Relief Piece!

This piece was a very long, difficult process that i was glad to be apart of every step of the way. I started off trying to come up with ideas to make a relief piece, and as my teacher was explaining examples of artwork other students have done in the past she came across a project she found on pinterest as well as one she tried herself; multiple square tiles that fit together to create one picture. This got me thinking about designs and other ideas that i enjoyed as well as wanted to try. I started off with making 9 square 4x4 tiles and making sure they all fit together correctly. After this i sat down staring at the clay figuring out how to make relief out of these tiles. I thought of a certain design I have always had interest in and that was mandalas. I researched many differet complex designs and took bits and pieces from each one to create my own mandala design. After completing my madala design in my sketch book, i lightly drew my design on to my 9 clay tiles and made it the correct size. I chose which parts of the mandala would stick out or be carved out. After this i had so much relief and spaces that i thought about adding another material into my piece. I thought about something that was given to me as a present that i absolutely love. This was a glass skull in the picture above. So i decided to add glass to my piece and melt it in the kiln when my piece would be fired. The rest of the open space i painted using glaze, some of which also had broken pieces of glass mixed into the paint to create a different design compared to just a solid color. Overall i believe my piece turned out quite well! However, if i were to work with clay tiles again, i would be 100% sure that my tiles lined up perfectly to make sure the piece fit together. I also would choose my glaze colors a little more carefully, to make sure all of my colors work well together. This project was a very fun learning experience, even if the process did take an extensive amount of time. I love the way it turned out no matter how it looks because i put hard work into this and that is all that matters!

Final Exam Blog!

Oil pastels on canvas

Oil pastels on canvas

I create original art: 

I came up with the idea of creating these pieces when i was sitting in my room on a saturday night all alone. I was sad so i wanted to express it through art! The only materials i had were oil pastels and canvas. So i started smudging colors together to create a beautiful colorful background, then added small trees to the bottom of the canvas. Followed by this piece, i purchased a much larger canvas and did the same thing with brighter colors in class. However, on the larger canvas i wanted to create a one point perspective with the trees on the outside edges making it seem as if you were looking up at the sky. Originally i was trying to make the sky look like the northern lights, but it turned out more unrealistic and colorful than any normal sky. I like to think of it as my visual of life or earth, as so much more beautiful than it portrays itself to be! 

Text Art Project

Digging Deeper~~

Challenges~~

Final Project~

I want to spell out a word with string and nails. Like this but smaller:

Book Carving Project

This project was challenging but a very good learning experience. Coming up with what to carve into a book was difficult, but it made it easier to have categories to narrow it down. I chose the category simplicity. I chose this category because I think simple is beautiful. Coming up with simple things was not as difficult as I thought it would be. I came up with the idea to do a dream catcher. Dream catchers are very peaceful and they make me happy so I decided to do one. This project is very important to have a clear plan before starting because it requires you to plan out your layers and to draw out your design. You must do this before starting or else you will just mess up. I faced many challenges while doing this project such as cutting too far, or accidentally cutting something I didn't mean to. I struggled with using the xacto knife and keeping my lines fluid and steady. I overcame them with practice, and restarting. My design was just a simple dream catcher with a sun in the background and a couple triangles to add a design. I took many risks while doing this project, such as adding triangles at the last minute and gluing a couple pieces that ripped. Overall I think that my project turned out well even if I got a little frustrated with it. Struggling in art is what makes you an artist. Trying is all I can do to succeed!

Mixed Media- cigar box

For my mixed media project I came up with the idea to paste tissue paper on to a cigar box, and then do a collage on top of it. I couldn't come up with any ideas on what to do with the collage so I flipped through magazines and I kept seeing beautiful eyes on all of the models. It made me think about this quote that I liked; "the eyes are the windows to the soul." So I decided to make a sun out of eyes and put the quote in the middle. I showed variety in my piece by using tissue paper and cutting out pictures of magazines. I used different colors to draw attention to the piece along with different sized and shaped eyes. Ive experienced working with mixed media such as collages and other related things. I used to love journaling and collaging, so I have done all sorts of projects related to this project. I used a new technique, however, that I learned from my lovely teacher Mrs.Rossi. This technique is to make magazine photos transparent. If you can tell, the eyes on the outside of the sun, the rays, are transparent. Our lessons on visual journaling played a big part in my project. We practiced pasting the tissue paper into our notebooks, and it helped me get the right technique to do it well on my cigar box. For the most part this project was easy, but I did come across a couple of points that were difficult. For example when i was pasting the eyes down, I had trouble making the sun circular. I also had trouble opening the cigar box a couple times because the glue would make the box stick together. I over came these obstacles and I like the way it turned out. I liked this project and i hope i something similar soon.

Non-traditional Self Portrait~ tic-tac edition

When I heard that the theme was going to be self-portraits, not gonna lie I quivered. Then I heard that we could have partners, so I wasn't as upset. Me and my partner Connor sat there thinking of what we could do for the self-portrait, along with who. We decided to do a dog, and of course Connor insisted on it being his dog. We thought it would be fun if we posterized it on photo-shop and then did it with tic-tacs. We came up with tic-tacs because we wanted something small and round, and Connor came up with it right off the bat. I think that it makes the piece look better because it can be compared to the pixels in the printed picture. It makes it look even better, and it allows your senses to feel, see, and smell. I think the use of tic-tacs was an important part of the piece because i don't think any other material would have captured the picture better. We took the risks of choosing an edible material, for as it could have melted because we were using the hot glue gun. We also took the risk of spray painting some of the white tic-tacs black, when it could have just rubbed right off or spread to other colors. This piece draws you in with your senses, and it makes you want to touch and smell it. We most definitely thought outside of the box with this piece, and I think it turned out really well. 

Sticky Situation- Candy Road

When I heard the theme "Sticky Situation", it made me think about things that were sticky such as gum, glue, food, candy, etc. I liked the idea of candy, so I branched off of that idea and came up with Candy Land, the board game. I was originally going to do a candy land, but I just stuck to doing the paths. I was able to think outside the box with my ideas because the theme is so broad; although I suppose I could have stepped even more outside of the box. As you can see in the picture below there is a pattern of the repeating colors on the never ending path. The black background was painted black to make the path pop with color. Using acrylic paint as my medium was a very good choice in my opinion because I think it captures the colors better and dimension well. However, painting is not my choice of method; though the mini lessons did help me a little with my control of my brush and my precise lines. Overall I think that my painting turned out well, even if I do wish I had a little more time to work on it and make it look like a real Candy Land.