Stressssssed. A lot. About Art.

Blog about art. Art. I should be making art, not blogging about it at this point. But alas, this blog is an assignment and I don't have any motivation at this moment to make art - so BLOGGING about art it is.

The reason I desperately NEED to do art more than ever right now, instead of this blog, is because it has just come to my attention that many of my pieces that I had planned on using in my breadth portfolio for the AP exam cannot actually be used, because they are photography, and I'm doing a drawing portfolio, because my self-portrait concentration portfolio is all drawing. So what exactly does this mean??  - I have around ten freaking projects that I need to whip out by May 6th. ONE Month, to do ten projects. I'm typically barely able to produce three decent projects in one month (as I often find myself lacking in motivation/inspiration). I hate myself. I've definitely found myself under a bit..er, um, a LOT of  pressure (At least some of my previous projects done under pressure have turned out to be some of my strongest pieces). 

I'm stressed out. It may not show at this point - as I'm trying to approach it with a calm attitude - buuut, I am still incredibly stressed. Probably almost as much as Martin is. (She may be just a bit more stressed about my portfolio than I even am, jeeze, have a lil faith in me?) 

Anyway, 

Project Ideas???????????? Please :)

My Ridiculous Blog Post

How am I? What has this portfolio class done for me so far? 
-Well, I don't exactly know how to explain how I am. I'm pretty much going to try to explain myself, but it'll just end up being a bunch of jumbled words of confusing crap. So here goes nothing! . .I'm pretty well, just a lot of weird/different things are going on in my life right now, but I'm actually incredibly happy. <--this hasn't quite showed up in my art yet though. My goal is to just be open minded (I do fail at this goal occasionally...ok, maybe a lot). I want to approach everything that is thrown at me without anything making my opinion based on biased thoughts. I NEED to be more willing to receive new ideas, knowledge, and experiences. So that's my goal for the next few months - BE OPEN MINDED! :) Now I just have to repeat that to myself a few hundred times to get it to stick. 


Now that I've successfully trailed way off topic, I get back to what I'm supposed to be blogging about:


1.) What are 3 art related things that you have learned so far this year? What have you tried, improved upon, or conceptually thought of?

1) I've have discovered a few artists that are new to me and whose work I really enjoy. Sally Mann and Levi Van Veluw , just to name a couple. 

2) I learned that focusing on one topic/concentration can really help further my abilities/help me come up with new ideas. When I did my first self-portrait, it actually turned out way better than I had expected. I sort of discovered a talent I didn't really know I had, so when I was encouraged to explore it more by my teachers, I did, and it has grown into a portfolio of self portraits and taught me a lot about myself, my art, and has really improved my 2d art capabilities. 

3) I have (sort of) learned how to put together, organize, and present my portfolio. I say sort of because I still don't quite know which of my pieces to keep in my portfolio, and which ones to just hide digital copies of somewhere in my flashdrive, only to be used as a reference later for what NOT to do. Also, I have found that the way in which I order my portfolio really does make a difference in the overall presentation and flow of it. I have done two 'real,' in person, portfolio reviews so far, one at Robert Morris which was still sort of laid back as there was nothing on the line, and one at Webster. Although I did feel way more confident in presenting my work than I did before this class, I know that I still have a long way to go with knowing what to say and how to present my work. 

I'm adding a forth too, 4) I have discovered that I really ENJOY writing this blog. Which I know, a lot of you probably think I'm a freak, because everyone else seems to hate the blog assignments. I have also gone out and looked for other blogs to read and follow. I have found a few artist blogs that I enjoy going to every once in awhile, they're actually quite motivational/inspirational. I also love reading baking blogs, but that has nothing to do with art. 

2.) What areas of art do you still need to improve?

I desperately need to improve my concepts in most of my pieces. As I have mentioned before, a lot my pieces seem to lack meaning. 

I also need to sketch out more ideas. I have such a hard time coming up with new projects, I often just waste whole class periods trying to figure out what my next project will be. This really has cut down on how many projects I have produced this year. I haven't actually gotten nearly as much done as I should have, considering I'm in the art room for all of 5th and 6th hours, and sometimes most of 4th.  

3.) Where do you see yourself, art related, in 3 years? Will you still be pursuing art and trying new things or do you think it will take a back seat in your lives?

In the next 3 years, I hope more than anything to be attending a liberal arts university, with an art major - as of now the plan is for that school to be Webster University or Alfred University. I see myself as an art education major, however, that may change. No matter what happens or where I end up though, art will be a big part of my life. I really hope that I am able to make a career of my passion for art. 

4.) What have you gotten out of this class?

I feel like I have already sort of answered this question in bits an pieces throughout the other questions. I have learned new things art related, I have discovered new things about myself and my art, and I have begun to learn how to present my portfolio. I have also pulled through with some of my strongest pieces I have ever done, even if it hasn't been as many as I had hoped for. I have become more confident with my abilities and myself as an artist, and I have found what I think I really want to do as a career, art education. To sum it up, this class has given me 90 mins everyday of art, fun, learning, and a bit of pure frustration! 

