Charcoal Value Drawing

I think that it was easier for me to draw the metal can than drawing the leaves of the plant. I think that sometimes the lighting had changed so it was difficult for me to draw the lighting on the leaves accurately. Also, the wrench was definitely the hardest part of the drawing because of the plant's angle. The wrench was placed between the stems of some of the leaves but I didn't have a side angle of the wrench so it was really difficult for me to represent it accurately. However, it was a lot easier for me to consider the lighting of the can because it was more direct and didn't vary as much as the plant. I enjoyed trying to draw the leaves of the plant because although the lighting was a lot more difficult to draw, it was enjoyable because there were varied parts of the leaf. I wish I could have emphasized more on the lighting of the leaves. Overall, I definitely think that this was a great experience because I was more concerned about the value of the whole drawing.

Still Life Value Digital Photographs

Reflection:

Which photograph is the most evocative? Define evocative. Refer directly to the formal elements of the image & the relationship between object and nature. 

Evocative is often defined as suggesting or invoking a certain emotion or even a memory as an image. In my opinion, the third photograph is the most evocative. In this image, there is a clear relationship between the object and nature. Nature is represented by the rough, rigid turns of an old tree bark, whereas, the complete object isn't shown, but there is a part of the object that is shown in the photograph. I think that the main relationship between the metal canister and nature in this photograph is the sense that the object is slightly hovering the natural bark, which also creates a darker value in the part of the bark below the object.

Which photograph allows for the full value scale?

The second photograph allows for the full value scale because there are a variety of grays and the lighter white is represented by the reflective surface of the canister. 

Given these images and insights, what exactly will you be looking to capture in your black & white images?

I think that I could have tried to find a photograph that had captured the value scale better. I think that after experimenting with the digital photography, I realized that on the day when there was sunlight, it made my photograph more intriguing because I would be able to play with using the sunlight to evoke a certain aspect of my object in nature. I am definitely planning on capturing a wide value scale through using sunlight more creatively.

Texture Collage & Sculpture

Texture Collage 

Texture Sculpture

Reflection Questions:
I think that my collection of textures were definitely varied in my collage. However, I was unable to find enough different types of textures for my sculpture. I think that my collage was varied in textures because I had combined rubbings that were the artificial patterns of the picnic tables along with the natural elements of a tree bark and the moss growing on the side of a tree. In my collage, I had spent a lot of time on trying to successfully juxtapose the rigid and exact patterns with a more natural, flowing pattern of the tree bark. I had tried to cut out certain parts of the picnic table pattern to reveal different types of textures underneath this pattern. I then cut out two strips and connected it from the picnic table pattern slanted in the same direction as the tree bark, which I think has successfully created a movement from a systematic pattern to another specific direction of the tree bark. In the sculpture, I had wanted to replicate the sense of movement between a more natural-like material (the burlap) and the more artificial object (the fish net). I had played around with the burlap by trying to pull apart certain parts creating frays which were indicating a movement towards the fish net. I had folded together a certain part of the fish net and showed that it was progressing to being unfolded to also imply a sense of texture throughout the sculpture. I think that I definitely pushed myself to refine my work on my collage, however, now that I am looking back, I think that I could have reworked my sculpture to have a cleaner and organized finish. I definitely think that my sculpture and collage are closely intertwined. They both display a sense of texture and different, contrasting materials are connected by a sense of motion. Also, I had a collage that was more filled with different textures; whereas, my sculpture also contrasted my collage because there are less textures but different overlaps and juxtaposed in more different ways.

Pop Art Project

Reflection:
My first painting was the one in the lower left corner. The color scheme of this painting is monochromatic. Since it was my first one I hadn't realized that I could vary my brush strokes to create a liveliness for the painting. My second painting is the one in the upper right corner, which represents the complimentary color scheme. After finishing my first one, I realized that many of my peers were truly experimenting with different brush textures. I realized that during my first painting I had "over thought" about certain parts of my painting which ultimately restricted my creativeness for the first painting. For the second painting, I decided to try a slightly different attempt, I wanted to just simply get started and to have fun with experimenting different colors and brush textures. Along the way I would touch up certain parts of the painting that I was unsatisfied with but overall, I think that I was much happier with the creativeness in my second painting than my first painting. My third painting was the the one in the lower right corner, which represents the triadic color scheme. I realized that I often had difficulty with trying to mix the perfect color on my palette before applying it to my painting. I decided to fill my brush with both white and blue, for instance, to create a slightly different texture by allowing some white paint to be visible on my painting. Finally, my last painting was the one in the upper left corner, which represents the analogous color scheme. I chose to use green, blue, and purple as the three colors because I wanted to use purple since it was a color I hadn't used in my other paintings. During my group reflection, some of my peers had mentioned that they enjoyed the different textures of my painting. I also received some comments about my choice of allowing the white to show in certain parts of my painting.
When working with photography I was more concerned with adjusting the lighting so that I would get a scale of both light and dark. When I took a picture of my object, I was completely focused on trying to get the "perfect shadow" of my object. I hadn't paid attention to the unique darker part of the mug. When painting, I was focused on how my colors would be able to blend nicely together. I was also more focused on which parts of the photo required a darker shade of the color. Or when I was working on the triadic and analogous color schemes, I wanted to ensure that I picked a darker color for the dark part of photo. I think that I felt the most comfortable with the photography part of this project because I didn't feel as if I needed more planning before each composition. Whereas, during the painting part of this project, I realized that I often over thought about each step of my painting, instead of just creatively continuing with the painting. Overall, I have truly learned a lot about the different color schemes, as a matter of fact, I had even mentioned a complimentary color scheme during my French class when we were discussing the artistic choices of an advertisement!

