The painting I'm working on right now is a commission of two goldendoodles. It's on a relatively large canvas because I wanted to make sure I was able to fit both of them on it and accurately portray their features. This painting is proving to be a lot more difficult than my previous dog portraits because I've never met the dogs in real life and only have the pictures to go by, and I really dislike the way they look in general (no offense to them for being ugly). Although I think it is finally beginning to come together, and I am hoping to finish it within the next couple weeks. (This post is in place of the letter project, which I have only started). |
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I loved the blind contour drawing exercise because not only was it fun and a way to relax (not worrying about being perfect), the results looked amazingly weird and cool. It was great to see everyone else's end result as well because they were all so different, and what really pulled them together was not how "well" someone could draw without looking, but how they decided to pull everything together in a compositional sense. I am really happy with the way this turned out, and will probably add more detail into the colors so I could use it as a portfolio piece.
The video I watched was Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon. I think the part that stuck out to me the most was that the transformation of the ideas is the important part when it comes to "stealing" art; the way that you synthesize all the ideas and works that already exist in the world and turn them into something unique is what matters. There have been billions of people in the world, and it's nearly impossible at this point to come up with an idea that another person hasn't already in someway utilized. That's not a bad thing however, because that gives you the opportunity to take that idea and run with it, to combine it with all these other ideas and create something new, that hopefully inspires something else. Of course this way of thinking isn't limited to artists, but every single person in the world that wants to develop something of their own. I think the first slide violates copyright because it looks like the student used more than 80% of the original artwork, nearly everything in the picture is the exact same. Since it uses what looks like more than 80% of another work, it is illegal because it violates fair use: even if they are not profiting off of it, they still did not change the original piece enough to make it their own. The second slide does not violate copyright because even though the basic pose and body is the same, the student changed enough things around and added their own ideas so that they are two different, distinguishable pieces. As long as they aren't trying to make money off of the picture, I don't think it violates fair use. I chose challenge #2: Remix a Character and decided to turn Hatsune Miku (an anime character) into Rosie the Riveter. I used pieces from the character's original outfit as well as her defining feature (her teal pigtails) and replaced some with the clothes Rosie wears: the headscarf and blue shirt.
In the first video, The Stakeout, to me it's more about what the act of observation reveals about the observer (or in this case, the artist) than what is actually discovered. Like Sokolow said, it's really important to be curious, and especially to be aware of what's going on around you. Even when nothing really interesting happens, like the anticlimactic end of the video where a guy walks by and just steals the book and the money; doing absolutely nothing exciting or unexpected. Even if you don't get what you want out of your "observation," of course there is something valuable to be learned. In the second video, "Katie" describes some of her work that includes setting artwork up around various places in her city, and then observing until the right moment where someone walks by her art and she snaps a picture. To me, the video's main idea is that the actual act of "observation" IS the art that Katie makes. The shadows and thought bubbles set up around town only come alive when there is someone who interacts with it (whether they do so willingly or not). Here are 3 pages of my favorite timed sketches that I did, I couldn't fit all of them for the time being. (Please excuse the horrible iphone quality lighting) The artist I chose was David Hockney, specifically his dachschund paintings. I love them because they are all created in observation of his own dogs, while still maintaining a stylized, loose sketchy quality. The finished artworks are beautiful and vivid renderings of the dogs you can tell the artist cares a lot about, and you can see his own individual perspective. I also feel a deep personal connection to this series of paintings as a dog lover myself, and especially appreciate the way he immortalizes his pets forever as paintings. Challenge #1: Realistic Eye I chose to draw this picture to relate to this unit of observation because I combined my observations of shape (gathered in the timed sketch challenge), and value (gathered in the sphere and object sketches) with the observations I made in the world around me. This summer I've spent my time working at a dog kennel every day, and meeting lots and lots of beautiful dog faces that inspired me to make artwork. This particular dog (named Sammy) was one that I absolutely fell in love with at first sight. I happily spent my days letting him sit on my lap, giving him belly rubs, and absent mindedly petting his head. All things come to an end, however, and Sammy eventually had to go home. I missed him dearly and wanted to make a little piece to remember him by.
This year I have grown as an artist more so I think than any other year in my life so far. In addition to my skill development, I’ve also developed my artistic behaviors. Creating original artwork was something that I used to struggle with in the past; I had always just re-created photos or pictures that someone else had created first instead of coming up with an original idea. While it was great practice for developing my art skills, it wasn’t so helpful when it came to selecting pieces from my old sketchbooks to put in my portfolio. I think I really communicated through my concentration and got my idea across; I wanted to show how special and unique dogs are. This year I was also lucky enough to participate in Art Allstate, which gave me an amazing experience in collaboration. My group worked together to make a great installation we were all very proud of, while solving problems at the same time because we had limited supplies (gloves, waterbottles, and rubber bands). In most of my artworks, I tried to take risks as much as possible by using new mediums. I used acrylic paint for the first time (successfully) this year in several of my dog portraits. This year, I did a lot of reflection on my artwork and it’s meaning when I did the blog post assignments and when I came up with my concentration statements. Lastly, I had a global awareness in my artmaking because I put a meaning behind my concentration that was universal--a love of animals--while also having a deeply personal meaning to me.
Speaking of a deeply personal meaning, my favorite project this year was the painting of my dog, Chopper, after his passing. It started as just a Christmas gift for my mom, but I felt so strongly about it that it ended up inspiring my whole concentration. All of the pieces in it were heavily inspired by that one piece as well: with the techniques in painting fur, expression, and a few different background ideas were mostly repeated with the halo of light around most of the portraits. The painting of Chopper is also the piece I was most connected to, and the piece I feel reflects who I am as an artist as well. I typically choose subjects that mean a lot to me, and then try to render them in a way to express the love I feel for that subject; and make the viewer see it the way I do. My concentration statement was: The central idea of my concentration was to explore the personalities of dogs through the use of expression, color, light, and symbols that represent each animal’s individuality. The idea came after the loss of my beloved childhood beagle, when I realized that I was able to keep his memory alive in my heart and my artwork. It became an act of preservation for the important dogs in my life and in the lives of friends; a way to honor their irreplaceable souls in a beautiful way. The subject of my concentration was a topic very close to my heart, and I wanted to get that across in a way that showed it, but not in a whiny or emotional way (I hope I did). |
Authorjohanna carr Archives
May 2016
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