Reflecting on group work

I haven't had any problems with my group members so I like group work. Working in a group is different from working by yourself because you have to explain your idea and you have to plan more than if your working by yourself when you can just do whatever you want (which isn't always the best). I think that a challenge when working in a group is making sure that everyone's ideas are heard. I think that a good thing when working in groups is that peoples different ideas can make something look better then if your working alone.

Snacking behind the couch

End of Term 1 Reflection

For me this term has gone very well. At the beginning of the term I was a little worried that I would have a hard time with art and that I wouldn't be good at it. Though now I'm much more comfortable with drawing and I'm really excited for what I will learn next term. This term I learned that planning for a project and making sketches makes it a lot easier to create the finished piece. I think that as an artist I have grown in drawing from observation. I never thought that I would like drawing from observation or improve at it. For the next term I think that I should try using other materials (like paint) because I have been mostly using plain pencils lately.

Saturday School, Is it Worth it?

Pro

Con

The concept of these two drawings is to show the pro's and con's of going to German Saturday School. At first I had an idea and I thought "This will be easy" but then as I continued I didn't really like my first idea as much, so I ended up changing it a lot. I really like that I used the principles of design and I can see how they change the piece.

Chair with Coat

I think that this still life drawing was more complicated because of the different materials in the still life, the wood, fabric and leather, in the other still life's it was one material. I had a hard time showing that they were different, especially with making the seat of the chair having a shine/reflecting. I think that it was easier then the other still life's because it wasn't as busy so I could focus on the one object.
A skill that I used before was drawing really loosely at first then getting more specific. I also used (will use) the folds from the fabric still life to draw the coat. I also used a lot of shading in this drawing that I had used in all of the still life's.

Fabric Drawings

I think that it went pretty well. I think that the hardest part though is shading the folds and fabric. I think that drawing the fabric was also easier then drawing the sticks because it's more spread out and it's not all the same shape so I didn't get lost and forget what I was drawing.

Principles of Design Research

The picture that I looked at today is called "Nighthawks" by Edward Hopper.Part of the message of the piece of art was loneliness. Edward Hopper portrayed this by using a contrasting color to emphasize the restaurant/cafe (which had really bright light while outside it was completely dark) in which some people were sitting. He also used proportion (by making it bigger then the other buildings) to have the viewer focus on the restaurant/cafe. I think that the shadows on the building behind the restaurant/cafe also show loneliness and sadness, because there's no light besides the restaurant/cafe.

Found Object Sculpture Reflection Discusions

For my Sculpture project I got a lot of feedback that it looked like a flower. In my group to make it look more like a flame they said that I could bring up the sides more and close off the top, but they also like it the way it is.
In my group I think that all of the sculptures were successful. I think that Lili portrayed the "French Person" very well with the Hat (pot lid), and the mustache (wire). I think that Ysabel portrayed the little kid reading very well with the hair (wires) and the eyes (binocular lenses?). I also think that Daniel portrayed the bug very well because of the three beads as the eyes.

Found Images Collage

Found Object Sculpture Reflection

Flames or Flower?

My Sculpture is some matches with a flame coming from them. The flame is made from a paper umbrella, felt toys and beads. I got the idea from the matches, because they make fire (sort of). While working on my sculpture I first glued the felt to the umbrella to have a base of the flame. Then I started to add beads, just randomly to make it look more interesting. The problem that I had was that the sculpture didn't really look like a flame anymore. Now I know that (if I make a sculpture again) I should glue the beads on in lines to make it look more like a flame. I think that the most successful parts of my work are the colors and beads. I think that the fact that all the colors were found is pretty cool. I also really like the beads because they add little details and (I think that) they have a little sort of shimmer to them.

Pile of Sticks

I think that it went ok and I had a really hard time with it. I think at first it was easy, just drawing lines to represent how the sticks looked, but I avoided the middle of the pile because it would just have looked gray with random lines everywhere. I think that in a way it was fun. I really like drawing from perspective but I was trying too hard to draw the actual pile of sticks and have it look identical. I also kept forgetting which stick I had been drawing. I'm not too happy with the outcome of my picture because I really didn't have anything, all I had was the rough outline but I had no detail or feeling of the pile.

Mid-term Reflection (due sunday, 10/17)

I think that I'm doing pretty well in class. I think that a strength is that I have is writing down my brainstorming. I also really like drawing from perspective with charcoal. I think that I still need to work on speaking up more in class.  A strength for engagement is that in class I'm always engaged in my work and concentrating on it, but I still need to work on speaking up in class discussions and in class.  For the class projects I think that I need to work on thinking of ideas and putting my ideas on paper.  I really like the sketchbook and I have a lot of fun drawing in it. I think that with the sketchbook the only thing I have to work on it finishing the assignment sheet.  I really (so far) love the drawing from observation on Tuesdays. Drawing from observation was always something that I wanted to work on and get better at. The only problem with drawing from observation every Tuesday is that I have to stop working on a project.

