Elizabeth

=Concentration Entry #3= The past three pieces have been frustrating, but have had generally successful results. My favorite is the grass piece by far because I expanded my concentration idea. I wanted to show how even with a really complicated background, the negative shapes, and the general form of the natural piece itself would prove to be the dominant shapes. I ended up having to add dark green, light green, and yellow lines on top of the grass itself to make the form more complicated, and draw more attention to it. For my next piece, the shell piece, I wanted to explore what it would look like if I made the ENTIRE natural form out of lines. To show the viewer just how detailed the shells could be, I focused in on the subtle shadows with each shell (especially in the bottom left corner). Each individual form looks pretty complex, but the entire image doesn't seem completely finished yet. Before I had positive results with my grass piece and my shell piece, I had been working on a butterfly piece. This piece was by FAR the most frustrating. I think it is because I tried to impose my own designs on an image, instead of following what was actually there. So I ended up drawing a bunch of squiggly lines. Because a butterfly can be so small, I wanted to emphasize the fact that a human being would never know if a butterfly actually looked like that because they assume that natural forms are simple (my concentration idea). However, this isn't as successful as the other pieces, and I really want to dump it from my concentration. I haven't even started worrying about the body....I wish that I had more time to fix it, because I feel like the idea behind it is a design progression of my concentration.

Also, I probably shouldn't admit this, but I am a piece behind, and it is majorly stressing me out. I was thinking that I would go super abstract on this one and paint the shapes found in a snake skin. I think in order for it to not be SO incredibly abstract, I will have to make sure it is a known snake pattern, like an anaconda. I was talking to a friend whose sister took AP for two years, and she said that I could just name the piece "anaconda" or something to get rid of some confusion. I hope it works out because we really don't have any time for mistakes. In an ideal world, I would be finished with all four of my remaining pieces in two weeks so that I have time to go back and fix all of them....we'll see what happens. =Concentration Entry #2= Well, I ended up deciding that the lines in the human face were a little too far fetched for my concept, so I looked to more natural things for new pieces. It was really intimidating coming up with new ideas on the spot for the next couple of pieces, but through my frustration, I found my niche! It never ceases to amaze me how one bad thing can present a better solution. My problem: Lack of time to complete the desired number of pieces. My solution: Taking/finding previous images and editing them with a similar program to iphoto, printing them on a large scale, and experimenting with the natural LINE shapes/patterns in nature. My concentration now has really jumped from industry vs. nature, to nature, to highlighting the intricate details/shapes within forms in nature that are typically perceived as simple. The problem that I am facing now is WHAT KINDS of lines I incorporate into my pieces, and really what they mean. My wheat paiting, in particular, is incredibly frustrating because typically, the lines within the natural wheat plant are straightwhereas I made them swirly like my trippy tree piece. The wheat piece differed more so than my other pieces this time around because I used a new method: paintings instead of photographs. Right now it is not as strong, but I feel like I put a lot more work into this piece than the other ones. A problem that emerges with this, however, is I am incredibly hesitant about editing the image because I feel that it is my pride and joy that I have slaved over to perfect. In a photograph, however, if worse comes to worse, I can just reprint an image.

Piece 1: Tree 2 This was really the first piece that helped to ease my struggle with my concentration. It is very convenient to be a photographer, and have the ability to pull pictures from past years etc to use. In this case, I went outside during class, snapped a photo of a tree outside, and edited it using iphoto to psychedelic colors. I used the technique I had discovered during my "frog & hairdryer" piece: BLOCKING THINGS OUT to draw attention to other things. At this point in my concentration, I was focusing more about the details and interesting shapes created between the tree (main focus) and the background (negative space.) I wanted to emphasize the fascinating shapes created between each branch, so I applied this technique. I feel that it is successful, and a good guide for the rest of my pieces. 1) Addition of emphasized branches via the use of sharpies/white out pens (more images of the transformation to come, this is the first image)

Piece 2: Waves In this piece, I also incorporated the system of blocking things out. However, my reasoning for this piece was not so much about drawing attention to the intricate shapes in nature, as it was simplifying the original image. For someone who doesn't look at water constantly, it is very difficult to see what it is! I was definitely more experimental in this piece. I started by tracing some of the dark and light values that created a pattern within the piece, and discovered that the design created were incredibly interesting. From that point, I focused on bringing forth even more of the detail within the actual waves, and drawing less attention to the flat,deep blue shapes in between the waves. I think this piece allowed me to safely express myself, and experiment with new ideas that I can use. I definitely feel more confident with my experimental skills after this piece. 1) Addition of pale blue shapes and teal outlines of dark figures within jumbled waves 2) Further blocking out/incorporation of sharpies to define natural patterns within waves Piece 3: Wheat The wheat piece is my brain child at the moment. I have definitely spent the most time on it. I worked from an original photograph, attempting to get all of the colors right, the angles, etc, so when it came time for me to draw on it, I was EXTREMELY hesitant. I decided that I needed to continue to incorporate my concept that shapes and designs in nature exist, and they are very detailed. For this piece, I improvised and included some of the squiggly lines from my radio piece at the beginning of the year, a variation of the lines I used in my original trippy tree piece. I am not sure if this improvisation/abstraction works. I suppose that I should try to make the wheat as visually pleasing as possible, but if I am making a statement about emphasizing the natural patterns created in nature, isn't this somewhat defeating my purpose? I feel somewhat stuck here. Another thing I did differently was draw my "intricate lines" with colors that resembled the general paint colors of the piece so that they almost blend it. This is my way of safely exploring abstraction. Like I said, I feel somewhat stuck. 1) Original photograph 2) Painting with addition of intricate lines in sharpie colors matching the background

