Required question: Choose a project that you felt was challenging but yet successful. The project should incorporate innovative solutions to the artistic problem given to you. Discuss how you generated innovative/original/creative ideas for the project and how you developed them to complete your final piece. Explain why you chose this piece. How did you think outside the box and challenge yourself as well as the restraints of the project.
1. One project I felt that was challenging was my watercolor painting. It was my first watercolor painting but It was really hard to learn to work with the watercolor. I also found it really hard to go from background to foreground and how you had to plan out what color goes where. A solution I found to this exam was by putting glue on areas you wanted to keep white. It was really confusing to know what was where but I eventually worked it out. To try to develop a creative and original piece, I really tried to push the colors on it and using different colors for shadows instead of just using like black and grays to shade. So I used colors like purples and blues instead. In the beginning of painting this, I was fighting trying to control the watercolor. You can tell based on the island in the background where the paint is toooo dark for regular watercolor. Since you cant really go back to fix your mistakes with watercolor, I just had to work around it and try to work in light layers. One part in the artwork I really had fun with was adding the little rocks and texture on the sand of the beach, I just really enjoyed that, to the point where I might have put too many rocks heh. A major area I wish I did differently was the huge tree. I just don't really like how it looks, It looks like a giant branch instead of a tree. I would fix this If i could and make leaves more abundant on it. Overall, even though this was not my favorite painting I did this semester, it did have a lot of challenges I had to overcome and I was fairly new with watercolor. It really challenged me to work with watercolor and to exaggerate colors in the piece to make it more appealing.
3. Discuss one project where you felt you were the least successful. Explain why you felt this way. What would you do differently to change this piece?
The project I feel least successful was my oil painting landscape. I feel like I should have done more planning before beginning the final and I could have changed that, I would. I also felt this way because you are really unable to tell the background from the foreground. If i could change it, i would make it so the colors got more and more purple or less saturated the farther you go back. Because of this problem, It makes it really hard to distinguish what the whole painting is. I also would have liked to incorporate more greenery somehow into this piece but I was unsure how. The piece is not really realistic as well. In the river in the crack/valley thing, I wish I could have made it look more like water, instead it looks flat.
5. Choose two mini lessons that you felt were the most beneficial to your learning for what particular project. Include photos of these and explain thoroughly. Do you feel like you needed more instruction for success? Explain or did you feel that the instruction given was enough to ensure success.
I feel like the watercolor techniques and the oil painting fruits both were beneficial in learning for me. Even though they were not the best looking, Oil paint and watercolor are two mediums I have never worked with prior. I feel like they were good to help practice for the final drawing and helped me find out how to use them somewhat before moving onto the final. I learned how hard watercolor is and different techniques yoou can use to get different textures/outcomes, and I also learned how oil paint is also hard to control colors so that they don't blend together. One way to avoid them blending is to let some of the paint dry a little bit before applying a new color. I think for the watercolor technique instruction was nice because we got to do it with ms rossi, and it was nice to see how she did it. Even though we didn't have instruction for the oil fruits, it was cool to learn what works and what doesn't on your own.
6. Look over the portfolios of other students in our class. Choose a piece of artwork that you feel is an exemplary showcase of what the project was to depict. Discuss how the artist used the medium, utilized the elements of design principles, was original with their ideas.
I feel like Kat's pet portrait is sooooooo amazing. I love how she did i cool perspective of her cat instead of just a photo straight in front. The amount of detail she was able to put into this piece is amazing. The fur looks so fantastic, the thing looks like a photograph. I also love all the different colors, shades, and highlights she put into the eyes of the cat. I am pretty sure Kat used oil paint. She put base colors first and then went in with all the details, which is a good idea. The creative placement of the painting, with the cat being upside down and really close up is very nice. I also think the background is amazing. the fur on the blanket looks like an actual blanket. The shading, highlights, and blending of this piece outstanding. She was able to create very realistic textures in the fur and the background. I love this piece overall and Kat did an amazing job.
Kathrine's portfolio link: kathrineduggerahsco21.weebly.com/s
Kathrine's portfolio link: kathrineduggerahsco21.weebly.com/s
7. What medium was your favorite to work with? Explain why and how you were able to master the techniques associated with this medium.
My favorite medium to work with was Oil paint. I had never worked with it in this class prior but i loved how easy to blend it is with it. Though it does take foreverrrr to dry if you use thick layers, So i learned you had to work in light layers. I also learned you have to wait for it to dry if you want to put a clear layer of one color over the other or else it will blend into the already existing color. You also have to use turpentine when switching colors, especially if you go from a dark color to a light color, or else the color would get infected. The last thing i learned about oil is that you should put base colors before you add details on top. I think the piece I was able to master these techniques fully was my pet portrait. Especially the fur in the painting.