Final Art Reflection

1. I think the first example of my creative development was the Value Unit. My drawing of shoes captured the lighting and detail of the shoes. Also it had depth to it which was a goal I had from the beginning. The other example of my development in the class was the digital texture collage. Using photos taken around campus, I was really proud of my collage and the enchantments I made on it to make the piece better.

2. These works stand out to me because I accomplished, in both works, the goal I and the project had for myself. For my drawing, I felt I really captured the line quality I wanted to and create a good shadow to show the source of light in the drawing. Also, I used shading to make a three dimensional look to the shoes and depth within the drawing. For my digital collage, I used the available tools on aperture to really create a cool look of the pictures and make them fit together nicely. I played with color variations of the pictures to find good combinations that looked good together.

3. My least successful work would be my wire sculpture. Not because i wasn't happy with the final result but because of how I made the piece and how different it looked than what I wanted it to look like. While it might not be a bad thing for it to change for its original design, the way I configured the wire didn't help the final result. I wish I would have not been so tense with the wire and tried to sculpt it perfectly instead of just realizing the wires boundaries and not tried to push them as much.

4. The skills I consider my biggest strength would be my drawing skills and photograph skills. Both of which I enjoy doing. In terms of photography, I like the freeness about it and the creativity i can use to create my own images. For drawing, I like the ability not to be perfect and putting your own spin on the drawing to make it your own. I just like drawing the most too so it helps if you enjoy what your doing instead of just doing it to do it.

5. I felt like on projects I really enjoyed, I gave it my all into making my art as best it could be whereas in projects I found boring or not as interesting, i might not have put the detailed care into making the piece what I visioned but was ok with something that wasn't my best work. I should have improved on my effort in all the projects, not just the ones I liked and I think that would have led to better artwork produced by me.

6. I am most excited about my drawing skills improving in the future and using them not just in an art class but outside in the world as well. Having a base in art is really going to help whether it becomes something I do everyday or feel like doing once and a while but am still able to.

7. My skills I have developed and will develop will help in other classes throughout my school days as well as in the world as a job or a fun exercise to take some time away from my job or life. It can help focus myself away from the stress and just help me relax and focus on something i really do want to focus on.

Landscape Book

I focused my drawings and photos on landscape and horizon lines. I used the ink to convey the hills and outline of trees on top of the mountains. My photos taken at Phoenix Lake were also focused on horizon lines as well as water. Both water in the lake and creeks. The line were the water meet the land and trees was intriguing to me. I used thick brushes to get the line quality in my drawing and the tip of the cap of the ink bottles to get the thin lines. Light played a big part of the photos taken in water because of the reflection it created.

Phoenix Lake Reflection Questions

1. How did you come to consider the idea or concept of “Metamorphosis” through your work in this project?  How does your work physically address that insight?
- The idea of motion and "metamorphosis" showed in my sculpture because it helped me fashion the poise my sculpture took. It forced me to make the sculpture look as if it had a specific design and feel to it. The movement of the arms and torso was intended to show a deliberate movement. 


2. How did you push yourself to gain a better understanding of the physical properties of the plaster?  In what ways to you come to better control the various tools you employed?
- I was using the hammer and chisel to make my sculpture but I wasn't being as precise as I wanted so I switched to the grader to limit the chances of my piece breaking. I also used the sanding paper to smooth the plaster out and make it look more complete. Other people didn't switch to smaller tools and their pieces ended up breaking apart so I am glad I changed to a smaller tool even though it took a little long.


3. In what ways did your intentions change over the course of your project?  What opportunities or occurrences led to these changes?
- My original box for making the plaster didn't work too well and the plaster turned out wet and unusable.  lucky, there was a spare plaster box used for demonstration that I was able to use. However, the shape of the box was different than mine and was not ideal for the shape of my sketch. Instead of making the sculpture all on one piece of plaster, I broke up the plaster into 3 pieces and used them for the head, arms, and legs. This changed my intentions completely and caused my sculpture to turn out differently than I expected. 


4. Given what you know now about the material, how might you have changed your concept or approach to working?
- I would have used different tools in the making of my sculpture. I would have been more careful in areas that were fragile to preventing it breaking. I would have also not added so much water during the making of the plaster so I could have used my original shaped container.

In Progress Reflection

My original plastering job was not very good and had too much water in and made an un-proper balance between plaster and water. However I was able to use another plaster piece that was a display piece. This piece was not that same shape as my old one and I had to split it into 3 pieces in order to make my shapes for the sculpture. To make the pieces fit together, I will have to nest them into each other. It will take longer than just carving the whole piece out of one piece of plaster but I think it will look better because I will have to make the shapes more detailed to able to fit together and look good.

Degree of Exploration

1. How well do your drawings capture the gesture of the figure?
   - I think that my sketches of the posing figure captures the gesture and movement of the figure well. The drawing have a sense of abstractness but also portrays the feelings and movement of the figure. I think I could do a better job in creating the movement inside of the contour lines and that would help create a better image of the gesture.
2. How throughly did you explore the process of simplifying and "abstracting" the gestures in order to best capture your intend form?
   - At first, my drawing portrayed to body to much and i worked on subtracting lines to simplify the drawings. With the subtraction of lines, the important lines created a cooler more abstract image and looked cleaner than the mass of lines as before.
3. In what ways have your intentions changed over the course of your project so far? What opportunities or occurrences led to these changes?
  - I went from a basic obvious human figure and an abstract figure that can show a figure but not obvious about it. The opportunity that helped change my sculpture was when I worked in clay and was able to make changes based on the figure I was creating.
4. Describe the container you are using and how it fits with your sculpture.
    - The container I chose is a great size for my sculpture because of the width of it. My sculpture is pretty wide and the container will be able to fit it and have enough height to fit the top of the sculpture.

Final Value Project

a. Persistence to try and create new textures and ideas within the project has helped and shows in both the drawing and prints from the darkroom. In my drawing, an example of persistence and trying new ideas is the straps of the high heel. Both Mrs. Seal and Mr. O helped to create what it is now. At the start, I was having a hard time see the angle in which the straps and front of the high heel showed its values but through persisting and a lot of erasing, the straps began to look more and more like the actual shoe. In the dark room, my prints were not in focus for the first day or two resulting in not so good prints. I used the filter to help the clearness of the prints and also took longer to make sure the print was in focus. Also, I used different apertures to create new images and prints.
b. I felt that I was more comfortable with the drawing median. I was able to create, what I think, is a better image and convey the values more clearly. Working in the dark room was harder for me and I had trouble getting the prints to turn out the way I wanted. The drawing allowed for more "expression" in my case and I enjoyed the drawing much more because of the fact I was able to create values and shading easier.  To help the results in the dark room in the future I could take better pictures in the beginning, making it easier to create better prints. In the dark room, spending more time focusing on the focus of the picture would help create better prints quicker.

Value Project- Drawing (In-Progress)

1. How did you develop craft with this assignment?
    - My perspective of the objects need to be the same so that I have the same feel and view of the shoes and how I translate it to my paper.
2. What tools, methods, and materials were essential to your progress so far in the project?
    - All four pencils have helped create the drawing (HB, 2H, 2B, 6B). The lamp has created shadows that I have yet to draw but will help create depth and a better overall picture. The drawing board has also helped me with my accuracy with drawing and helps others have a better angle and more space.
3. What problems have emerged in the creation of this project?
    - I have had problems with the positioning of the objects in relation to one another. Also the spacing of the objects with the entire paper.
4.  How did you solve these problems?
    - I have had help from teachers to help me see the perspective of the objects and the relation to the other objects. also with the thoughts of shading in the drawing.