Mixed media

1. How did you show amusement and variety in your piece? Explain your choice of subject matter and how you created a unified piece of art. I showed amusement in my piece by combining many pictures to create one college. I choose to do underwater because I thought it would be fun. 

2. Describe your experience with using mixed media. What mixed media did you use for your piece? I had no experience with mixed media. I used tissue paper and magazine clippings. 

3. What role did our lessons on visual journaling play in the success of your piece? Explain. I learned how to combine and layer tissue paper from these lessons and also how to attach pictures. 

4. Discuss any challenges you experienced and how you overcame obstacles. The only challenge I faced was finding pictures that could go along with each other. But i figured it out by searching through several magazines. 

Dog Portrait

1. Who did you choose to do a portrait of? Why did you choose that person? 

I chose to do a portrait of one of my dogs because I have never done a project involving animals and I thought it would be interesting. The idea also worked well with my materials. 

2. When brainstorming about this project how did you decide what would be the best materials to use to create it? Explain how your material choice impacted the look of your piece. Why was this so important. Explain.

I chose to use different types and colors of rocks for my project. I thought it would be different and a good idea. My materials impacted my piece because it made my project look more edgy and rough. It also added texture which made it look better and more 3D.

3. Describe the risks you took or that were involved in creating the project. What were the challenges you faced?

I took a risk with my project by doing an animal. Most people did portraits of themself but I wanted to do something different so I did my dog. Some challenges I faced with my project was trying to decide how to do my background. It was also hard to find the right sized rocks to fit together to form my piece. 

4. How did your choices impact the look and feel of the piece? Did your choice of materials have any connection with the person you chose to represent? 

The choices I made improved the feel of my piece because it made it look 3D and more realistic. Using rocks added texture and I think it turned out nicely. 
 

Sticky Situation

1. Explain how you developed your ideas for "Sticky Situation" First I just started writing down the first sticky items that came to my head when I thought of the theme, things such as gum, honey, and maple syrup. I also tried to think of ideas that weren't as literal, such as being chased by a wild animal or falling from an airplane without a parachute, but I didn't like those ideas that much. 
2. Were you able to think outside the box when you were thinking about ideas? I thought outside the box with some of my ideas, such as being chased by a wild animal, but the idea I ended up picking wasn't too creative. But I think I made it unique by the layout I chose and the colors I used. 
3. You were to incorporate repetition, rhythm or pattern. How did you accomplish this? I created repetition by adding honey bees around the jar of honey. Originally I was just going to paint the jar, but I realized I needed to create repetition so I added bees around the top of the jar and so I think it added repetition and turned out nicely. 
4. Describe your choice of media (acrylic, watercolor) and your challenges and successes while using it. I choose acrylic for my media because I decided it would give me a more variety of colors. Also, I have more experience with acrylic paint so I figured I could use that to my advantage. I had trouble creating the same color twice, such as when I was painting the purple background and I ran out of paint, so I had trouble recreating the same purple. One success I had was being able to blend the colors of the honey jar.
5. How important were the mini lessons to the success of your final product? The mini lessons helped me decide which type of media I wanted to use, acrylic or watercolor and also which one I was more successful with. It also gave me practice with creating value so that I could apply it to the painting once I started it. 

Up Close and Personal

1. Upclose and Personal was our theme. How did you develop your ideas for this project and why did you choose your subject? I developed my ideas for this project by thinking of things that I could draw and add emphasis and detail to. I choose to do a butterfly so that i could focus on the color/medium and creating different shades.

2. How did you demonstrate Emphasis in your work? I demonstrated emphasis in my work by paying close attention to the value of the colors in the butterfly's wing.

3. What medium did you decide to use and why did you choose this medium over the others? Discuss how it enhances your piece. I choose colored pencil as my medium because I felt it best suited what I was drawing. It would have been difficult to use chalk/pastel in such small places, but with colored pencils I could make it work.

We encourage risk taking in art. Risk taking can be as simple as trying a new technique or learning about a new medium to as complex as trying something totally new.

4.. Did you take any risks with this project? Explain. I sort of took a risk in this project by using the color black. Black is normally not used when drawing/coloring pictures of nature, but I took this risk because I thought it would make the orange/yellows show.

5. Of the 5 characteristics of great art (technique, concept, emotion, new, medium) which did you include in your art? Of the 5 characteristics of great art, I choose to include medium in my art and focus on that by using the colored pencils and value.

What's the Point

 1. What were some of your solutions to What’s the Point?

Some of the ideas I came up with that were more literal were sky scrapers and pencils. I also came up with some ideas that had more of a meaning such as poverty and racism.