Photography Color Reflection

This is my composition that represents the monochromatic color scheme.

This is my composition that represents the complimentary color scheme.

This is my composition that represents the analogic color scheme.

This is my composition that represents the triadic color scheme.

Reflection -
During this project I learned how to manipulate the different colors and use the lasso tool in photoshop to create figures that would reflect the shapes in my photograph. For instance, in my monochromatic composition, I had used the lasso tool to create shapes with rugged sides to reflect the different rugged structures of the leaves. Also, I had learned how to successfully use the digital camera to focus and work with the natural lighting in my photograph. The lasso tool and the wide variety from photoshop's color palette were definitely essential to may success in this project. Photoshop's color palette truly allowed me to experiment with the different color schemes that I could use within my composition. When we had looked at other peoples' compositions in class, I was able to observe some of the methods that my classmates had used and I learned how to incorporate those methods into my compositions. For instance, I realized that some of my classmates had successfully used rectangular shapes and after seeing their compositions, this inspired me to create my next composition with rectangular shapes. I definitely also used my observational skills when using the digital camera to take photos of the specific color schemes. This project has taught me to observe color in terms of the different types of color schemes. For instance, I truly learned which colors would contrast each other the best. My composition with the green leaves and the one red leaf successfully contrasted each other because red and green are part of the complimentary color scheme. I also learned how there are several different shades of one color when I was creating my monochromatic composition.

Shape and Composition Diptych

Degree of Exploration:
I did not necessarily create my own shapes for this project. I used my ray-o-gram as my original piece and completed a paper cut composition to contrast that ray-o-gram. I had begun with different hair accessories but I was advised by Ms. Seal to add some metal pieces that would contrast with the soft hair accessories. I used the headband's floral design to connect with the metal pieces. I had originally placed one metal piece attached to one of the flowers of the headband as a "stem" of the flower and as an extension from the headband. I then realized that I could contrast the elegant floral design by using more of the metal pieces to form right angles and sharp turns.

Degree of Craftsmanship:
I believe that my process-folio exemplifies my exploration of "shape" because I truly considered shapes that would contrast and improve upon my photogram composition. For instance, I truly experimented with the sharp corners and transformed it into more of a wavy texture. I had spent a lot of my effort in transforming the sharp turns into wavy and gentle turns in my paper-cut composition. Also, I was unable to spend as much effort and time on the ray-o-gram compared to the time I had spent on my paper-cut composition. I think that my cut paper composition has truly been successful in contrasting the floral design of the headband and the sharp turns of the metal pieces.

Level of Technical understanding and growth:
I think that I have developed technically in areas of the collage. When I had created my first cut paper composition, I was unable to explore more freely with the shapes because I didn't quite have the same comfort and understanding of making these collages. I am glad that I was able to use different shapes more freely and have a better understanding of creating a collage. I think that I also have a better understanding of using the enlarger in the dark room. I was able to manipulate the presentation of several of the objects more clearly and thoughtfully in my last few ray-o-gram compositions. For instance, my first ray-o-grams had objects that did not show up clearly. I learned to pick bigger objects with more negative space that would appear better in my ray-o-grams.

Degree of Insight in "aesthetic valuing" and self-reflection:
I was definitely thorough during my peer pairing. However, we didn't quite have enough time to completely draw out on the tracing paper different, contrasting ideas for our compositions. We tried to tell each other verbally our ideas of how to make our cut paper compositions contrast with our ray-o-grams. Also, I have truly spent time to reflect upon and even enjoy the process of each project through posting on my blog. I also enjoy the posting a complete picture of my compositions for my blog because I love the sense of having accomplished the art project.

Cut Paper Composition

I had chosen the "balance" category for my paper composition. However, when I had started this project, I did not expect to create my composition in terms of "balance". I had begun with the two big white sections in the corners of my composition. I truly enjoyed the symmetrical balance between the two white sections; however, at that point, I still needed to fill in the massive black space in between the two white spaces. As advised, I created two strips of paper that outlined the wavy figure/outline of the white pieces of paper in the corners of my composition. Those two strips of paper definitely helped me narrow down the space left in between the two spaces of white paper. However, in my pile of random cut-out figures, I had a figure that almost resembled a leaf. I wanted the style of the leaf to correspond with the style of the two pieces of paper. I had previously created a contrast between the "black positive space" as well as the "white positive space" within the white blocks of paper. As a matter of fact, I had also included a contrasts between positive and negative space in between the wave-like strip of paper and the white paper block in the corner of my composition. Similarly, I had cut out part of the middle of the leaf-like figure to show the contrast between positive and negative space. In addition, I wanted to make the center of the composition slightly more intriguing because the corners of my composition were already so symmetrical. I decided to show how the balance of a certain leaf's curvature was affected by the following leaf.