I think too much, then I write too much of it down. And confuse people. And myself.
And when I don't have an idea of a new project to start, I use most of the class period to write my blog. Ending up with all these ridiculous blog posts. 
I'm having a good week. I'm happy, and I love life. 
aaand since I don't think blog posts without any pictures are any fun . . . 

This is my most recent pieces. I really surprised myself, and think it was quite successful. There are definitely areas where I think it could be improved, specifically the ribcage, but I believe that this is so far my strongest piece, out of both 2d and 3d work. 

. . .Sorry about the long read! :)

All over the place..

This post is gonna be all over the place. . .There's a lot on my mind. 

I'm not getting anything done. Nothing. At all. I just don't seem to care as much. I WANT to care so bad, I just have so much going on, and it seems like my art is taking the fall for it. The projects that were due for January and February? . . .I think I still have 3 or 4 that I haven't even come up with a concept for. Looks like my grade will be falling. . .far. I really just have no desire to do three dimensional work right now, I did that all of first semester and now I really just want to work on my two dimensional skills. Even in 2D work, I'm struggling to come up with concept - it's so easy to just do a self portrait, but what does it mean? I can come up with an interesting technique and a nice looking portrait, I just find myself disappointed with the outcome of the overall image due to it's small amount (or complete lack) of meaning.

Someone seriously, slap me in the face. Make me feel something.

I talk about not having any ideas; however, at the beginning of this semester I did get inspired to do a self-portrait showing imperfections. I never actually did it, so maybe I'll attempt is this week sometime. Maybe. It's going to show imperfection through my scoliosis (a curving of the spine, causing an "S" or "C" shape), and the surgery I had to have to correct it (as much as possible). I'm going to do a portrait incorporating an X-ray I had after the surgery, showing my still somewhat curved spine and the metal rod and pins used to 'fix' it. I plan on using charcoal. My plan is to make a realistic portrait, with the abdomen sort of morphing into the X-ray, revealing the hidden imperfection.

^ here's my X-ray that I'll be using as a reference. 



On a completely different, non-art related note,  my sister left today for basic training for the Navy. Being that she's only eleven months older than me, I've had a pretty close friend in her for all of my life. It's so odd to think that as of today, she no longer lives with us and that I can't even talk to her other than in letters for two months. I'm pretty sure this is going to throw me for a loop, whether it be good or bad. Hopefully it inspires emotions in me that I'll be able to express through my art. Most likely, it'll just put me in an odd, "I don't want to do anything" sort of mood. I still haven't fully grasped the idea of her being gone.
To top off my sister leaving, life had to throw in a few curve-balls for my family. First of all, we weren't even expecting Raech to be leaving until Tuesday, so we lost a day there. Then, my dad just so happened to be coming home from a three week long business trip on Friday, and 20 minutes before his plane is supposed to land in Tokyo, the earthquake happens. What is the likelihood of that?? So they manage to land at a different airport after flying around for a good hour not knowing where to land. He ended up being stuck in Japan for a couple days, before finally being able to get home Sunday night.

That all has nothing to do with art, it just sort of explains what's going on in my life right now, and if I seem to sort of be emotionless, that just may have to do with some of it. When strange things happen to me, and I find myself in a complete funk, unable to do anything productive.

On a more positive note, I'm super excited for the Mid Illini show this week! :)

Also, I'm super excited for Bloom this year, I LOVE Bloom! I'm not to worried about getting in (though, maybe I should be due to my complete lack of focus this year),  but I have NO idea what pieces I would like to submit. Picking my top three favorite pieces is so hard, because there are aspects to all my pieces that I love, but also parts that I hate. It's tough to decide which I think are my strongest pieces. I'm also worried that my sister's boot camp graduation is going to be the same night as Bloom, which would be horrible. I absolutely do not want to miss either of the two, but her basic is supposed to be 8 weeks long, and graduation on a Friday. That lands right about the day of Bloom. It better not be; I'm gonna be so disappointed if it is.


I told you, this post was all over the place.

Collagraph Prints

Today, my blog won't let me add pictures.
I am not happy at all.


Anyways, I was going to post a few pictures of what I've been working on for the past few days. It's called collagraphy, and no, that is not calligraphy spelled wrong, although they do sound a little similar. I don't think collagraphy is very well known, at least, I had never heard of it before a workshop I went to. So, in case you're wondering what it is, here is a definition:

A collagraph is a relief print pulled from a "plate" that is made by placing textured materials on a surface.

Basically, it is a print made of a collage. The collage is supposed to be made of various materials to make it very textured, and when a print is made, the textures show up in the ink and create varying shades and values. 

The few prints that I did didn't turn out exactly as I wanted, most likely because we didn't have the correct consistency of ink and it was my first time experimenting with this type of print. I don't want to give up with the piece though, so I have been experimenting with different ink colors and adding watercolor and colored pencil to the print after it has dried. So far, the result has been fairly decent, and I think I'm going to use a watercolor technique on my final one. 




Here is a link that I found pretty helpful for more information about collagraph printing.