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.