Little Painting on the Prairie

This next painting is my self identity piece. It took me awhile to figure out what I wanted to do. I came up with some sketches inspired by a couple of different artists though. The first is a Russian artist, Anna Berezovskaya. I loved the juxtaposition of the subject matter under the skirt verses the scene. My teacher introduced me to Stephanie Frostad. I have seen her work before, and it is super cool! I love her pieces and how they are very stylized. The shading and way she renders the figures and fabric is impeccable! She is also a Montanan artist! If you would like to see her work follow this link to her website.

I had fun with this piece. I found trying to paint people is very difficult. (I still hate them hehe) We had a shortened critique this time so my comments are few. Every one commented that the piece has the same feeling as the last one. Once again I heard that it looks like social realism paintings from the 20's. It was also said that there is an interesting contrast between the movement of the landscape and the stillness of the woman. They loved how it seemed that the winds of the prairie were sweeping the city into the skirt. You can also check out my pinterest board of inspiration to see what my brain was thinking HERE!

Here is a sneak peak at the painting I am working on right now

Man Vrs Nature... Painter Style!

The other day in my painting we began the class with a critique of our still life paintings. When it came time for my painting I timidly explained I had painted the scene out the window of the pretty mountains and trees as my focal point. 

Then my teacher asked the question. My teacher asked why I didn't paint people, cars, signs and all the lamp posts that should have been littering my painting. 

My reply was simple, "I don't like people"

When I had said this, I had meant it as, "I don't like to paint people or man made stuff!" not as I hate people.... I think...  I do love landscapes and the beauty of nature. Well with my quick and witty reply we all kind of chuckled because we realized that none of us appreciate man made objects interfering with our art!That led us to add symbolism and double meanings to my painting like crazy! It made me feel like a real artist (chuckle)

I would like to note that I didn't consciously intend to have these meanings in my painting, but I'm starting to think subconsciously maybe I did! I do feel, that man is mucking up the wild and natural beautiful scenes around us. I'm sure glad I live in Montana that is still home to the free rolling plains and wide open sky you can see touch horizon to horizon.

Back to school! My piece was also called "creepy but in a good way"... "It seems almost to perfect, in a weird sublime way. The trees are whimsical, the tree on the left received the comment of trying to push its way into the painting. The painting was also compared to a film noir. In film noir's the women would look so beautiful and extravagant, but the lighting would not dance upon their eyes which would be completely black. This comparison was compared to that of the windows on the building. Windows usually allow you to look into something but not these all you get to see is a black abyss. Also by taking the people and excess of human objects out it personified control and emptiness. But then it shows the beauty in a mockery.

Today I showed my painting to my foundations 3D teacher from last year. She picked up on the eeriness but the perfect beauty right away! She said the mountains has a looming presence over the calm empty grass that was painted simplistic in contrast to the complexity of the mountains. She also made the comment of the emptiness suggesting presence. It was great to get her comments on it! 

My painting teacher suggested I should think about starting a body of work. I think that sounds like a very good plan on how to express my frustration in a calm manner! that I guess I didn't even know I had until now... Gotta love art!

Is It Nap Time Yet?

Wow does time fly! Even when your sleep deprived! But isn't that the purpose of college to teach us that sleep is not a necessity of life? Or that blogging takes priority over studying for french..... oh well!

Today I learned though that art is important and that the world pretty much depends on us. We had a very special guest today at the college, Don Colley! He is an artist from Chicago. He was really inspirational and really cool. He showed us some techniques on how he sketches and shared some really great advice. He said, "sketching is thinking out loud" I had never really thought of that before, but it makes perfect sense! He is a really neat guy! check out some of his work, or his video by faber-castell!

 So I have not posted in ages which means I have been hard at work on projects for school! Here are some of the cooler projects! My first graphic project was a success! We were to create bit-mat monograms in adobe illustrator, which was a piece of cake! We had to mount our designs on mat board and they had to be presented perfectly.

