Homage to the Rectangle

For my midterm project I researched three fantastic artists, Johannes Itten, Josef Albers, and Robert Irwin. Their connection is color. Each artist helped further our understanding of color theory, or used color in innovative ways. In conjunction with a paper and presentation, I had to create my own piece, taking inspiration from these three artists. The title is a play on Josef Albers' series, Homage to the Square. Color has limitless possibilities, and when faced with this project I was overwhelmed and indecisive about what I wanted to do. Since I've used some very bright color schemes in past projects, I wanted to use this project as an opportunity to use mellow, but still powerful colors. I stepped away from the pure primaries, instead using greens, yellow-browns, and greys. I think they go very well together, and I always feel happy and peaceful when I look at this drawing. Enjoy!

Collage Project: Stage 1

This piece has a total of three stages of completion, this being the first. The assignment was to pick a shape -- mine being the triangle -- and create a pattern out of black, white and gray, using at least 2 sizes of your shape. This was a very labor-intensive project; I decided to use paint chips, and each triangle had to be cut and glued to fit into the pattern. I'm very pleased with how this came out; the pattern is called 'Flying Geese.' I love how each triangle retains the integrity of its color while still working together in a larger pattern. There's a lot going on, but it doesn't seem busy to me.
On a side note, after gluing triangles every which way for hours, I had serious perceptual problems.

Corrugated Cochlea: The Finished Sculpture

So here is the finished product! Countless hours went into the construction and coloring of this sculpture but I really like the result! I definitely found some creative ways to work with cardboard to create a desired effect. The internal tube was especially difficult, but it's definitely my favorite part! I also really like how the colors turned out. I was afraid that I would run out of oil pastels, so I picked different colors for each section. The internal part is warm colors, yellow, orange, and red, and the outside is their cool, complimentary counterparts! I was a little burned out on this piece towards the end, but I'm glad I put in those last few hours to pay attention to the details and make it all that much better!

Cochlea Sculpture: Paper Model

The second step in creating my cochlea sculpture was to make a miniature model out of paper and tape. This was especially helpful to see how my sculpture will stand, and the best way to create it. It was fun, and made me think more about my medium and how things would be held together. I think of cardboard as the stubborn older brother to paper, so this model was a lot easier to shape and bend than cardboard would be. It got me thinking about how the finished product would all work together!

Cochlea Sculpture: Initial Drawings

We were assigned to complete a cardboard model of an internal body part which took several stages before actually being made in cardboard. These were the initial drawings I made while planning my model; you'll see in later posts that my plans for actually executing the sculpture changed from these designs. Sometimes you just have to roll with it. I apologize if these are difficult to see, they are sketches made lightly in pencil. Click on the images to see a larger version. =)

My body part is the cochlea. Here is a description of a cochlea from Wikipedia:

The cochlea is the auditory portion of the inner ear. Its core component is the Organ of Corti, the sensory organ of hearing, which is distributed along the partition separating fluid chambers in the coiled tapered tube of the cochlea. The name is from the Latin for snail, in reference to its coiled shape.

Inked Still Life

Completed Sept. 22 2010.

This is a half page still life completed in pen. Pen is a medium I'm not very familiar with, so this drawing was a great opportunity for me to get acquainted with it. At first I was frustrated with the permanence, and was scared to make marks on the page. Eventually I got bold, however, and I think the end result is awesome. I love pen now, I think it's a very fun and bold medium; I especially like the shading under the hula hoop on this one! The texture on the basketball took ages, but was well worth it!

Fruit Still Life

This is a piece I completed a while back; it was actually the first full paper graphite drawing I've ever made. Looking back at it now I can see how much I've learned and grown as an artist, and the things I would do differently. The biggest fault I see in this piece is the overall gray look; I had trouble making dark shadows and light highlights. Since this is the first drawing I made, however, I'm proud of it. It was a challenge, but fun to do. =)