My group did the piece Frida Kahlo "Portrait" for our art history project, it was a challenge at first to see what piece we could represent. There was a large variety of different art works of Frida Kahlo, and after thinking about how we could do our picture and what props or material we needed; my group and I finally selected a picture to do. The movement for this piece was expressionism, in which expressionism in used in paintings, drawings, and sculpturing.  In which it forms from nature or exaggerated colors for emotive or expressive purposes. Frida Kahlo is a very well known piece created by the Mexican painter who is most popular from her self portraits Frida Kahlo. Everyone in my group had a job, most of the jobs were props, the power point for the presentation, and planning.  Hunter bought props and different materials to make our picture come more to life and look exactly like the portrait, such as getting the yarn for the hair.  I helped with the planning like what we should do in the video, what part we should have, and how we should use these different materials/props in the video. Caitlin helped with the props as well and while we were filming the video Caitlin was holding the sheet behind me as the background.  We all worked together and found information to help create our power point to present, and after all that we were done with the project. If we were do to the project again then I would probably want to add more detail, we had enough props for the video but I think we could have added a little more. As for example the blush on Frida's face in the portrait we could have done and instead of just the eye brows we could have drew some hair above my lips, like the picture.  if there were more details then the audience could easily see what we were indicating and it helps give our video more life and making the video look exactly like the picture.

Portrait

Artists Take Risks...
1.) In this project I wasn't sure if I should use pencil or colored pencils while doing my portrait. At first I was thinking about shading with my pencil because that seemed easier, and I had more practice with that; but the picture I was using had a lot of color and if I just used pencil my project would have been boring. So towards the end when I was done sketching my portrait I decided to use colored pencils instead. Also when I was picking the medium the main thing I was worried about was the shading of my grandmother's face, because in a portrait, details and shading are a very important feature that you need to make your project more realistic. But later in my project I made the shading work with my colored pencils and I feel that when I added this material it made my picture come more to life
2.) I picked colored pencils that was pretty different for me, because I usually use pencils for portraits and sketching faces and their details. Pencils are much easier for me to use and I mostly use them anyway for the last projects so I wasn't sure how colored pencils would work especially for the shading part, but my project turned out really well.  The one struggle I have is doing portraits because there are so many details and it takes time to get them right and to make them realistic, so I didn't know what to do about that and it took me some time to get it just right. But with some practice and time my portrait started looking more realistic, and I really like it.
Artists Reflect
1.) While I was doing my project there were many times I stepped back and stopped to look at it, like how the details were and to see if my portrait was similar to my picture. But the main time I stepped back and analyzed my drawing was when I stared shading in the skin tone and when I was doing lightness and darkness to the neck and face. The colored pencils were very challenging to work with while shading the face, and I never could notice the darkness to the lightness like shown in the actual picture of my grandma.  After I had some help from my class mates and teacher and learned more on how to shade the face, such as having the light spots like shapes so I wouldn't get confused between the dark spots on the face.
2.)One idea I thought about before doing my project was the mediums, like should I use colored pencils, paint, pencils, oil pastels, etc. But when I was thinking about my mediums I also put in consideration what would make my picture look more realistic, and how good are the mediums to help me shade and add very descriptive details.  After thinking about what would be good for my project I finally picked colored pencils and I think this medium was perfect for this project.