Friday, December 3, 2010

far too much detail in describing the process by which i create my "art"

12"x12" color-aid on stonehenge

the assignment for this piece was to draw an orthogon and then draw an additional thirty-three construction lines.  we were then supposed to use any materials we wanted to create a collage over it, using the lines we had drawn if we wanted to.  i chose a penton because i felt the construction lines were more interesting than any of the square root rectangles.  i kept all the construction lines but i cut it down to a square.  there is still a penton within the square; it's borders are the horizontal line that isn't bisecting the square and the bottom edge off the square.

16"x16" color-aid on stonehenge

there were two specifications for this assignment.  it had to have a random element--something that removed me from the decision making process of creating it, and it had to be bigger than 11"x15."  while several students in my class decided to take the randomness to heart by running over pomegranates with their car or shattering dishes, i went with a more conservative approach.  though initially i tried burning candles and using the wax as the basis of shapes for my piece, i decided that after i almost lit my bed on fire, i should just stick to what i know, which is numbers.  i calculated the angle that would allow me to draw an eleven pointed star and marked the points along the edge of a circle i had drawn inside of a square.  i drew the star inside the circle and then extended the lines to the edge of the square so it seemed more connected and less static inside the circle.  i then drew another star in the center but with tighter angles.  i wasn't ready to completely relinquish my creative power to true randomness so i went through and erased every fifth line, spiraling clockwise from the outside to the center.  i then counted out every eleventh shape and designated it to be a shade ranging from pink to orange.  there ended up being seven sections and each one is a different color.  for the rest of the piece i decided to use eight different hues with varying values.  i decided to emphasize the one unbroken line in the piece by making every shape to the left of/beneath it two hues of lime green, with the bluer hue being on the outside of the circle.  i chose the next bluest hue to juxtapose the line. yet again i had an even bluer hue on the outside of the circle, and kept that pattern throughout the piece.  as i crossed what appeared to be 'major' lines i added more blue.  i then moved to the center star and faded to the bluest hues.  i didn't like this piece until my professor told me he liked it.  he is putting either this piece or my orthogon piece in the year-end show.

8"x8" scrapbooking paper. from archiver's

this is one of three pieces i made for this assignment.  we started off by drawing simplified versions of fruit to create templates that would have three different colors.  for each square were were supposed to have four forms with a minimum of three templates.  roland's never been too strict on the parameters of assignments, he just has to like the final product, which he thankfully did.  i drew an apple, a pear, and a lime

12"x12" color-aid on stonehenge

this project had to be 12"x12" or bigger and had to have a semi-formal or formal structure.  roland gave us a huge handout that he had copied from principles of form and design on structure, gradation, radiation, anomaly, concentration, similarity, and contrast.  in the section on radiation there was a small example that looked essentially like this.  i chose to make the background range from teal to violet in relatively dark values.  i then sorted through the pastels in my box of colors and chose to have a gradation of complementary colors to the background.  i used scissors instead of my standard scalpel for this piece because it was easier to get straight lines quickly without using a ruler.

12"x16" color-aid on stonehenge

this was my first project for this class.  we were supposed to copy a masterpiece from the post-impressionistic era.  i decided to make it more challenging than it need to be and chose le gouter by matisse, which is definitely an impressionist painting.  i probably ended up spending fifty hours more than i should have on this, but i'm just one of those weird people who can hyper-focus and work for nine hours without eating, and not know that time is even passing.  if i had had the time, i probably would have spent an additional ten hours at least getting the ocean and coastline to look better.  i really like the sky and i spent the majority of the time on it.  the gradient is way more successful than the water.  i think my main stumbling block was my lack of choice in colors.  when i bought my supplies for this class i got the box of two hundred twenty colors, which sounds like a lot, but it was severely lacking in choices for pastels.  it being my first attempt at collage ever, i'm content with the finished product.

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