Watercolor Shadow Box Entry

-Why have artists throughout history created landscapes? How have concepts surrounding landscape painting changed over time?

Landscapes have been used throughout history as maps and documentation for what is around us. Without developed photography, paintings of landscapes are the closest thing to realism. Things have changed in landscape from basic form, to realism, to more of telling a story. There are so many variations to this art form. 

-How did you address themes related to "exploration" in your artwork? How does your landscape convey a place that is significant to you? Explain.

In my artwork, I conveyed exploration not only in a physical sense, but in a mental sense. My artwork is something out of a fantasy of mine. This place is significant to me because it is somewhere that always shows up in my dreams. It is place I always dream of going, and so it is some place that I would love to explore and experience, if only. 

-Describe the key components of "landscape". How are these elements visible within your landscape shadow box?

The key components of landscape are a background, mid ground, and foreground. In my artwork I incorporated that, with the sky as my background, the castle as my mid ground and the clouds and waves as my foreground. Every piece is very visual so you can see all of them. 

-What four watercolor techniques did you use? Where are they evident in your painting? 

I used epsom salt to add starriness and texture to my city scape. I used rubbing alcohol as the pattern or texture of the dirt and land underneath the city. I did layering with purple for the clouds. I did blending to do the gradient pattern on the sky in the background. 

-Overall, do you enjoy using watercolor as a painting medium? Do you prefer watercolor or acrylic?

Overall, I absolutely love watercolor as a medium. It is such a nice, light paint, and it is so easy to layer colors seamlessly again and again. And I like how you never have to throw away watercolor paints because it hardens over time and you can just add a little water and it is good to go again. It's just the best paint ever. 

Shadow Box Critique

Which Shadow Box did you choose?

Olivia Stites' project

1. What was your initial response to your chosen shadow box? Why did you choose it to critique?
It was incredibly eye catching. It has all of my favorite colors and it is absolutely beautiful and very clean. It is very put together.

2. What is successful about this project?
It is a very cohesive piece. All of the layers really work together to make a full look that is put together, and a landscape that really makes you want to go there.

3. What constructive feedback can you give to the artist?
I would just say to try and manage your time. I feel like she could have easily had the foam core in between the layers if she was able to manage her time. Also, I would work on making the definition in the leaves and the water more clear.

4. How well did the artist use watercolor techniques? Are all four techniques evident?
She did the bloom technique that looks great, blending, layering, and wet on wet. I think it was
a good move because it added to the piece, it wasn't just an extra for fun.

5. Is there a clear foreground, middle ground, and background?
Yes there is. The background is the blue sky with clouds, the middle ground is the landscape with the mountains, and the foreground is the trees and water.

Unique Perspective Painting

Unique Perspective Painting Entry

- What did you choose to paint and why? How does your subject matter relate to your personal or cultural identity?

I painted a picture of my brother and dad from a very long time ago when we had taken family photos in England. It connects to my personal identity in that they are a part of what makes me who I am. My family is everything to me and that picture brings back such good memories of childhood and family. 

-How did you use perspective to create an engaging artwork? How does this effect your final composition?

It was a very interesting perspective. The camera was from the angle of my brother sitting on my dad with a leg out in front of him and how the foot was the closest thing to the camera and it just went out from there. It made it very difficult because some parts of the body had to be drawn and painted bigger than others. 

-What did you learn through the creation of this painting? How will you apply this knowledge to future projects?

I really learned how to make the proper colored skin colors! It is so difficult to make skin colors as complex as mixed people and black people because our undertones are so wishy washy! But now I enjoy matching colors like that, and it's pretty great. I am actually pretty happy with it. 

Grid Painting

My piece is a painting I did using acrylic paint, of my parents Natalie and Steven Reyes, 

I did it because I love them so much and the picture I chose is one of my favorite ones of them and I thought taking this picture and making it so many different styles would be a lot of fun. 

What did you learn about color mixing through these exercises?

I learned that making skin color is not as bad as you think, and shading isn't as bad as you think. I just feel like the more you paint with these colors, the easier it is to mix. 

What techniques and strategies did you use while painting these three sections?

I think that one technique I used a lot was having about five different shades of every color you use, It adds a depth and interest to the art you produce that would otherwise not be there because it's not really in reality. When we used many colors I was able to really think about the color I needed to have for shading and be able to blend it so that it would be perfect. 

What did your struggle most with? How did you overcome obstacles?

My biggest struggle with this project was honestly staying in the lines! the whole time I just wanted to break the structure of the grid so that I could continue a stroke of paint. It was hard to abruptly stop when that us such a major way that I dod it. 

What is successful? 

My Roy Lichenstein square is really spot on. Not only does it toatally look like a cartoon character, it also totally looks like my dad. It's clean and the colors pop and I love that square! 