2. Which solution did you chose and why?

 I chose to do my project on pencils because I figured I could come up with a really literal drawing. I also thought it would be fun to work on.

3. How did you show contrast in your work?

 I showed contrast in my work by shading different areas of the pencils. This created contrast by putting lights next to darks.

4. What medium did you decide to use? Why did you choose this medium over the others?

 The medium I decided to use in my project was pencil. I choose pencil because I was drawing pencils so I wanted to stick with the theme.

5. What techniques did you use to create this work?

 Some techniques I used in my work are shading and showing contrast. 

6. Did you take any risks with this project?

I think I took a small risk in my project by working with pencil, because it is very bland and boring. I also have never done a project in pencil before.

7. What message are you conveying? How are you convey this message through the use of your images or use of art elements or principles?  

The message I am conveying is "What's the point". I drew giant pencils with arrows literally pointing to the point. I also created a question mark in the middle made out of smaller pencils.

Shoe Drawing

The shoe drawing project was one of my favorite projects I did in art this year. The first step I had to do was take my shoes off my feet and arrange them on the table in an interesting way. Maybe turn one to the side, or put one in front of the other. After creating an original and interesting display, I began to draw my shoes. I started with one shoe and sketched the outline. I looked at the sole of my shoe and followed the line to begin drawing it on my paper. This helped me to learn about and understand contour lines. After drawing the entire outline, I begin to add the small details to the boot, such as seams and the tag. I then repeated this process with the second shoe, except I drew it further back in the background in order to create depth. After I finished drawing both my boots, I outlined them darker so that they would stand out. I think I did pretty good on this project. This project taught me all about contour lines and depth, and helped me understand those two things as well.

Bird Stamp

The first thing I did when creating my bird stamp was pick a picture from offline that I liked and printing it off in color. Then I used that picture to draw a sketch of the bird. I then did a final drawing on a small piece of paper and transferred it to the stamp material by shading the back of my drawing and taping it to the material. I then traced over my design with a pen and removed the paper. Then I used a cutting tool to retrace over my design and carve it out. I then rolled paint over my design and placed it face down on a piece of white paper. I then pressed down on my print and slowly peeled it back. After letting it dry, I used markers, water, and a paint brush to add colors and pull out the paint to the edges of the paper. This created a more interesting, water color look to the print. I learned from this project all the steps that go into print making, and how difficult it can be. 

Acrylic Landscape Painting

The composition of my painting had three portions; a background, foreground, and middle ground. I had a sky, the ocean, and ground/sand. I organized my painting by creating a scene and following my example picture. Atmospheric perspective is the effect the atmosphere has on how a object will look from a distance. I created atmospheric perspective in my painting by adding mountains and clouds in the background. I also made parts of the ocean darker to add a more gloomy effect. I created a light source by choosing where I think the light would come from, and then adding shadows to my objects. I than added value to the shadows of the objects according to the light source. My color scheme was monochromatic. I choose blue to use in my monochromatic color scheme. I mainly used straight lined brush strokes in my painting, but I also used wavy lines in parts of the ocean and also jagged lines in the mountains. I used value in my painting by making parts of my painting darker in some spots and lighter in others. I also added value to my shadows in order to create the desired effect. 

Ceramics Project

The medium of my project was clay. My project was about the size of a Frisbee  The design element I stressed during the construction was shape. I wanted to create an interesting and original shape in my project. One technique I used in my project was smoothing out the clay with various tools. That way, when my piece was fired in the kiln, it would be smooth and free of sharp pieces. My piece does serve a function. It could be used as a bowl or platter to hold things such as ice cream and chips. I created a design for my project by drawing two squares that were different sizes and connecting them with various lines. I learned from this project how to create pottery, and also how pottery is created and fired in the kiln. If I could do my project over, I would probably spend more time creating a more interesting design. 

Pastel Still Life

I planned my composition in a way that would make it unique. I put some objects closer to the front, and other objects in the back in order to create depth. I also placed one of my objects to the side to create dimension. A thumbnail sketch is a small sketch of what you are creating that can help you out. My thumbnail sketch helped me plan my composition, and how I wanted to organize my project. The viewfinder helped me decide on my composition by showing me the different options I had to choose from, and helping me pick the one that looked the best. I made items look three dimensional by turning them to the side to create dimension. I also put some objects behind each other. I created a light source by picking the lights location and creating cast shadows on the objects going the opposite direction. I also added value to the objects by shading them darker the farther away from the light source they were.