All-Nighter Tonight! :D

 Ok, so my enthusiasm is fake but I have to do something to keep myself up. I'm doing a bunch of stuff at once but I hardly even notice it. I just need all of this out the way or else my conscience is going to keep bothering me :/

Right now, I'm debating on which one of these I should use for the Crit. This is my Architectural Quadrant already mirrored in Photoshop. The black on white is the original composition and the white on black is the inverted version. I'm leaning towards the black on white. Any thoughts? Please comment!

(If nothing else, below each post is a place where you can record your reactions. Simply check one of the boxes :) )

Stopped by Blick earlier today and picked up a couple things: Tracing paper for my Fire & Water project and a brand new pack of fine markers. I highly recommend PrismaColor over Micron. Their color is truer and won't stop working on ya when its really important.

I've pretty much finished touching up my nonobjective layouts in PhotoShop (maybe it was a bad idea to have the lights off this late but don't worry I figure that out later hahaha)

This monster is what's keeping me up late. So I have a love/hate relationship with this picture. It was taken by me, a week ago, from the roof of The Philadelphia Free Library on the Ben Franklin Parkway and I think that it's absolutely beautiful. Problem: I have to draw this on 18x24" sheet of paper. Oh yeah and it's due tomorrow at 12:30. Perspective is really not on my side right now.

Wish List: Cloud City at the Met Museum

     Tomas Saraceno combines art, arcitecture and science into his roof installation at the Met Museum in New York. They are showing it up until November 4, 2012. Its transparent glass lets in the light and view of the open sky. Not only that but select pieces of glass contain...you just have to see it! I think this is really nice and it has its environmental benefits too :)

If you're interested, here's the link that goes directly to the Met's site

Someone FINALLY Gets It!

I was just on YouTube and and I was watching a video when I heard this quote:

"Of all the arts, abstract painting is the most difficult. It demands that you know how to draw well, that you have a heightened sensitivity for composition and for colors, and that you be a true poet. This last is essential."

- Wassily Kandinsky

I know I can speak for all of us when I say art school is not easy. Throughout grade school, Art was always the "easy A" class. Since I made my decision to come to Moore, I can't count the number of people I've heard say "Oh Art school...it must be easy". Right away there was discouragement even from the people I thought were the closest to me. Just because Art school means drawing library bookshelves, self portraits, using fickle Micron markers, lugging your own weight around in sketch pads among many other things, does not mean for a second that it's the "easy way out". My only wish is that the art community, like those "book smart" careers out there, got the respect that it deserves. Because in all honesty art is, (but definitely not at all limited to) a lifelong career....just sayin.

If you're like me and want to find out more about this guy, here's the Wiki page on Wassily Kandinsky just to get ya started ;)

Amy Shackleton

Over and Above, Amy Shackleton 2011, 30" x 45"

Source: http://amyshackleton.com/gallery/

Amy Shackleton is a Toronto native who has a unique way of painting. The 26 year old uses a rotating canvas and squeeze bottle paints, to create landscapes with both natural and urban settings. Her exhibitions have been seen in Massachusetts, New York and even far away as London. Some of her work as become permanent installations in galleries in Calgary, Toronto and London. This piece, Over and Above, 2011 is done with acrylic and enamel. What I love about this piece is how the serene environment is executed with a an extremely eye popping technique. Shackleton's ability to pull off such precision with perspective using such an unpredictable method is amazing. A common theme throughout her paintings is the presence of water and trees. When she says that she is "at the mercy of gravity", it really gets you to think. I accidentally came across this particular painting in a Google search. I didn't find what I was originally looking for but I'm glad I found this. She has easily become one of my favorite painters.

Here's a few other of my favorites but click on the link above to get a better look at all of them

Heat of Fusion, December 2010

Urban Forest, October 2010

Green Underway, July 2011

Heat Wave, March 2011

Bring Your Brand

          Thursday's class went by really fast it seems like. The best part about it though had to be getting our evaluations done FINALLY! The whole time I've been at Moore, no one has really cared to mention grades. So until now absolutely everything has sort of been up in the air. I got good comments from Professor Ujiie and she said something that stuck with me. She took a look at my work and said that everything seems to have a tribal feel to it. I've always loved the things of nature like feathers (especially feathers!), natural stone and wood jewelry but I never thought to look at it that way. I really like the sound of it and it's already got me thinking about branding.

Thumbnails and Pinkynails...?

