so it goes

http://lhs.loswego.k12.or.us/z-mcbrides/AP/2009/09APbreadthconcentration.htm

This past year has been great! So much better than last year for me...I was making better art, feeling better about it, and managing my time better (for the most part) all in all, I was a much happier person. I wasn't completely happy with all my art, in fact I rarely feel like I absolutely accomplished what I set out to, but final results were more successful than not, and there were the rare times I was fully satisfied in what I had done.

I know artistically I was much better this year. I don't think I've necessarily gotten better, but I do think I've put together prior knowledge and compositions and everything together now, and my pieces look better. Also: at least in my case, doing things from life/pictures tend to look better than things purely from my head, especially people. I would really suggest to others that they do something like "skin", something concrete that varying elements can be explored rather than a broader topic. Then you can really get to know that specific thing-y and know the details of it. that was a really sucky way of putting it.

My favorite favorite favorite piece I did this year, perhaps ever, was my last concentration piece, of alex puckering up. I whipped it out, and did it with a palate knife on what was a fairly large canvas (for me, I guess it was a pretty average sized piece though). I zoomed in more than I usually do, and got more specific details. My favorite part of it is how from up close-ish, like when I was working on it, it looked pretty good, but when small and far away it comes alive because of all the variations and coloring and dimension. It was a nice end to the year/concentration. I know it could be better, I think the lips could use a bit of work, but part of it's appeal is how the colors mixed and the feeling that I had when I made the piece, so I don't think it would be worth risking making it worse.

Favorite, right there.

i need an art break! but i can't

so i've been arting all weekend, and i'm actually really enjoying it - it's all i've done, with little bits of roller blading, frisbeeing, eating, and hangin' mixed in

lately i've been too busy to allot serious time to art, becaues i've been working on something else (graduation requirement>art)

but now art is my main stress!

i have to finish 5 pieces - two i'm really close to being done with (what i've been up to this weekend), one i'm halfway done with(my cousin sean), and two i have yet to start(that will be of my parents)

eek!

it's going to be an art-crazy couple of weeks!

just for kicks:

baby me, with one of my old doggie's puppies

my cute animals!

chicks (when we first got them. they are huge now! like nerf football size, and in a refrigerator box)

a stuffed robot i made for alex

Steve Tilden

http://www.blackfish.com/Artist-Detail.cfm?ArtistsID=23
(This shows his work that is in Black Fish)
When we had the Portland field trip, either this year or last, one of the galleries had Steve
Tilden's art. I admire his experimentation with materials, e.g. the use of violins, and his layering and colors used in his painting. Antonius Stradivarihorse was my favorite of his 3D pieces, and I generally like the clean lines and long limbs/neck he gives his horses. I was less fond of the paintings that he did, although I did like Io and Prometheus because it was messy yet precise, and I really liked the colors and texture that he used. I like the shading on the face, but I feel as though, on a whole, his painting is less developed than his sculpture, and therefore less appealing to me.

Jasper Johns

Jasper Johns! I'd most like to emulate Jasper Johns out of, like, everyone. He is super experimental - his style and mediums change pretty drastically from time to time, and he has done painting, mixed media, print making, molds, etc. I think he is probably a part of the reason I have started layering paint semi-recently (which I feel has made my art more successful) because when I visited DC a few years ago I saw an exhibition of his art, and (obviously) really liked it, and I think it motivated me to experiment. I believe that his art is many times unsuccessful, but I admire his ability to experiment so freely and seemingly without inhibition, and when everything falls together well, his art is stunning.

february critique

My concentration is...

folds of skin and the relationship of fat, muscle and bone in regards to how it affects the appearance of skin.

This month, I did Alex's back and my grandfather's face. I've been doing pretty obvious folds - the fat under the boobs, creases where there are joints, etc, so I thought I would develop pieces that showed relationships that were more subtle and relied a little less on fat - aka muscle/bone and sagging old person skin. I also worked on a couple things that I needed more of in my concentration - males (I tripled the amount of males in my concentration!), heads (though now I suppose I should do some female heads), and color (in my gramps).

I feel like the top one is done, and I really like how it turned out. I have never worked with charcoal, except on the rare life drawing, so it took some getting used to, but it was just like prettier, darker, messier graphite.

