Artist Statment

Before I began creating art my only way to escape from the rest of my hectic life was swimming. Swimming and artwork are very closley related to me. In swimming I compete in almost every event and in art working I love working with all different media. Swimming and artwork come naturally to me and flow through me. My artwork does not have a soul base of insperation. I get inspired by everything going on in the world around me. Personal expresinces also relate to my artwork. Music enspires me too.  The way the instruments all merge together to create a completly diffrent sound is very inspiring. Artwork is my way of allowing others to see the world through my eyes.

Progress Reflection 2

This week I completed my symbolic portrait. It feels very good to have that completed. All I have to finish now is the mural. This makes me worried because I think that this is going to take up the rest of class time. It is hard because not everyone has worked on it and some of the people are not able to work on it without creating problems or messing up the details. I would love to get to the final independent project though and I hope I can make that happen. With only a few classes left I might not be able to do a whole series of collages but maybe just one collage. I think that I might do it about music but I still am not completely sure. I guess it depends on what I find in the magazines. So for the final week I plan on finishing the mural and doing the independent project.

Progress Reflection 1

This week has been the beginning of the end of our time together. Everyone is in a different spot in their work. In a post on your blog describe... 

What did you accomplish this week? 
 This week I finished my clay sculpture, came up with my idea for my independent project, and I am rapping up my symbolic portrait.
What challenges did you face? 
This week the clay was the hardest for me but I am glad it is over now. Also creating the curly hair in my symbolic portrait was complicated and frustrating. I am now excited to see how it ends up.
What are the next steps? 
Next I plan to finish up my symbolic portrait. Then my group is going to spend a class on the mural and then begin my final project.
What do you plan to do in the week ahead? 
In the week ahead I plan on finishing my symbolic portrait, beginning my final project and finishing the mural. 

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Reflecting on Group Work

Making art with a group is very different from working on your own. You have to work with the group to decide what to make the art work, this involves a lot of compromising. Everybody wants to do their own ideas and we could not do all of them. Some people wanted to do things that only they liked. Some people also were not flexible on their ideas and made working on this project very difficult at times. Finally, we decide on what we are going to do which is a huge relief and we will see how the rest of the project goes.

Chair With Coat.

HOW did you find today's still life more or less complicated to draw than the still lives over the past few weeks (white paper, sticks, fabric)? Be specific.

HOW did you use some of the skills we've developed over the past three weeks drawing more complicated still lives to draw the chair with coat today? What are these skills? 

Today's still life was both harder and easier. It was harder because you had to make sure everything was in exactly the right spot and be more carful about placement of everything. For example, with the sticks drawing you did not have to worry as much about what stick was what but with this there were only a few objects to draw. It was easier thought because it was less over whelming with less to draw and more time to focus on everything.

I used some of the skills that we have learned over the past few weeks with this drawing because I did not try to become to detailed quickly. I also knew how to shade more and get the feeling of the drawing which made this picture easier to draw.

Glass Half Full Project

At first in this project it was hard for me to figure out how to incorporate the Principles of Design. I had to make a few rough drafts before I figured out how to make the image in my head show. I used leading lines and different colors to show what I was trying to emphasize in my photo. This project helped me a lot to understand how to use the different types of Principles of Design. In the end I enjoyed this project a lot.

Found Object Sculpture Reflection.

Bun-A-Roo
This sculpture was meant to be a mix of a bunny and a kangaroo. The process for this was to find the different parts and see what came to me. After a little while this idea just poped into my head. From there I had to find more parts to complete it. The hard parts of this was finding objects that worked with my idea. I had the base but adding the extra details was vital. I discovered that making a sclpture of out random objects is harder than people would think. 

Principles of Design Research

Today you spent some time looking at a work of art.
In a post on your blog note what the work of art was that you looked at and who made it.
Then, answer the following question:
In what ways did the artist's use of The Principles of Design support the story or message of the work?

Maya and I looked at the work of art, Midnight Ride of Paul Revere by Grant Wood. The artist used the Principles of Design to help guide the people looking at the photo through it. By using the path the artist told a story from start to finish without having to write anything. This way a very good way of helping people understand what he was trying to portray. Also, he used different sizes to make people notice the more important parts of the painting. This was helpful too because then the viewer would not focus on the small details like the trees. Instead they would be able to get the main points of the painting. 