Here are my two final ideas. Originally I was going with the one on the left for sure. The top part of it though, above the swirls, was feeling a bit incomplete so I decided to explore another idea. After some thought and a certain conversation, I figured out that I'm going to have to marry the two haha. Now more than ever I wish i had some tracing paper : / Other than that, I think its going very well. This has been my favorite project so far and I'm becoming a bit impatient to see the end results.

Here's just a detail from the new thumbnail I started in class. Honestly I was just messing around on this until a mind blowing idea came to me but something good did come from it. So every teacher who ever said I shouldn't doodle can take that lol!

Fire & Water Project: Online Image Search

So the idea is to create a black and white abstract piece using the various stages of fire and water as inspiration. The following pictures are what I found the first day we were assigned this project after I did quite a bit of research.

Glacier Close Up: This is a view from down inside between two glaciers. The lines in this are perfect because it achieves a fluid ripple like effect on a solid surface.

Clouds: Much like the flames shown later on, these clouds have tons of volume. However, unlike the flames, the clouds here are nonthreatening (unless you'd like to argue that there's a storm brewing hahaha)

Fire Sparks: This is my second favorite photo out of this bunch. The camera's focus is directly on the sparks in the foreground while their source is in the background. These thin wild lines are beautiful in the way they bring contrast to the navy backdrop. I like the idea of there also being a wind source in this photo.

Forest Fire: The transition from light to dark is nice and the angle  depicts depth in an elegant way. I very much like the idea of using a wood pattern in the fire and water project.

Geyser: Fire and water in its many forms...steam. The details in this cloud of steam aren't as prominent as the ones  in the earlier cloud but it still inspires to idea of adding water droplets and/or mist to my project. The rainbow is also a nice touch :)

Lightning: The lightning branches out from one central stroke much like veins within the body. It's interesting that while the movement of lightning is rapid and violent,  as soon as it reaches the water, it stops and the water remains still. Just a thought.

Tree Fog: This is much like the lightning picture above which is continuing the theme of growth and expansion. Even in the midst of the fog, the stemming out of the branches is apparent and actually very dense in nature.

Trunk in Water: The reflective qualities of the water on this trunk are very nice. I much rather focus on the stemming out coming from the trunk. While the tree is dead, the way the branches stem out could be interpreted as signs of life. That would go along with the theme of growth that I am considering. Taking a closer look at this, I just noticed the layer of moss on the top.

Open Flame: What attracted me to this was the great sense of volume the flames seem to have. The roundness of the flames seem to imply an explosion of some sort suggesting that their existence was provoked. They possess a degree of power and violence.

Wave: This is a personal favorite of mine. I really love how this is  resembles something of a fin. Aside from the background adding complementary a complementary color to this piece, instead of water, you would almost like to believe that the wave is made of glass.

Glacier Wide View: This is a beautiful piece and appropriately shows scale and the mightiness of nature. But for sake of purpose, the most important thing to take away from this are the usage of lines which come across with as being cracked   and constantly interrupted.

Burning Embers: The purple emitting from the pit of the flames is amazing, I think. What initially attracted me to this photo was the shape of the wood and how the heat illuminates the particulars of its shape and carvings.

Ashes: Texture is important here with the ashes being thick yet chalky. To be able to bring this type of fragile texture to my fire and water piece would be difficult. Certainly worth a shot.

Work Is Finally Paying Off

Documenting documentation...yyyeeeauh!
That's Brooklynn standing there. Check out her blog right here :)

The work is finally paying off after all the analog and digital steps, (as well as some of the annoying ones). Now...

...on to the next one lol!

Here is all of my research from the computer lab on The Fire & Water concept. I thought it best to go back to basics and give Webster a visit so that's what I did to get started. The images from the internet that I found are inspiration for my small compositional studies. In my sketchbook here are the first 2......bad I think but the first 2 nonetheless.

