Final
|
For our final in Art III, we could choose any project to do. To challenge myself, I looked up different techniques I thought would be fun and different to use. I found one that included oil pastel brushed over with turpentine oil. I tested out this technique and liked how it worked. From the beginning, I knew that I wanted to paint a male and female lion. Depending on how much time I had, I wanted to also put flowers in the mane of the lions and add a couple scattered butterflies. To cover the background I wanted to use yellow and fade it into a white towards the bottom and poke pixie lights through the canvas, so when I turn them on, they would shine through. In the end, I did not have enough time to complete this part of the project and I plan on completing this part during summer break. But, as I continued with the oil pastel and turpentine, the colors started smearing together. I couldn't find a way to fix this problem and was running low on time, so I switched my media and started over using acrylic paints. As I was finishing the project, I had trouble painting the male lion's man, but found a technique that worked and I settled for. Though this project did not turn out how exactly how I wanted to, I am growing to like it some. Hopefully over summer break, I will be able to fix parts that I don't like and add the flowers, butterflies, and pixie lights.
|
Mosaic Jar
|
For this project, my class made mosaics on a glass jar or a flat piece of plexi glass. I chose to use a glass jar, so I could put a candle in it when I was finished. To begin, my teacher had all my class mates practice cutting glass and cautioned us to be careful. Then, we sketched our designs and started planning out our idea. I chose to make a mother giraffe and baby giraffe with a light colored background, so a candle would shine through easier. After I cut my pieces of glass, I started gluing the pieces to jar, creating my image. Once all of the jar was covered and dried, I grouted the jar to hold pieces of glass in place. After I smoothed the grout over and it dried, I cleaned up the glass and areas of the grout that was clumpy.
|
Paper Cut Art
|
For our next project, we made cut paper art which are layers of paper laid on top of each other that have different designs cut in each piece to create one image. To begin, we sketched our ideas and decided what size of paper we needed and how many layers we needed. I chose to go with approximately 8x6 paper, so my image could fit inside a cigar box that I spray painted the color black. Because I chose this size of paper, I had to use at least 10 layers of paper; I ended up using 13 layers. I decided my image to be two jellyfish and use watercolor to color my papers and give it an "underwater" feel to it rather than using flat construction paper. After we had all of our designs cut out, we used foam strips to separate the layers of paper to add depth within our image.
|
Etching
|
The second project we were assigned was to etch a detailed design into a piece of Plexiglas that we would print later. To begin this project and get familiarized with the etching tools, we were given a smaller piece of Plexiglas to practice with and print. After we felt comfortable with the tools, we could start our actual project. For my etch, I decided to draw hibiscus flowers with a mockingbird looking into one of the flowers. As we progressed through the etching, we were told to print our etch six different times; five times throughout the process of finishing our etch, then once for our final print. These prints taken as we progress help us find places where we need to engrave more and it also familiarizes us more with printing.
|
Ukrainian Egg
|
Our first project in Art III was to design and dye a Ukrainian egg. We were given a packet full of history on these eggs and common symbols used on the eggs in the Ukrainian culture. I chose to draw two deer on my egg; deer typically symbolized good health, wealth, and/or prosperity. Then, I added grass and wheat around the deer for extra detail. Because the back of my egg looked very bare, I decided to write "good health" in Ukraine. Lastly, I used cotton swabs to die my egg a mix between purple and blue.
|