Up next on the update is my painting projects! Our first project was to do a grid painting with a specific color scheme. I had analogous colors, red, yellow, and orange. We are supposed to make our own black in my painting class so thats how I ended up with the green color, the black I make has a ton of blue in it. We were supposed to pick a silhouette and use a 12X12 to cube-ify it. soooooo ya ta-da! Pretty wheat! We were to show depth by using the varying colors shades. Darker colors stand out more while lighter colors recede to the back. 

And finally may I present my first still life. We were supposed to render a still life in gray scale to study lighting and how far we can push the contrast between dark and light. I used oil paint and my own black so it has a blue-ish hue. I also used a pallet knife so the painting is full of texture! It was a really fun study! 

Soap and Splatter

I have done a horrible job of blogging over the summer! You would think I would have the time, but alas I don't! I continued to do Wacky Wednesdays in my community for the month of July, which was a blast! I am determined to play catch up and blog about the projects. So without further procrastination, this was one of the days we made soap sculptures and splatter art!

Telling parents that kids were going to make soap sculptures, I got some quizzical looks. There was no way I was going to trust little kids with knives! But I was going to trust them with a microwave! Turns out you can microwave Ivory soap, and it will grow and turn into this really cool blob of coral looking soap! I got the idea from Pintrest which came from a blog called, Our Best Bites, you can see their post here.

So I had the kids take turns helping me blow up the soap in the microwave, the look of awe on their faces was so rewarding! We would place the soap on parchment paper, and microwave it until the bar of soap was no longer a square. Afterwards I had them color their sculptures with food coloring. I mixed it with a bit of water to be thrifty. They used brushes and eye-droppers to 'paint' the soap. Kids and things that squirt water are dangerous, proceed with caution!

The really great thing about this project is that it has a good use! They could use their sculptures for a fun, and very bubbly colorful bath time! One of the moms told me her bathroom has never smelt better!

We also made some splatter art by putting some paint on a page and using packing squares, and straws to splat it all over the paper.

And The Award Goes To....

So the other day my awesome Gammie(Grandma) accepted an award for being Docent of the year at the Yellowstone Art Museum (its the only art museum in Montana!!! all the others are centers or galleries) It was a very exciting and looooong day! My mom and I spent around eight hours driving that day. How we didn't kill each other I do not know.... Especially because my idea of driving is not exactly her idea of safe driving... hehe I am my fathers daughter!

So we made it to Billings alive! And on the way there I made art! Last year my Gammie and Mike-Mike(Grandpa) took me to France for a graduation gift! It was amazing, and has helped me a lot in my art classes!!! So I did a sketch of the Notre Dame with pen and pastel chalk. 

Here are some pictures of my amazing Gammie getting her award! She totally deserves it! She not only texts me all the time to let me know when they are getting french impressionist paintings into the museum, but has always supported my creativity and artsy fartsy side! When I was maybe around five or six she got posters for my brother and I. He got mighty ducks, and I got Degas's Ballerina in Red! I still cherish it! You can tell she really loves being a docent, she is always bragging about the museum and all the cool stuff she learns. She makes me want to be a docent!!! They could not have picked anyone better, although I am a tad bit biased... 

Wacky Wednesdays!

Since being home i have been volunteering at our local arts center! When I was younger they used to have a program for young kids to do art activities. They had not done the program in years so when I asked about it, they asked me to run it!

I had not exactly been planning on running anything over my summer break, but I have enjoyed immensely! The kids are really great, they always work really hard and have been making some wonderful art!

Its been great being able to teach the kids about some art history and different types of art.

Sparkly Graduation Cap

In honor of the graduation season, I have a very special DIY project to share! When I graduated from High School I had to decorate my graduation cap! Our graduation colors were purple and teal... so I had no clue what i was going to do! I wanted to do something unique and different! I tried looking up fancy graduation caps on google but couldn't find any that met my expectations.

