Thoughts About Your Thoughts

After reviewing and discussing some of my thought process/thumbnails yesterday in class I was really happy to see some of you going through - and appreciating - the paintings that students have done in the past.
That's rad. I'm happy some of those are appealing.

So I have a few additional thoughts.

First, remember that you can do a "collage" - be it old school cutting and pasting photos together or new school digital style in photoshop or procreate. I'm happy either way.

Second, not everything has to be "deeply personal".
Yes, you need to address the topic (memory), and be able to back up your decisions. I would go a step further and say that your focal point needs to be what addresses the theme.
However, sometimes you need seemingly random items that help balance and unify your painting. You could even use those seemingly random items to help create a series if you have used certain subjects often in the past (as I have with sloths or donuts, for example).

Next, really (really!) think about composition.
It can be silly and fun and all sorts of other things in terms of the content, but as you are creating your own composition, think about focal point and rule of thirds and depth and overlapping and having variety of sizes and...all that stuff we have been trying to give you practice with since the tempera painting first semester of Art 1.

Subsequently, yes, you should be considering value, texture, etc. Those are all part of the Elements of Art and Principles of Design that you should be more than just intuitively aware of.

Finally, have fun!
There does need to be a personal connection with this, and you need to be able to verbally articulate your decisions and why you have made those decisions. "Because I like..." is NOT going to be a good way to start any of your explanations, so be aware of that.
With that said, though, you can still have fun, so let yourself enjoy the process!

Some Kids Working

Y'all know I love the process, and as much as I like taking photographs of you and your work with my iphone, there is a very different quality you can get with a real camera, so here are some of those.

National Portfolio Day Info

It is that time of year again, time for the announcements for National Portfolio Day to begin coming in.
Often I forget to remind everyone, but not this year! Yay for you.

That's the mailing I just received - which is also posted in the classroom. If you click on that image or HERE, you will be able to go to their site.

While they don't have the time listed, they do have the date set (Jan. 17th, 2015) at San Francisco Art Institute.

This is a great time for Juniors to take in some work and get feedback from a bunch of different art schools pertaining to what they like and what they think you might want to work on. If you are a senior it can still be helpful, but by that time you should basically have most of your work completed.

If you have questions please let me know.

Did Someone Say Mural?

Well, it happened today. Paint got on the wall that is.
What a day to begin, too, what with the heat and all. I know one thing, I am exhausted.

If you come by the school you will see a very loud and crazy "painting" so far. Trust me, it's a long way from being finished.
Remember, it is a work in progress.

If you want to follow along on the interwebs in places other than just here, look for tags such as #lghsart and #studio502

 

Having said all of that, the above pic was taken today. Just a very small peek into what happened.

Oh, and the raffle winners have been drawn.

Congratulations to: Sharon Pratt, Hans Candries, and Lucy Kain.

They will get their custom paintings within the next couple of months. More on that to come.

Even More Extra Credit

Tomorrow, 4/24, is the reception for the county wide exhibition that Sofia Kuta and Franny Lin had work accepted into. The reception lasts from 6-8, with awards at 7.

I would like to encourage you to attend the show not only to see their work, but to see the work made by other local high school students. I have yet to see the show and am looking forward to it.

The show is up until May 11 and if you take a selfie in front of either Franny or Sofia's art while it is on display and email it to me I will give you some extra credit for attending.
Ideally you would go tomorrow, but any day between now and the 11th with work.

Additionally, don't forget that there is a call for student art for a smaller show at the museum which closes on April 30th - next week.
If you copy me on the email you need to send the museum I will get you points for that as well - regardless of if they choose your piece or not.

There is a lot of good work from this year that you should be proud to show so do it! Now!
Or now!

If you need help getting a decent pic of your work, let me know.

Cheers.

Art 3 - 2nd Semester

I am copying this for the Art 3's straight up from the Schoology site as I want to make sure I don't lose the info, so this is most likely a duplication for those that it pertains to. FYI.


We are going to begin second semester with three quick projects (ok, maybe four - but three for sure). This will require you to brainstorm a bunch, make fast decisions, and get your final copies completed quickly.
All three of the of the images will be small in an effort to allow you to meet the quick turnaround times. I hope this helps.
At least one of these designs will be loaded onto Society6 by the end of the project.

Here are the details:
You have three topics you have to create imagery for (remember, since your image(s) is going online you cannot straight up duplicate an image that has been created by someone else - though you can combine different ideas and change up someone else's idea(s))

The topics are:
Geometry - pick a geometric shape (regular hexagon or circle, for example) and start from there (do you repeat that one shape, do they overlap, do you fill them with color or patter, etc.);
     does this help?
          http://society6.com/search?product=prints&q=geometric&submit=Search
     or
          http://www.pinterest.com/awcomeon/nature/


Animal - pick an animal and do something different to it (you could create an interesting effect with color dripping or combine two different animals into one, etc), keep the background simple here - maybe really simple (yeah, a hint);
     maybe something like this
          http://society6.com/product/Glass-Animal-Flying-Fox_Print#1=45
     or some of these are pretty great
          http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=animal%20watercolor

Typography - pick a word or a phrase, pick an awesome font, then make it more awesomer together.
     do you want to see some examples here, too
          http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=typography%20poster&rs=ac&len=10
     or
          http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=handmade%20type&rs=ac&len=12

Each piece should be turned in on a 9x12" piece of paper (you may or may not use every square inch, depending on the assignment's section)

You might find this helpful if you are going to create something with the intention of putting it on an iphone:
     http://www.lifeproof.com/en/iphone-5/specs/
or here, starting around page 15
     https://developer.apple.com/resources/cases/Case-Design-Guidelines.pdf
    

I really want you to have fun with this. You will have just over one week to create each design. I do not care which design you turn in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, and you will have a grade sheet for this assignment, but it will be your responsibility to turn in each image with the grade sheet (you will be turning in the grade sheet three times in total - don't worry, there will be plenty of reminders along the way)

Were it me, I would get out my sketchbook and start brainstorming right away. I mean a lot of ideas, too. Get them from your brain, twist other people's ideas around, steal your friend's idea(s) - whatever it takes. And you might as well share your ideas, too.

I would guess, roughly, 2.5-3 class periods for each piece is what you will get. This is subject to change so make sure you are paying attention.

Finals Finale

Here are the things you need to know, broken down by level of art, for finals next week:

Art 1
You need to make sure you have your watercolor technique sheet finished and ready to turn in on Monday.  I will give you some class time to work on it, but not a ton of time. Just fyi.
On Monday you need to have a horizontal, color, landscape photo that DOES NOT contain a silhouette.
You need to have your sketchbook with you in class.

Art 2
You need to have your re-do study drawing.
You need to have your original, crappy, study drawing.
You need to have your sketchbook.

Art 3
You need to have your re-do study drawing.
You need to have your original, crappy, study drawing.
You need to have your sketchbook.
You will be turning in your group art advertising poster.*

*note, Art 3's can turn in their study drawing or their poster on Monday and the other on Wed

Art 4
You need to have your sketchbook.
I would also like for you to bring your Art 1 sketchbook in to class as well.

Note: I will possibly be updating this as I get my memory more solidified. Check back more than once to see if anything has changed. I will have this completely updated by Monday night.

If your name is EVB, Saoirse, Mara, Bronte, Carolina, Aaron, Mary, Justine, Will, or Mady I have it in my records that you owe me something - probably money and/or supplies. You need to see me about this asap.

Also, don't forget to visit Studio 502 on Society6 if you need some cards or other holiday gifts.