The Wrong to Choose

This is a mixed media piece done on a canvas board. The three materials I used for this painting was acrylic paint, seed beads, and high gloss gel medium. The political and emotional statement I tried to make with this piece was the sorrow associated with abortion. I am a very pro life individual, and I believe that every life is sacred. In this piece I painted an eye, which i painted over with gloss to make it shiny. the eye is crying a tear, and in the tear is an unborn baby. I tried to make it very symbolic, and if you saw the picture you would definitely get the message. Throughout the rest of the piece I used very wet paint to make streaks across the painting. I also used a primarily blue color palate. The whole piece has a very prominent feeling of sadness. This represents the sorrow that a mother who has had an abortion might feel. It also represents the sorrow of the people trying to fight the legal "right" of having an abortion. I hope that people who see this picture will immediately get the message i am trying to send.

Afghan Girl

This piece is a realistic acrylic painting done on a canvas board. My subject is the girl from the famous National Geographic picture taken in the 1980's. The subject is a twelve-year-old girl living on a refugee camp in Afghanistan. The thing that drew me to paint this photograph was the girls eyes. They had a very unique color and definitely popped. I also liked the contrast of the green in her eyes and the background and the red-ish brown of her cloak. I gave my own little twist to the piece by brightening the colors to make them more vibrant. I think its a little darker than the actual version of the picture. I also was a little off with the proportions of her mouth, but i think all in all she turned out ok. My favorite part about doing this project was working on her hair and eyes. I liked using texture for both. I hopefully created a realistic piece that is just as moving as the original picture.

Going Up

This piece is a surrealistic acrylic painting done on a canvas board. My subject is a green pasture under a cow being "abducted" by a red balloon. I used a rough painting technique using short strokes with a fairly large amount of paint. I wanted the style of the painting to reflect the surrealism. It's kind of choppy and uneven, but I used a lot of color mixing to bring in dimension. I mixed some green and purple in the sky and clouds so it wasn't monochromatic. I used several different kinds of reds in the balloon to give it dimension as well. The cows were more difficult to give dimension to, because they have a very specific shape, and my painting technique doesn't really lend to much detail. The pasture was also difficult because I found it hard to find a shade of green that didn't resemble pea soup. I added some pink to give it a little more interest. My favorite parts of this painting are the balloon, clouds and mountains in the background. I tried to create a light source by adding highlights to these objects, and I think it gave them way more dimension. I enjoyed working with this media very much. I think it allows more freedom in technique and style, which makes it easier to create a piece that can be interpreted and viewed many different ways.

Twisted

This painting was a mixed media project I did with oil pastels and acrylic. I love octopi (I believe thats the correct way of saying it), especially the tentacles. I think that they definitely make for a good subject to paint, because of all the shading involved. I was also inspired by Klimpt's "Tree of Life" painting, the way the branches split and twisted. I also admired the gold background in his pieces. I thought I would incorporate these in my piece. I think I created a very abstract piece, and I hope people enjoy viewing it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Mixed Media

I did a mixed media painting made out of an old map, gloss medium, and acrylic paint. First, I cut out a section of the map and taped it down to a board. I then applied a gloss medium with a palette knife and let it dry. After it dried i rubbed a mix of white and turquoise acrylic paint into the medium. After this, I painted my designs. Because the map was of South America, it made me think of the turmoil and religion associated with the continent. The dove can symbolize peace as well as religion. The ribbons are made in the different colors of the countries of South Americas, all reaching for the dove, or flowing away from the dove. Many of the countries in South America are known for being very religious, so the dove can be a common hope that holds these countries together through their poverty and strife. However, some countries are known for their extreme corruption and drug crime. I think my project can be interpreted many different ways, and I'll leave it up to the viewer to see whatever they want to in this piece.

Digital Photography

These are some pictures I took in my digital photography class. They're all from different projects, but I felt that these were the strongest photographs. The flagpole rope and the bright green leaf were both part of a "finding letters in nature" project. I hope that it's obvious that they are an "s" and a "p". The collage of leaves and flowers was another project. I enhanced the colors with photoshop but that was pretty much it. The figs were a food ad duplication project. I only did a little bit of enhancing with photoshop for this one as well. All in all I really liked my digital photography class, and have enjoyed working with photoshop very much.

Watercolor

Dixie

This piece, titled “Dixie” is a 16x20 inch watercolor painting inspired by my standard poodle by the same name. The aspects I enjoyed working with in this piece were the proportions and textures. I tried to give the illusion that her nose was poking out of the page. I did this by making the snout and ear very large and adding more color. The majority of this piece is monochromatic. I used brown and black for fur and carpet. Only the nose and snout have traces of red. I feel that this made them stand out even more. I also focused on the eye. I tried to give them emotion, and made a secondary focus point in the piece. I used both dry brush and wet on wet techniques when making the fur. First, I laid a primary coat of light brown with a wet brush. Then, with a dry, damaged brush, I made the individual hairs of the ear, back, and snout. With the ear, I used long, curly strokes that gave the illusion of soft hair. The snout, carpet, and back consisted of shorter strokes. I am pleased that the painting portrays my dog’s personality and I hope that it evokes entertained and happy feelings by people who view it.