The bottom one is not done. There isn't really a composition, but I guess I'll leave it like that. I'm not planning on doing any more backround. I need to find myself a detail brush (I couldn't finish it because I was working with a brush that was too big for the glasses and eyes). I need to finish the eye, glasses, and ear, but once I finish them I'll call it done. It looks like him, and I like the colors and some of the shading, but I don't feel as though it is as successful as the first.

yes!

i actually started working early ish in the month, amazing!

i did this today, obviously the backround needs work. I like how the back turned out, a lot. i wonder, though, if it would be better if i blended it?also, i don't think the face turned out very successfully, and i know i need to rework the jaw a little, but i don't know how else to make it better.

overall i really like this one, plus it has a face.

i don't know what i'm going to do for number two. I would like to do some hyper realism, but i don't have the time or patience. I think i'll focus on color, as i've been stuck in a monocromatic phase.

it's nice to have a day dedicated to art! i wish i had more free time - i forgot how stress relieving it is.

so i've reached that point again

where i'm kind of lost with my concentration. i like the idea, but i can't decide if i want to go through with it and just to folds of skin, or if i want to expand it to include all creases, or change it to be the "relationships in the skin", which could include images without creases, just with muscle and fat intonations. i'm also kind of concerned about the variety of images i do, i have none with head. i'm planning on doing a portrait, and a back, and both will have heads, but i wonder if my pictures are starting to look too similar, in a boring way. i also don't want to experiment in style too much, so i'm graphic in some and drawing in others. the croch shot was/is kind of pushing it, to me. this winter break sucked for my art, because i didn't have supplies, and my models were either snowed in, or out of town. i hope i won't get in trouble for using my fat baby,because i do think it should go in my concentration, and don't know how to incorporate old pieces like that.

piece 2

unfinished - i ran out of blue paint.


i can't figure out if i like it or not, yet. i guess i'll see when i'm done with it. i do like the arm, though
and it's really dark/ liney and i have yet to determine if i like it that way or want to make it more realistic.
i think it looks better in person, too.

so far i'm diggin my concentration more this year than last years
but i don't think i would have allowed myself to try a more realistic and accurate style last year because i was pretty caught up in abstraction and texture.


i have a couple more skin fold ideas, but i have yet to make them a reality
-upper back (male/ when shoulder blades are pushed together)
-arms crossed (male/ pec and arm relationships)
-legs crossed/ croch shot (female/ legs fold)
-a butt/ legs (female)
-a neck while a head is turning (either, we'll see)

summer art revisited

i'm still not 100% satisfied, but it's better in my eyes.

piece #1

it's just a start.

but oh well. i havent used graphite/pencil in a while and i'm kindof pleased.

update: still not finished [i have to wait until the super secret model is back in town, aka saturday] but mostly. the flash makes it look worse :[

Senior year vs. Sophomore year. haha.

i've loosened up a bit :]

[left-senior, right-sophomore]

concentration

focusing on folds/ creases in skin
aka fat

i'm excited for it.
although as ms mcbride suggested, if i get sick of humans it could just turn into creases/cracks in general. probably not, though.
and i'm not sure what i'm actually going to work on in class. maybe my breadth section.

5 people!

Miro, Johns, Close, Rothko, Klimt

summer art, finally

i'm so bad. oops. i don't even have pictures of all of them, especially in their current states.

so i don't know if you would even think to look at this in the summer, ms. mcbride

but here's some art i had around my house - the ones from the last life drawing session, a couple background things i did at school, a few sketchbook pages - and i was wondering what of it could work for my breadth. i know that they are in various states of completion, but i'd like to know what works.

////end of year

i can't wait for summer

bleh

this is the picture that i'm copying for the kiddos.

it's peter max... and it's pretty fly.

i don't know what they'll really get from it, besides that its a good example of some peter max/american pop art, and has the statue of liberty on it...

but i like it

still dont know what i'm doing for my individual piece, probably a self portrait or something

eek

so

i know i've already paid for the ap test and all

but now that i've turned in my final pieces

i've reached a point of indecision.

i know that my concentration is not that good

i could have done better, i just work slowly (too slowly).

and i don't want to not pass and waste some pictures i could use for next year

because they would be nice to have...

hm. i guess i should, but i really don't want to regret it.

stressessss//

so i've got my old man figured out
i just need to go over the backround in ink and shade the face

but i'm at a loss [and this sucks]
as to what to do for my second piece.

i'm entertaining the thought of doing
fear of failure
over a backround of notepaper/writing?
and perhaps paint/draw a stressed out face?

eh. i'll probably end up doing it and not liking it
but as of yet, i don't really have the luxury of coming up with a decent idea.

some recent sketchbookie things.

these are three sketchbook assignments that i kindofmaybealittle like the result of.

HABITS

the color isn't the best in this picture - its a very bright magenta and yellow combination in truth...

THE FIGURE: SIMPLY

it's a bit of a stretch, calling this "the figure: simply" oh well, though.

CELEBRATION

on a seperate, unrelated note

i'm currently working on a graphite drawing of an old man's profile

[fear of aging]

but i'm hitting a wall when it comes to the background. blehhhh.

ideas/suggestions would be wonderful

.

i am reaallllyy not feeling my concentration

i can't be too subtle about what the fears are, or no one will understand
but it gets wayy cheezy if i have to use symbols to express them

example
fear of commitment: a hand [that is reaching out] with a wedding ring and pictures of people kissing/fighting in the backround.

because no one would understand it without the people? or the ring? mreh.

a;slfjasf.
i don't dig it.