Homework 2: Angela Lindvall and Chris Dye

Chapter 3

Focal Point: an area that catches a viewer’s attention through ways of emphasis

This can be achieved through 3 different ways:

            1. Contrast

-One area of a composition may appear darker than another area

            2. Isolation

-The negative space may exceed the positive space to draw attention to the subject

            3. Placement

-Using a radial design creates a frame-like structure around the point of focus

Chapter 6

Kinesthetic Rhythm: a piece of artwork is purposed to awaken one of the 4 other senses

Chapter 7

Line: a continuous pattern that possesses repetition created by movement

Contour: the curves and spaces within a line used to create definition

Gesture: similar to implied line however does is not confined to the edges within the piece

Implied Line: implies a certain motion in a composition; path the eye should follow

Explicit Line: lines are obvious and possess clarity a composition with implied lines does not

Lost & Found Line: a technique where a subject is revealed through the appearance and fading of

            Line

Line as Direction: lines that portray a various types of movement

            ex. A vertical line suggests the standing position while a horizontal line reflects rest

Psychic Line: two different elements gesture toward each other suggesting a connection;

            positioned to point toward each other

Line as Texture & Pattern:

Peter Lindbergh, “Angela Lindvall and Chris Dye”, 2004

Source: http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/10/view/23554/peter-lindbergh-known-and-the-unknown.html

            The photograph above was taken by German photographer Peter Lindbergh. Primarily a fashion photographer, Lindbergh has embarked on a journey to bring to light the two worlds of the “Known and Unknown”. This show is appropriately named because it showcases his well-known successes shooting for fashion periodicals such as Vogue, Marie Claire and Allure. On the flip side, his show is featuring his latest accomplishment within the movie industry. Snapshots from his movie series Invasion makes up the bulk of the Unknown portion of the upcoming show. Lindbergh’s common theme and main objective is to capture the natural beauty of the female form without the help of photo manipulation.

            This photograph has a unique sense of unity because it achieves it through manipulation of various forms of line. The woman (Lindvall), standing with the paint brush and bucket in her hands, creates an instant focal point. Despite her strong stance and clear sense of attitude, the viewer’s eyes are even more drawn to her because of the usage of line. The woman on the left is placed in the forefront, somewhat isolated, with a much darker contrast than the rest of the photograph. While there is fog simulated in this snapshot, much more naturally faded lines suggest the technique of lost and found line.  Strategic placement of each element adds to the photo’s impact. Beginning with Lindvall and then the man (Dye) as the immediate subjects of attention, the eye of the viewer travels to the background down the line of protestors. Follows, is the word “PEACE” on the ground which completes this polygonal path. The deliberate construction of this frame is the use of the implied line. Stemming beyond the confines of the composition are hints that there is more to this story than what the camera lens was allowed to capture. The direction of the stares given by both Lindvall and Dye gesture toward another force they are each interacting with.

Opposing Yet Harmonious Sides

3 down, 1 to go. Now what am I going to do with my Architectural piece? Kinda stuck here.

Buuuuuut, here's how today's class went. Finally got rid of that ugly factory insert. By far my favorite one! Pretty cool (or rather wizard as Raegan would say ;) )

Visit Raegan's blog here! 

Just to Name A Few

This picture reminds me of all the things we've been learning in class. The repetition in the banister design is especially eye catching along with the zebra like rug. The simplicity of black and white on the stairs is pretty cool too. Every element is unified within the room and within itself. Something for all of you interior design majors out there ;)

As of Lately...

Shopping for class and got Design on the brain. Organized and styled ;)

All tacked up for today's informal Crit. I think I did a pretty good job so far. I'm especially proud of my Excitement Composition (All the way at the top right).

It's been years since I've had Show and Tell lol!

Homework 1: Danger Global Warming

Source: www.pbs.org/art21/artists

William Wegman is a photographer whose 12 year collaboration began with his dog, Man Ray. Wegman's photographs range from the natural beauty of his Weimaraner dogs to his more abstract vision of dogs with human bodies. William Wegman took the first steps to an art career in Massachusetts and continued to gain recognition by displaying his work on public television stations. Children show, Sesame Street even featured Wegman’s work as a regular segment on the show.

Seen at the left is a photograph taken by Wegman called Danger Global Warming, February 2007, in New York. Visual unity is present in several ways. This photograph displays excellent examples of emphasis. Perhaps the most apparent is the technique of repetition. The continuous strips that surround the entire dog make a powerful statement that is impossible for the viewer to ignore. Emphasis by way of isolation is also an important factor in conveying the overall message of the photograph. The black negative space allows the bold focal point to command attention. This fine detail creates harmony which brings balance to the entire piece. A less obvious element of symbolism is seen through how the danger tape is wrapped around the dog. Take to notice that the entire dog is covered with the exception of its nose and mouth. Such a decision could be an effort to call attention to the rising water levels globally. Together these techniques elegantly execute the intended message of how man made obstructions are threatening nature.

Cutting Edges

The beginning stages of design include lots of cutting...

 ...some second guesses. And then...

...finally an idea Composition #1: Excitement!