Fabric Drawings

Today you drew some fabric hanging in the middle of the room.
You were asked to think about creating the feeling of the fabric's weight and behavior in your drawing.
You were asked to build the drawing from the general to the specific.

It went pretty well. It was hard to incorporate the folds in the fabric. Recreating the fabric was hard but interesting. I wish we had more time so I could work more on shading and finishing my drawing. Todays drawing was different from the sticks drawing because there was more space to move your pencil instead of everything being on top of each other. Also we did not have to be as dark with our shading which was nice because it was easier to see what was going on. I preferred this drawing to last weeks. 

Sculpture Feedback

Today when I got feedback on my "Bunn-A-Roo" people said that they liked it. They also could identify what the different parts of it were made out of. They understood what I was trying to make. They also said that I should maybe try to make the head look more natural. 

I liked John's pig. It made a very straightforward statement. Also when you first saw it you could tell exactly what it was. People could tell that he had put time and thought into it and was proud of it. 

Mid-term Reflection

We are halfway through the first term of the course. Take some time to write on your blog about how you think you're doing and how the class has been so far for you. Be specific in describing what you think your strengths are and most importantly, what you think you need to work on in the second half of the term using the four categories below as a guide.



I think that my engagement in this class is good. I do not like to share as we have talked about before but when it comes to the process I think that I am willing to do the assignments and jump right into it. So far I have really liked most of my finished art work. Some of the things that I have made have not come out exactly as I first envisioned them. I enjoy working in my sketchbook outside of class and keep up with the assignments in that. Drop everything and draw on Tuesdays is a lot of fun and I always try to draw the objects or scenes but drawing is not my strong point. Some of my drawings could be better with more time but I think that they are okay. 

The Changing Still Life

DESCRIBE IN DETAIL at least three things you had to do to accomplish this goal
OR
what would you do differently knowing what you know now.

Today while I was drawing the still life I could keep up but my drawing was not very good or detailed. To keep up with the class and do the assignment I had to not focus so much on what my drawing was going to end up looking like. Also, I had to patient with my work since it we were told that it was not going to be the best drawings we made. In addition, while drawing I had to try to draw the lightest with the charcoal I could so later on things could be erased. 

Found Images Collage, "Nature at its Finest"

People liked the different contrasts in my material. They also like that I was using different patterns to make mountains instead of just using natural colors. I found this feedback helpful because it showed me that other people could see what I was trying to make my art look like. It also made me feel like I should keep trying new things to see how it goes and what it looks like!

Three Forms Drawing

In a post on your blog describe how the drawing experience today felt. Describe specifically what you feel is successful about the results and/or anything you learned during the process.

Today I liked drawing the cup and block. It was fun to experiment with the different shades that you could use from combining charcoal. For most of the class I did that, but when I got to the pine cone it was very frustrating. I was not sure how to draw it and it was hard to pick a spot to start off on. Once I had started I was still lost in what I was doing. By the end of class I was glad to be done with the pine cone, but the rest was a lot of fun.

Pour Paintings

It felt different to give up control of the shapes that were forming. Art is supposed to be something that you make not something that is just formed and happens without the control of the artist. I was surprised to see how the different color paints mixed and how they spread out on the paper. When I returned to my pour painting at first I did not see anything. I was wondering how someone would make a painting out of a bunch of different colored lines. But then I started to see the body of a bird and once I had painted the bird, the lines started to look like a branch. After that we were out of time and had to clean up. I like where my painting is now, so I am not going to add anything to it.

Collaborative Drawings

How did having someone else work on your drawing add to or take away from the final result? 
How did it FEEL to return to your drawing and see other people's marks on it?


It felt odd to have someone else working on my drawing. They could have taken what I was trying to make and turn it into something I hate. They could have ruined what I spent an hour working on because they didn't understand what I was trying to make. Also they didn't get to talk to me to see where I was going with my picture and since it was unfinished it was up to anyone to decide the outcome. I felt weird torturing to my drawing and seeing what other people changed it into. Most of my work was covered up with other pain which was annoying because I had put so much effort into it. Also, the background of my drawing completely changed. On the other hand, it was interesting to see what people thought of my art work and turned it into. 

An Artist

Who is an artist? What does an artist need to be productive and creative?


An artist is some one who choses to use art to express their feelings. Many artists just need their mind to be productive and creative but once they have an image of what they want to create, they need the supplies to be able to turn their imagination into reality.