I had seen some projects where they used mod podge and glitter to sparkle-fy objects. LIGHT BULB! It worked out perfect I had an awesome grad cap that was unique and sparkly!

I taped off the corners first just in case I got glitter in places I didn't want it. Then I started adding layers of mod podge and glitter. I found it was easier and faster to add a layer of  glue and then sprinkle glitter over it, but make sure to do it in small layers otherwise it will become chunky. Another tip is make sure to let the bottom layers dry before adding one to the top, you will have to add many layers to coat the entire surface. First I covered the top in just silver, and as a final step I added bits of pink, purple, and blue. 

To top it all off I used an old belt buckle to add the final touch, I just hot glued it on.

Capstone Drawing: Progression of Emotions

Like other art classes, at the end of the semester means, chaos, stress, and capstone final projects. These projects are supposed to be examples of your creative capabilities (which hopefully you have some left by the end) and also skills acquired throughout the semester. For our drawing final we were instructed that we needed a set of three drawings We had the freedom to draw whatever anyway we wanted to. I decided to use charcoal, and draw figures. I hated figures before, but for some reason I had this ridiculous idea to have figures be my subject for my capstone! Maybe I drank to much coffee and felt super confident when I wrote my proposal paper, cause I have no idea what I was thinking! There is a reason why I never posted a picture of my self portrait. I hate drawing humans. dumb humans. Anyway I have included some parts from my capstone proposal so you can understand the inspiration from the pieces.

The capstone project I propose is that of a personal journey of strong emotions and growing up. It is a reflection on my personal emotional history. The first drawing is of a little girl’s hands clasped within a father’s hands. The next sketch shows a self-portrait of a bent head and outstretched hand. Last is the third sketch that shows a close up of eyes peaking out behind fingers and the gesture for quite. I also am inspired by the realism paintings of Honore Daumier. His paintings have a very sketchy characteristic to them. I was inspired by the boldness of his actions and how he was not afraid to stand and speak his mind through his art. He often exposed the un-glamorous side of life that many people in France at that time were trying to avoid. To me his paintings and prints have a lot of feeling and emotions packed into them. I wish to do the same in my progression of drawings.

Gift Wrapped Skeletons

For our final individual projects in my 3D class we were faced with building a structure using linear and planar materials to make a dynamic design that utilizes an interior structure

(skeleton) to create an exterior form (skin). The pieces had to have a transparent skin, windows for viewing the inside (which had to be a different design from the outside), and show our understanding of compression and expansion. 
We first built structures from straws to get a sense of what forms we hoped to render. From there we moved on to use balsa wood to build our sculptures. In the beginning I felt this project was going to be easy, and maybe even fun. I was wrong. I hate sculpture. Hate is a strong word. I hate sculpture. It may have to do with the fact I hate math. A lot. There is a reason I am an art student. I can't spell and I can't do math. To give you some perspective on how awful I truly am at math, it took me three hours to build a Hexagon! THREE HOURS! That's why I hate sculpture. And so I survived countless hours piecing this structure together which questioned my patience and what I had ever done to deserve such unfair treatment. I sure did have some bad karma with this one! but avail, like a gazillion hours later I finally finished the sculpture!!!

Naked sculpture

Mac Bling

Today I finally had the time to get a DIY project done! Being an art student and all especially as a graphic design major I wanted to add some personality to my computer. Everybody just puts stickers on theirs but that not so original after a while, and so I decided to make mine sparkly! Last year I mode-podged my graduation cap to be sparkly so I used the same methods to sparkle-ify my computer!

First step is to gather your supplies to customize your computer! You will need mod podge, glitter, a paint brush, and I would recommend using a case to put the litter on instead of directly onto your computer. Hard shell cases can be found on Amazon for cheep.  

The Never Ending Drawing

 10 hours is a long time. Especially if you spend 10 hours on one drawing!

