in progressfinal This is my second concentration piece. This one is from Geneva, Switzerland in Old Town at St. Pierre Cathedral at the very tippy top. To get to this view my family had to buy tickets, then wait by a secret door, and then go up many many flights of stairs. The architecture is very beautiful, which is my favorite part of this picture. I am going to outline the harsh lines and the outlines of the building with a black. This will exaggerate the perspective and highlights the precise lines. I am not going to add my wonderful mother in the final piece because I want to focus on the architecture. It was very cold and windy last April. My main goal was to make the architecture as similar as possible, but to let the realism dial back.
When I started this piece I outlined all of the prominent lines in the cathedral. I then went in and started to color in each of the blocks with an array of grays and browns. I focused on making the shading of each block correct more than making it an exact replica. I used most of the grays I had in my Prismacolor set and only a few browns to make this. It took me multiple days to finish - mostly because I got sick of doing the same thing for hours on end. Each block I would start the same, depending on its shading I would make it darker or more brown. I did have a bit of a challenge when I started. It was exam day and I had forgotten all of my micron pens at home, so I asked everyone in my class if I could use theirs. Chloe, being the angel she is, let me borrow hers. The only problem was they were basically dry and I was panicking. Good thing Mrs. Rossi had nice pens already in her classroom that I used to create the final piece. That was the most stressful part of this project. By this point I stress immensely when deadlines come up, but when they are here I relax because I know everything will be okay, and College Board will see twenty-four pieces.
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in progressFInal This is my first piece in my concentration. "Places I've Been" is the title of it and I am pulling the pictures from overseas trips I have been on. How I am exploring one of the elements of art is taking my favorite part from each picture and exaggerating it. Each piece in my concentration will mostly be exaggerating the lines, shapes, and color - three of the seven elements of art.
For this piece, from Geneva, Switzerland, de l'eau which is a water jet that releases pressure from the lake which creates nuclear energy. Even though the water jet is awesome, the fact that swans were within two feet of me and modeling was even better. So I got the idea to outline it with a few colors to enhance the vibrance and accentuate the focal point of this piece. In this piece I added saturated colors outlining the swan while taking into account the spacing of the picture; I wanted the outline to be impactful and the first thing anyone would notice at first glance. Since Mr. Swan is slightly to the right I made each color in the outline thicker on the left side near its face - to hopefully create more balance. After I finished the outline I then started to recreate the photo in the rest of the piece. I ended up doing the sky next and used three colors to create the sky gradient, and drew some clouds while creating depth using a sky blue. The clouds were very tedious and got in the way of some of the boat pole things. ~This is where the rich bankers park their boats in Geneva.~ I used a lot of blending techniques to create the effect I did. I then realized I should include the Alps in the piece because they are in the picture, so I used a white and a dark grey and blended them together. At this point in the project I had realized this is not my ~aesthetic~ but I really liked how it was turning out. I love recreating images I take and making them into art. Now I also love adding a cool twist to it and making it an original piece. I was also scrambling for more time since I have very little left. After this point, the art will be rushed, I will be very stressed, and I will be unhappy that I art slow. There is no way that I will ever art at a faster pace than I do now. I am sorry, but it is the truth.
in progress photosfinalreflection1. How did you brainstorm your idea?
I brainstormed by thinking of different ideas and writing them down in my sketchbook. I had a common theme of using animals and adding metal utensils to enhance it. I continued this until I reached twenty unique ideas. 2. Why did you choose this idea? I chose this idea because I was debating between the narwhal, my personal favorite, and the windup elephant, Mrs. Rossi's personal favorite. I was 100% certain I was going to draw the narwhal, but there weren't any good clear pictures so I decided to go with the elephant. 3. What challenges did you encounter? I went through many challenges through the duration of the project. I started off hating this project, I didn't like the idea of the project at all, but it's for a grade so I had to do it. I was then told I didn't add enough mechanical to my elephant, but wind up toys only have the metal windup. I wanted to keep the background all natural, so I compromised with adding more mechanical to the elephants face. The wrinkles of the elephant were very hard to work with because they would blend into the skin very often, while also the shading was slightly difficult. The wrinkles took up all of my time and it was very meticulous. 4. Reflect on your growth and how to apply what was learned to further projects. I have grown with my patience throughout this art piece - I did not enjoy the slowness. At this point I am just learning small skills to help better each of my pieces. I feel like I am becoming a better artist every piece I do. The wrinkles were the biggest part of this piece and it also taught me the most. The additional layering and the process of blending was what I practiced on. 5. Describe your artistic process when creating the piece. After planning the layout I picked an elephant and drew out exactly what it looked like, then I took a different picture to create the landscape in the background. Next I added the mechanical parts to the elephant to the best of my ability. I decided it would be best to color the mechanical part first to get the easy part out of the way. The rest of the piece took me many days to finish with lots of different techniques for the elephant, mechanical, and the nature. 6. What is your favorite part of your piece? I do not have a favorite part of my nature mechanical. I could do without it in my portfolio. This style is not mine so I did not have a connection with this piece. I do think the elephant is cute as a whole. 7. If you could change one thing what would you change? If I could change anything I wouldn't. I think this piece is "meh," there is nothing I love and there is nothing I hate. I think I executed this project well and with good technique, so I do not feel as if it is not good enough or needs to change. To fall in love with my piece I would have to change the whole premise of the project, and that is not acceptable and would affect my grade.