The Changing Still Life

When drawing the changing still life one thing that I had to do was roughly draw the objects because it was changing so fast. I think that this helped in a way because then I was just putting down the main shape and placement of the objects instead of drawing the details and trying to get the circle exactly right.
A second thing I had to do was shading. With the jar when the bowl was added behind it I had enough time to put in the shape of the bowl and then shade over it where the jar covered because since the jar was glass you could see a blurred outline of the bowl.
The third thing I had to do was Erase. After all the objects were put in I had to erase the separate objects and change the picture as they were taken out. When some of the objects were taken out they didn't effect my picture as much because they were to the side but some (like the drift would and the first jar) were pretty important pieces that blocked a lot of stuff which I had to put back in.

Found Images Collage

I got the idea for the collage that I'm making from Ms. Roberts giving me the idea of using the green circles as a pattern. Then (since I had so many pictures of trees) I put a tree with the different seasons in each of the circles. At first I thought of making a collage with a really big tree and a little tree house in it,  but that wasn't very interesting.

Three Forms drawing

Today I first thought how am I going to do this. I really liked drawing today because we weren't putting in many details (like the flowers on the cup) it was just the shading. I think that it was kind of hard to get the main shape of the objects first. I think that the cup and the block were o.k. to draw but I think that I could have blended the shades more. The pine cone  was really hard because there isn't one main shape and while drawing it I kept on forgetting which part I had drawn.

Extended Pour Painting

Any Ideas?

Extending our findings from the Pour Painting

In the pour painting I had brought out a man with a hat (he kind of looked like an artist) and a igloo but the splatter effect of orange paint made it look like it was raining fire or ash on the igloo. My painting is showing an artist coming up with the idea of fire destroying the igloo. The artist got this idea from looking out the window where there's pollution. The message that I want to come across is if we're not careful then the environment can change so much that anything could happen.

Pour Paintings

When we started with the pour paintings I was a little confused. I also wasn't really sure what to do. I didn't really know what I was looking for. My group and I were just randomly pouring the paint onto the paper (which is I guess what we were supposed to do) but we weren't trying to make any shapes or objects with the paint. When giving up control of the paint I found it cool that it actually turned into shapes and objects without me really doing much. I also think that the paint was sometimes like rivers on the page and that if one part started to move more paint would follow.

When we had to bring out objects from the painting I started thinking "Uh-oh my groups didn't really try to make objects." After I stared at the painting for a bit I realized that there was a whole bunch of stuff in the picture. I got a little hesitant with bringing out the objects because I was scared about not making it look right. When I was bringing out objects in the pour painting I didn't really have a theme I just took out any objects that I saw. I think that I'm not completely done with the painting because if I look at it more then I'll probably see more objects and shapes to bring out.
 

Talk and Draw

I think that this was a cool and fun activity, because even though it was hard I was totally not worried about what other people would think because I doubt anyone got it right on. I think that it was challenging because when I was describing I couldn't name the object. While describing I kept saying that all the things were like cylinders because they were all manly circular and I don't know that many words for 3D objects. While drawing I found it challenging because I sometimes didn't know what my partner meant. I also really wanted to look at my partner because you look at people when they talk to you. I think that I would change this activity by using completely different objects when the partners switch because there was 1 object that was the same and that sort of helped with the placement of things.

Collaborative Drawings

I think that today I had a hard time first coming up with ideas. At first when I switched to another persons piece I didn't know what to draw, because I wasn't sure what the story was. Then as I got more comfortable with it I just made a story whether that's what the person was thinking or not. I think it was also cool to see what other people came up with for how to use the animals.

When someone else worked on my work at first I was scared that they would erase everything that I had made, but then I thought "No that would be too much work." So I was fine with it.

When I returned to my drawing I was surprised because everyone else was moaning about how their work was "destroyed" while I was thinking, this looks better. At first I thought this isn't that different from what I left except that it had more detail.

Thinking about the Artist

An artist is someone who is able to find what is beautiful in everyday objects and then use them in different ways.

I think that everything can be creative in one way or another and being creative is making a common object different in some way. Creativity can be as much as changing the way people create art to just baking some cookies.

I think that for artist to be creative and productive they have to be able to see both the whole picture and the details. The artist also has to be able to focus on one part of their work but still keep the whole picture in their head. I think that artists also need a quiet space to work where they can think.

Reflecting on Picasso quote

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up."
I think that Pablo Picasso means that when we are kids we just express ourselves more and don't really care about what others think. So when we grow up we start thinking more about how to impress others then to express ourselves. I also think it can mean that when we grow up we don't have enough time to use our creativity.