That was our latest assignment in our drawing class was to spend at least 10 hours on our still life. That's 10 hours dealing with the joys of charcoal (I hope you could tell I was being sarcastic), 10 hours of squinting at a still life, 10 hours of frustration, 10 hours of stress, 10 hours of pure anger (people kept changing our still life, they better hope we never find who they were).

But 10 hours is really not that much to spend on a drawing that you want to do really well on, and we jam out to music in studio so 10 hours isn't probably as bad as it first seems!

So to begin our still life's we had to choose a spot, I gravitated towards the little piccolo. I have a soft spot for the instrument since I used to play it in high school!

Some of my sketches

Little Black Blobs

How busy can you get? SUPER DUPER busy that's how much!

And so to get back into the swing of blogging I present our new 3D project!

We had to construct modules to create one big form. The project was called, design between the folds.

we had to create a 3D form constructed from many multiples of a singular modular design or “unit”. The unit had to be created from paper and include some type of “fold” in its construction. The final form had to have an exterior surface texture that was different from its interior texture. 

And so we played with lots of concepts and lots of paper. We saved so many trees this past month.... not. Art school uses paper like smokers use cigarettes! 

After murdering countless innocent trees our projects were finally done! 

2D transformed into 3D

Today finally was the day that we critiqued our project we have been working on for weeks in 3D. The project took forever (ok so like three weeks) but it turned out really great! Our piece was based upon geometric planes, we were supposed to create a 3-dimensional design based upon a map marked out by points.

Our first step was to pick a location that had some meaning to us, lots of people picked the places they grew up, or went to school. I choose France!!!! I miss it a lot and had an amazing time there. The specific location I chose was the Oise-Aisne American Cemetery. I have relatives who manage the cemetery there. The country side was so beautiful and moving and to hear stories from my relatives about the cemetery and people who come to visit, and then to even find Montana guys buried there really "changed" me I think. Oh and they have wheat fields in France that was pretty epic too! All the farm land, and the tiny little towns all over really reminded me of home!

Back in school I first printed out my map from google.

And Then I proceeded to cut out a shape by plotting points that had significance to my adventure! Some points were, a spot I almost got ate by a deer on a walk, another was the old farm I walked to, a field I took pictures of, a Montana guys grave, my relatives house, and ect.

To Draw or Not To Draw

Who draws shoes and pillows? Me that's who! Over our extended break we were assigned to draw our pillow and a shoe....
So that's what I did.

I started with setting up a pillow and my favorite shoes! Say hello to VERA WANG!!!!!! I love these shoes so much the box even came to college with me even though I probably don't have the room for it... Oh well its Vera Wang!  Another thing that's probably not smart is working until the hours of morning day light... whoopsy! That's college for ya!

Feelin Like A Degas....

Awesome, crazy, stressful, blah, sleepy, hyper, ow, and Go! All are adjectives to describe my day.  My day started out with the dire need of caffeine... aka art history at 8 a.m.
In the early a.m. we learned about the Medicis' of Italy. But if I learned anything from history class in high school, other than politics, it was the Medicis'.

Afterwards was my forever long three hour drawing studio. (How was I going to make it through the day without coffee!?)
But It turned out to be awesome!!!!! (even without the coffee) We learned about gestural drawing.  We set up easels in a circle and everyone took turns modeling in the middle. We started sketching for two minuets and worked down all the way to five seconds to sketch! We were all on edge by the end. Our teacher called it drawing boot camp. The purpose of this exercise was to kinda re-learn how to draw. Usually people start with an outline and work in. We needed to start from the inside and try to avoid outlining too much. Our teacher also told us to hold out pencils like cavemen.... that didn't work so well...

Some Tim Tebow Action up top!

 Otherwise it was super fun! My teacher was super impressed with my sketches! So studying all those Degas sketches finally paid off! But somehow amongst all the fun I sliced open my finger.... I don't know how but good thing I noticed my finger puddling blood before I got it on my sketches! Yay for pretty sketches!