in progressfinalreflection1. How did you brainstorm your idea?
I brainstormed by looking through my camera roll to find pictures of landscapes. I picked the best landscapes with an interesting composition. Then I printed them out and put them in my sketchbook. 2. Why did you choose this idea? I had a hard time finding landscapes that I took, there were very few. I had to do a landscape in painting before this one, so I had to pick two out of the ones I took. I picked the Alps for Art 4 when I had to pick one for painting weeks ago. 3. What challenges did you encounter? I encountered challenges through the duration of this piece. I blocked out the clouds in the sky very messy because I did not know how I going to execute it. Eventually I decided to add a light blue to add texture and blend the edges of the clouds into the sky. The trees were a whole different deal. I had a hard time figuring out how to make all of the tiny trees and look realistic while adding value. I had no idea what I was doing. The mountains were also hard because the white was very thin so I had to add many layers. 4. Reflect on your growth and how to apply what was learned to further projects. With this being mys second landscape I think I made it as well as I possibly could. The trees were the hardest part. Throughout the whole piece I used tiny brush strokes to create the look of leaves. I also added different values to the trees so it would show the depth in the piece. I have practiced techniques to make trees look more realistic, from this I will use it for my next oil paint landscape. 5. Describe your artistic process when creating the piece. Like most projects it was a lot of winging it and hoping it turns out okay. It was easy to pick the picture, and after that it was all about trying to make the landscape look as realistic as possible. For the sky I was focused on blending and for the land I was focused on creating texture. The ground was quite tricky with the snow and the scarce trees. But by the end I worked on the fine details in the painting. 6. What is your favorite part of your piece? My favorite part of the painting is the sky. I really enjoy the color of the sky and how Incorporated blue in the clouds to show its transparency or the wispyness. I am very proud of that part of my painting. 7. If you could change one thing what would you change? If I could change anything would be the trees. I would go back and take more time trying to to make the trees look more realistic than they turned out. Maybe even the size of them, I would make them smaller and more life-size to the image. I always say this, but I would also like to change how long I took on this piece. For this class I value my pieces being the best they possibly could, instead of my pieces being done on time. Before I started my first oil painting we had to practice painting still life using two different techniques. My whole class had to paint two apples and use a brush technique for one and a pallet knife technique for the other. I had a hard time at first since I never had done still life in oil paint. It took me days to complete this half decent one on the left. We had to use highlights and shadows while also creating a background for both. I let go the attempt for perfection in the pallet knife apple because that would never be achieved. Thus creating the apple seen on the right.
PracticeIn class before we started our self portraits we practiced how to draw faces. We started by drawing the image on the left, where we made up features and drew an upside down egg for the face. Then we then progressed into drawing individual facial features, shown in the image on the right. We did an eye, the nose, and the lips.
In progressFINALReflection1. How did you brainstorm your idea?