* Write the following information about your research.

*Artist: __Roy Lichentein ________________________________________

Time Period:____1923-1997_____________  Associated Art Movement: __________Pop Art __________

What are the characteristics of your artist’s work?

How does your work reflect the style of your chosen artist?

It is spot on if  do say so myself! It really looks like something he would do.  I think that he would respect the way I took his art style and put my own spin on it.

*Art Movement: _______Expressionism _______________________________

Time Period: _____________Beginning of the 20th century__________

How would you describe the work that resulted from this art movement?

It changed the norm for the culture for art by changing things from the classical type of art to being able to work outside the box and come up with less perfect. They were able to express themselves in an emotional way using brush strokes and vivid colors. The whole purpose is to look deeper into the meaning of the artwork, rather than physical appearance. 

How does your work reflect the style of this movement? 

*Cultural Art Form: _______________Cave__Painting _________________

Time Period: ___________40,000 years ago! _______________

Describe the style and visual qualities of the artwork from your chosen culture.

Wel, since the artists of this time were very primitive, their art was wild, with no definitive lines or structure. It was all to tell a story, like their way of keeping tabs on their own history. It was all done from things found in nature, so it was naturally extremely messy. 

How does your work reflect the style of your chosen culture?

For this square I really identified with how messy and wreckless it was, especially after struggling with that square for forever. I got pretty primal with it, covering my hand in paint and making my mark on my artwork. It actually ended up being pretty sweet. 

Mandala Color Wheel

Plaster Pics

Plaster Animal Sculpture

-What animal did you choose to create? Why?

I created a panther, or rather, just a big kitty. Why? Well, because I had a lot of trial and error and I have a lot of respect for big cats, them being the only type of cat I don't despise. So it felt like the next best idea. 

-How well did you capture the form of your animal? What challenges did you run into? How did you overcome any issues that you encountered?

I think the form really does look like a cat, mostly thanks t the help that Ms. Bousquet gave me because I'm really bad at this 3D art stuff. I mean I am REALLY bad. But it definitely has the shape of a real wildcat. Originally, I was doing an orangutan baby, and I almost had it down, but the appendages just wouldn't look right no matter what was done to them, and after plastering, it looked nothing like a monkey. At all. It truly looked like an astronaut, and it was awful beyond repair. So we trashed that, and with the help of Ms. Bousquet, and lots of tape and newspaper, the Graffiti Kitty was born. 

-How did you choose to embellish your sculpture? Do you feel like your craftsmanship is neat and that you effectively used all materials?

I did more of an artistic take on the cat, rather than a realistic look. I was trying at first to get the realistic approach down, but everything was looking cartoon-y and lopsided. Also, realism is not really my style. I am a big fan of geometric shapes and crazy patterns, and I used that to design my cat, which I think came out really awesome. I think that it is neat, in a sense that it's cohesive and put together, but I think it's not neat as far as visual appeal, and I don't want it to be. I wanted it to be my style, which is a little wild and fun. 

-Overall, did you like the assignment?

I didn't really enjoy the process of making it. I'm not a big fan of 3D art, I would much rather just draw on paper or paint on canvas. So that was really my struggle, as it continues to be in Mixed Media. However, I think it was a cool skill to learn, and I can definitely see it coming in handy when I build sets and make props as an intern for Patrick Dorow Productions. He really loves to build his sets with artwork and craftiness, so I bet he'd love something like this. I really did enjoy the work after the model had been made, designing it and giving it my own creative touch. That part is the best every time, and I loved drawing all over the model and really making  the cat come to life the way I envisioned it in my head. 

Trashion Project

What is the idea behind your design? 

Our idea was do a really fun outfit. We like a lot of bright colors and bold looks, because we knew that I'd be wearing and so it had to pack a punch. We thought that since chip bags come in all sorts of awesome vibrant colors, we'd use them to make a collage-style cool skirt. And then we could do the top a really basic color and focus on cool accents like an eye catching belt and really cool necklaces. It came out pretty cool. 

Who was your partner? How well did you work together? Did you each have specific jobs, or did you work collaboratively on each aspect of your design?

I was partnered with Kasie Stroheker. We worked pretty good as soon as we found the best way to collaborate. We realized that if we worked on the same task at the same time it would go really slow and we'd have too many conflicting ideas that it just wouldn't go well. But when we broke up the tasks, it started to work so much better. We actually started making progress and really getting the project done. So we each had different parts. 

What did you contribute to the success of your design? What was your role?

I drew up our original design, which Kasie and I planned together.  I made the top of the dress, helped with making the underneath skeleton of the skirt, and I made the necklaces for the dress. It was a pretty challenging project, but I am happy with what we accomplished.