Advice From an Art School

It is finally all done!!!! well almost....
This morning at the wonderful hour of eight O'clock poor little me had to walk across the perils of icy campus to a exciting Art History exam, but the hope and light at the end of the tunnel that guided me through this horrible experience was ITS  OUR LAST ONE! -except part two of the art history course is next semester.... oh well!
After the excitement of being tested on Romanesque and Gothic architecture, which included my favorite cathedral, the Reims Cathedral! (I got to see it in France while I was there, creepy angel....!!!!) Next was our 2D recitation. Mr. Dean of course had a great lecture we learned all kinds of really great facts about life.

"Wear different shoes every day, they are the most important, so invest money in good shoes!"

Oh yessir my art professor told us this, of course he meant so you don't have back problems and what not, but I kind of interpreted it a little different... :) He then taught us how we should wash our hair, manage our time, fall in love, take risks, have confidence, and then the best lesson of all, don't get herpes.

"You can get herpes anywhere, from hand rails, doorknobs, shouldn't have this been on national television like everyday!"

When Dean was a grad student some med student mis-diagnosed him with herpes cause he had a corneal scratch and they figured it was from herpes, but it wasn't so he was just fine. But Dean made sure we all understood that we shouldn't touch our eyes so we don't get herpes! Gotta love Art School!

But alas I am glad this week is starting to wind down! It has been crazy studying for a final and working on my capstone. My dorm room totally looks like an artsy fartsy tornado ripped through here! But I still have a math final next week (which is the real finals week...). So ready for this semester to be done and move on to a new one!

And so I am finally posting about my capstone project! So what we had to do was listen to a sound on ubu.com. But these songs are not normal songs they are super messed up theres screaming and scratching and banging on pots, just really odd stuff. But I found one called tri-cello which is kind normal. So anyway I mapped out the entire 9 minute song in 30 second increments  whew that took forever! Next I painted on watercolor paper with gouache, I used salt to add dimension and interest, and then covered the entire thing in a veil of sheer black fabric! The whole thing turned out to be about 12 feet long! But it was very worth it! 

In the process of making the 12 foot monster

up on the wall in the studio

We experimented with the lighting :)

Best Monday Ever! (up until now at least)

No school!!! yay! So that means I have one of the best Mondays ever! It also means I get time to blog! (and work on homework of course...)
So I finally got around to taking pictures of a DIY project I did to add some personality to my dorm room. Its a super easy and quick project! In my room there is a protruding part of the ceiling that was just begging to be the home of something creative. I wanted to display some of my pictures on a line with clothes-pins all cute-like.

So I gathered my supplies and craftily began my DIY mission!

 You will need: 

     ribbon or string
      clothes pins
      sticky-hooks or nails
      and pictures!

Some ribbon or fishing line works good, I like ribbon better cause well its just cuter!

 Clothes-pins, you can get plain ones, or I  found these really cute shabby chic ones at Michaels!

 And of course you need pictures! I got mine printed at Costco, they are 4 by 6 and I picked the option of the white boarder.

I didn't have to use the sticky hooks because somebody at one time put some nails in the wall! So just tie the ribbon around the nail or hook.

You attach the picture with a clothes pin, and ta-da!  Super easy!













 Its a great fast, and simple way to add some personality to your dorm room or any room!

Also today I found the coolest site that lets you put together awesome outfits as a collage! It also tells you were the clothes are from and how much they are. It kinda reminds me of paper dolls, except its digital and theres no doll... Its super fun though! They have all kinds of clothes! Even jean skirts, I was very impressed! The website is polyvore.com

Everyday Casual Chic by meganh2012 featuring long denim skirts

Scotch Soda pattern shirt
$46 - scotch-soda.com

Jacket
$38 - ginatricot.com

Long denim skirt
maurices.com

Swell crochet scarve
swell.com

Original watercolor and pen fashion illustration by Jessica Durrant...
etsy.com