I brainstormed by looking through my camera roll to find pictures of myself. I picked the selfies that were the most interesting, the ones that had different facial expressions and other objects in them. Then I printed them out and put them in my sketch book. 2. Why did you choose this idea? I chose this idea by staring the ones I liked in my sketch book, then I let Mrs. Rossi tell me the ones she liked. We both liked this one, so that was it I was going to do it. 3. What challenges did you encounter? I encountered challenges throughout the creation of this piece. It took me awhile to sketch it on the canvas and even longer to grid it - I cannot draw straight lines for the life of me. Painting is something I like to do, but it is not what I am the strongest in, so my face was the hardest part. I had a hard time blending colors together in the skin, eyes, and hair. At one point both of my eyes were too big. Then getting my face in paint to match the picture was extremely hard and took time and effort. I also did not know what to do in the windows' reflection with the house and trees; at that point I decided to wing it. This took a very long time to complete. 4. Reflect on your growth and how to apply what was learned to further projects. I think this turned out as well as I possibly could make it. I worked extremely hard on this and tried to achieve perfection - obviously I did not achieve that, but good enough. From this project and the practice I did before this I learned how to draw and paint a more realistic face. I even learned how to mix skin tones! From this project I will use my knowledge I have obtained to create better and more realistic self portraits. 5. Describe your artistic process when creating the piece. While creating my piece I was trying to make my portrait look as most like me as possible. So I arted to be precise and meticulous. I painted in sections so it would be easier to focus on one specific part, instead of the whole picture. I have learned that I art better when I section my piece off. I then tried not to mess up throughout the duration of this project. But there were some hiccups and bums and dead ends, I dealt with those by winging it and asking for help. 6. What is your favorite part of your piece? My favorite part of my piece is my face. I think I did a great job on it. I believe my piece looks like me. I think I nailed the shadows and highlights on my face, and no unneeded placement of shadows. 7. If you could change one thing what would you change? If I could change anything would be how long it took me to complete this piece. I have a tendency to get fed up with pieces and not want to complete them, and that happened towards the middle. I really enjoy the composition but it was a very difficult piece to create and finish.
In progressFinalReflection1. How did you brainstorm your idea?
I brainstormed by looking through my camera roll to find pictures of my dog. I looked for pictures of my dog facing towards me and cute ones. It was easy to choose which animal, since I only have one pet. 2. Why did you choose this idea? I chose this idea because out of all the ten pictures Mrs. Rossi only liked this one. This picture was one of my favorites so I was very happy with her choice. I also loved the shadows and highlights on her fur and in the background. This is not the basic pet photo. 3. What challenges did you encounter? I encountered many challenges throughout the project. It started with trying to figure out how to get the color of her fur correctly. She is brindle, so she has tiger stripes and not just one tone; this made it very challenging to place all of the blacks and whites in the correct place. I also found it quite difficult to get the shadow on her face. I also did not know what to do with the background, I finally decided to do a solid color background. 4. Reflect on your growth and how to apply what was learned to further projects. I believe I am good at prisma and I love to draw my dog so I really enjoyed this project. I have learned that animal fur takes time, patience, and layers. With Shelby's fur some of the colors were dulled with each layer, so I went back in to add the highlights and shadows back. The saturation of the fur was easier to get with the darker colors. I have learned that keeping the prismas sharpened is the fastest way to success. From this project I will use the knowledge I have acquired for animal portraits, so the next one will be more realistic. 5. Describe your artistic process when creating the piece. While creating my piece I was precisely focused on making Shelby look as realistic as possible. Each day I worked on it was all about recreation. I like to draw the pictures exactly, so each day I tried to do the same type of thing with the fur and recreation. 6. What is your favorite part of your piece? My favorite part of my piece is Shelby's face. It resembles her a lot and I am very proud of it. That part of the piece took the longest and is the focal point. I made sure the face was the best because when people look at an animal their face is one of the most identifying features it has. Each stroke of fur was carefully placed and more or less in the correct spot. 7. If you could change one thing what would you change? If i could change one thing it would be the placement of Shelby and how big she is. I would make Shelby smaller and have more of her showing. I think the piece would look slightly better zoomed out, to show more of Shelby.
in progressFINALreflection1. How did you brainstorm your idea?
I brainstormed by thinking of objects that I use in my everyday life. After that, I looked at what I bring to school and how I use it. The point of this project was to make an everyday object extraordinary, so after I had twenty ideas I put how I would make them extraordinary. 2. Why did you choose this idea? I chose this idea because I wanted to challenge myself. I have a tendency to not be able to draw straight lines and create correct perspective. In this reference photo there are many straight lines and 3-D objects. I also love the simplicity that this photo creates. 3. What challenges did you encounter? I encountered many challenges throughout the project. It started with the straight lines - I really am troubled at drawing lines correctly. In this photo there are shadows due to the time of day it was taken, so they yellow-beige wall has some gray shading. I started trying to create this effect, but it turned out horribly, so I erased the wall and re did it three times; this was when Mrs. Rossi thought I was not getting anywhere in my project. I swear I was, I just could not get it right. Then I decided I would put brown instead of gray, which magically fixed my problem and it turned out okay. 4. Reflect on your growth and how to apply what was learned to further projects. I believe I am good at prisma, so this project was "up my alley" so I felt strong in the beginning and then at the end. But that weird gray thing threw me off for awhile. I have learned how to rework my art and make something a different color. By adding the brown I felt more confident and more happy in my piece. I will apply my flexibility to my future projects, because if it does not work I know I can find a way to make it work. 5. Describe your artistic process when creating the piece. While creating the piece I told myself to draw what I see, which is how I normally work. I focused hard on creating straight lines and having my classmates tell me if they were straight. Then I started to color and shade; I decided that I want to make up the wood's colors so it can be more cohesive. After that I worked on blending gray into all of the white. I take everything step my step, section by section. 6. What is your favorite part of your piece? My favorite part of the piece is all of the wood detailing. I am extremely happy how it turned out. It does not look exactly how it does in real life, but I like it better. I like how I executed the highlights and the shading in the individual planks and them all together. 7. If you could change one thing what would you change? If I could change one thing I would change my blending technique. I know if I did not restart three times that I could have made the blending more smooth. The blending for the wall is my main concern, but it is good enough, but there is always room for improvement.
