Sculpture and change(Blogpost#5)

My clay sculpture (the word Allah/god in Arabic)

Through my sculpture project with clay I explored the artist behavior "Artist Develop Art making Skills". I know most people have used clay before, like in middle school, but since I never really got that opportunity, working with clay was a new experience for me which I learned alot from.The first thing I learned was that you need to air out your clay before using it and that  you need ventilation holes on your sculpture.Luckily I was able to make my holes at the bottom of the sculpture where it was't very visible.The other technique I applied was similar to cross hatching on the edges of the three pieces of clay which I wanted to join together then squeezing over them so they kind merge and become one piece. My clay sculpture is a one piece sculpture but when I was making it I had to make it in 3 different parts then join them together (with the help of that technique) so it looks like one.

An old clay sculpture
made for a goddess

The second art behavior I used through my artwork was "Artist Communicate Through their work".When I was thinking of ideas for my clay sculpture, I was amazed by how oldern civilizations had used clay to make statues for their gods.I thought that was a cool idea and that I wanted to communicate my beliefs through clay in a a similar way, so I decided that my sculpture would be the Arabic word for "Allah", the god I believe in. This idea allowed me to express my personal beliefs and my artwork reflects upon what I value.

My sculpture- broken in half!

The third artistic behavior was "Artists Slove Problems". When I was planning out my sculpture I decided that I wanted my sculpture to be able to stand up straight in the end. My idea was that once I made the word I would attach a base ( kinda like the ones that are on the bottom of trophies) to the bottom of the word. However when I finished making the word I saw that I wouldn't  have enough clay for that and decided  against it. Instead it just made the bottom side of the word flat and reckoned that it would stand. Looking back on this now, I do wish I'd made the base because the sculpture doesn't really stand. Another mistake I made was putting it in my bag to bring it home, thinking that because it wasn't round or anything, it wouldn't break.Wrong again!It did break but I fixed it up with some rubber cement glue. Although my mistakes may seem trivial, I've realized that as an artist you need to be careful with how practical you make your artwork (whether it can stand or not)and you should be careful with handling it too.

Style and Color Projects (Blogpost#4)

Color Project : Happiness Spreads

Through my artwork I used the "Artists Communicate Through Art Emotion" behavior. I expressed the emotion  of happiness in two ways. First I used bright colors for the balloons to represent happiness whereas as I used a dull color like brown for the objects into which happiness was spreading.The other thing was the idea I used. In my idea the colorful balloons symbolized happiness and whatever object they were touching, happiness spread into it.That's why the clouds look half colorful.By carefully choosing my colors and having a good idea, I was able to convey happiness.This artwork is about me because I believe anybody can spread happiness and it can be spread into anyone.

Style Project : Elephant or  Skull

The second behavior I used was "Artist Have a Global Awareness of Art making". For the style project I had to research into art history about Salvador Dali.I found out that he played a very significant part in art history because he was part of the Dada,Cubism and Surrealism movement. His approach on surrealism was very unique and it got him accepted into the Surrealist Group.I also used the internet to find out about his optical illusions which inspired me to create one of my own.I also used the internet to take out pictures of  Dali's work, which I used to show the class during my presentation on Dali.

Dali's Illusion which inspired mine.

The third behavior I used was "Artists Take Risks". Through my color project I used acrylic paint which I was unfamiliar with.In the beginning I couldn't decide between water and acrylic paint, but I decided to  try working with the one which was new to me and thus ended up using acrylic.By taking this risk I assumed that the color wouldn't spread easily (like into the cloud),but it turned out the other way.I am glad I took the risk of using acrylic because it made my painting look vibrant and unique.The other risk I took was in the Style Project. Dali's painting were hard but his optical illusions were even harder.I didn't think of this at the beginning because the way Dali painted them, made them look really easy and I wanted to make one of my own.It was a big risk because if you messed up on the colors you used or the way you drew pictures the painting would not become a successful illusion.However,I wanted to try to reach another arting level close to that of Dali and after a lot of planning, I was able to complete the optical illusion and it was worth taking the risk .  

My Space Joke (Blogpost#3)

This is my artwork called "The Space Joke" (hope you get it!) and its theme is space.

My artwork!

In this project I gained more skill with oil pastels and learned some new techniques which made my artwork more appealing. One of these techniques is scumbling which is really easy to do and gives an interesting texture to objects. I used scumbling for the planet upon which the aliens are standing. The random scumbling pattern looked really nice after I had applied more layers because it seemed natural and the texture stood out even better.I also used the curved lines technique for the saturn-planet on the top right to make the planet seem naturally round. Burnishing and highlights on that planet also make it seem realistic- as if the light form the spaceship is falling on the planet.

Example of scumbling

Through my artwork I tried to convey humor through words and a unique perspective.Since you always hear comments and jokes about humans seeing UFOs, I wanted to take a twist on it. I wanted the viewer to think that with all the space ships humans have put out there, aliens might see us as the rare UFOs, and we should think more openly about such topics. By using a comic-like perspective and the words in speech bubbles I was able to convey the joke and message.

Pencil Details transform green blobs into fingers. 

In this project I made 2 unexpected mistakes and learnt how beneficial it is to problem solve. The first mistake occured when I had written "LOOK HON" in the speech bubble then realized that the who whole joke would not possibly fit in the predrawn speech bubble.I solved this problem by having the other alien face the first and giving her a speech bubble of her own. Besides being able to fit the whole joke now, the joke seemed more funny and realistic because it seemed like a conversation.The other problem was when I drew the alien's hands it looked like green blobs which weren't poiting to anything. By adding a dark outline with pencil for fingers I solved my problem and achieved the finger pointing effect that I wanted.

2 in 1: Flamingos and text (Blogpost #2)

Cut out magazine letters like those I used

I got the idea of drawing over text from a Pintrest picture of a giraffe over text. I combined this idea with my own unique ones by drawing flamingos instead, and incorporating them in a scene so it would seem more interesting. I also added cut out magazine letters which spell the word "flamingos" to give the picture life and character.

 

Example of burnishing

For this project I used oil pastels, and ended up gaining more proficiency then I had before.I learned that you can use the burnishing technique with oil pastels too.Not only does this make the colors look more vibrant but it also blends better if you apply it in layers.Using this technique I colored the flamingos pink with peach,yellow, red and white pastels.They blended well and and gave the flamingos a natural color.

My artwork (2 in 1 Flamaingos over Text)

Through this project I learned that it is important to take feedback so that you can gain a better understanding of your art and how it can be improved. After I had completed the coloring the flamingos, I asked my friend Jesse how it looked. I thought she was going to judge the flamingos only, but she pointed out something I hadn't noticed. She said that the proportion of the trees to that of the flamingos was a bit off, because the tree looked small in comparison to the big flamingos. Thanks to her advice I was able to improve my artwork and in the future I'll look for such things.