In progressfinal Reflection1. How did you brainstorm your idea?
I brainstormed by thinking of objects that I use in my everyday life. After that, I looked at what I bring to school and how I use it. The point of this project was to make an everyday object extraordinary, so after I had twenty ideas I put how I would make them extraordinary. 2. Why did you choose this idea? I chose this idea because I thought every other idea was basic or someone had already done it. This idea was matured through my teacher and classmates helping me with what to put inside a lunchbox. My friend Sarah thought I should put an octopus in it--I loved the idea--then Mrs. Rossi suggested I should make the lunchbox a treasure chest. 3. What challenges did you encounter? I encountered thin paint. I personally HATE acrylic paint, so this project was not extremely enjoyable. I had to put many layers while having to make highlights and shadows, all the while the paint dried in seconds. I love oil, I miss it. I also had a problem with making the right purple for the octopus, after awhile I used the correct red to mix the cobalt blue with. 4. Reflect on your growth and how to apply what was learned to further projects. I have developed a skill with acrylic with this project. I have learned how to blend quickly while creating highlights and shadows. I also learned how to mix colors better and more quickly. By having these skills, this will help me to create acrylic pieces quicker and more efficiently. I have developed more of a patience for creating art and how to let go when I mess up; this leads to a less stressful process for creating artwork. 5. Describe your artistic process when creating the piece. When I started brainstorming, I was dead set on one idea and that one only. I had one octopus in mind and I knew I wanted to do a metal lunchbox. I then did not find a reference picture for the octopus and it turned out all cartoony, so I had to change everything. I decided to find a smaller octopus. Then realized there was a lot of negative space on the left, so I decided to fill it with a Hydro Flask. While doing this I knew I wanted the metal lunch box to represent a treasure chest - I just had no idea how to do it, and refrained from drawing anything so I would figure it out when I started to paint. Overall I knew the direction I was headed, but I did not know how to get there. 6. What is your favorite part of your piece? My favorite part of this piece is how I added texture and value to the octopus and lunch box. I struggled with those parts the most and I am happy how they turned out. 7. If you could change one thing what would you change? I would change the wood because I know that I know how to do it, but I do it best in oil paint. So I would have had spent more time dealing with the layers and the values longer; while adding some divots and gaps in the planks
After choosing two ideas to pick from I took pictures of my two ideas and sketched them out. I used my Birkenstocks and glasses for one and my bowl of scrunchies for the other. I chose these two items because these are two of the things that reflect me as a person. I have a problem, I have six pair of birks. GRANTED: I get most of them on sale using my savvy shopping skills. I also have a collection of scrunchies. At the end of this I decided to choose my Birkenstocks because that is something that means more to me. In progress picturesDuring the whole arting experience I came to many difficult challenges which dealt with how to create textures to create realism. I had trouble at first figuring out how to get the foot imprint in the bed of the Birkenstock, but after layering grays on different shades of brown it turned out nicely. Then when it came to the background I was stumped. I had no idea how to make the bricks look realistic like how they do in the photo. Instead of drawing the de-coloration of the bricks, I decided to dull it down. I am in love with the Birkenstocks, but I am not in love with the background. I wish I would have taken more time to figure out how to make the bricks more realistic. I also realized I was drawing this life size, so I feel like I grew as an artist by developing more of my realism techniques. I also took the advice of my teacher and classmates by adding colors that were not in the picture into the art piece, this was done in the reds of the bricks. Through the reflection project I have learned that I should still work smaller and that no matter what I can figure out a way to make everything look as realistic as possible. me in myThis is my Final.
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AboutThis page will be dedicated to my projects in art 4. This will be part one of a yearlong curriculum during my senior year. The contents on this page have a high probability to be added to my AP Art Portfolio at the end of the year, to send to College Board. I hope I make great art this semester so that next semester will be easier. Archives
January 2019
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