Piece 4: Bubbles?/Works in progress/Another grassy/tree picture? 1) Grassy Tree: Maybe block out everthing that isn't vibrant green with black and white lines that look like optical illusions? 2) Bubble piece: This isn't really nature/may just become a test piece 3) Tar splattered piece: Again, not really sure what to do with this because it was originally a piece in my "industry vs. nature" concept. In the beginning of this piece, I was inspired by the cloudy background I saw in a painting in my history class. It tried to create this kind of abstract background by including buildings, painting equally as abstractly as the background. To incorporate my idea of "industry vs. nature" I drew a water bottle that resembled a building, tipping over. After I changed my concentration, and decided that my image wasn't drawn to scale, I splattered black paint on the image---ironically creating very interesting negative shapes. I am still not sure how to use this, if I do, because I can not think of anything natural that involves tar. Maybe an oil spill? But that would be going back to my industry vs. nature idea.... =Concentration= Piece 1: Trippy Tree My original concentration idea focused on the battle between industry and nature. I was inspired by the geometric aspects of everyday life and their interaction with natural elements. I wanted to focus on how the two concepts interacted: which one was superior, how one defined the other, and the fact that technically any industrial product is derived from natural elements. I found, however, that the concept did not present a strong visual strategy that was apparent to the viewer. In the beginning of my "trippy tree" piece, I had thought about constructing a tree out of metal pipes. When this did not go over well, I painted the entire thing metallic silver: I wanted to contrast the product, paper, collaged in the background, with the industrial aspect of a "metallic" tree. As I mentioned before, this only worked as a concept, not in a visual sense. From that point, I became EXTREMELY FRUSTRATED. In the end, I decided to incorporate a technique I used in my stereo piece, wavy lines that resembled the patterns tree bark makes on a tree. I feel that is a successful piece. I am not sure which version of the piece I will submit, however, because I digitally altered the image to give it a more psychedelic feel:

Transition: 1) Started addition of wavy bark lines 2) Addition of gold wavy bark lines + ballpoint pen to help them stand out 3) Digitally altered version #1 (pre gold lines) 4) Digitally altered version #2 (post gold lines) == Piece 2: Jellyfish After struggling a great deal with coming up with another industry vs. nature idea that would make sense to the viewer without knowing my concept, I revamped my concentration. I have decided to focus on exposing the intricate details of natural objects such as animals and trees. I was inspired by the glasswork of Dale Chihuly. I saw that he incorporated the same type of wave stroke in his glassware that I had done with sharpies. I also found a beachy theme to his work, and decided upon a jellyfish. I am focusing on making this another strictly 2d, almost print-like image. Here is the transition of what I have so far....soon to be edited: 1) Flat yellow color-->blended, more interesting hue 2) The new color 3) Addition of hot pink sharpie--->interesting pattern 4) Outlined tentacles with purple sharpie to make them pop and appear more linear/addition of hot pink paint 5) Addition of outlined pink lines with orange paint pen, yellow lines inbetween pink lines with paint pen, and addition of red lines surrounding yellow lines with paint pen Piece 3: The human face/wrinkles are intricate!!! Source image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/paren/55074861/ =FROG AND THE HAIRDRYER:= == = I feel like this piece was more of a piece that challenged my ability to control chaos, rather than create it. My initial background was the combination of two cut up pieces of pajama pants with a pre-established color palate of blue, green, and red. While this palate did aid in my choice of paint color, it made my piece incredibly chaotic. After I put the frog and the hairdryer on the canvas itself, I was forced to take out pieces of the background in order to bring attention to the main pieces. This process helped make the entire piece LESS chaotic, and function as a proper composition. This piece would be the first in a concentration about harnessing chaos with a color scheme. From a real life stand point, a chaotic composition could represent finding harmony in a stressful enviornment. = =//Ridiculous Object Still-life//= //**As with all charcoal pieces, it takes a while to really make your composition work because you need a general background color. I found this somewhat frustrating because I am used to diving into things. Traditionally, when I think of a charcoal still life, I think of austere objects like fruits, plates, and cups. It was interesting to pursue a composition that was unconventional. If I selected this piece as the first piece in my concentration, I would probably be exploring unconventional things in conventional places. However, if I selected this concentration, I would draw emphasis on one misplaced object, instead of depicting an entire scene of them.

Dramatic Lighting: The Struggle Between Good and Evil**//

I generally associate light with “enlightenment.” In this aspect, I think that light represents knowledge. However, the expression I am making in my image does not appear to understand this knowledge at all. Due to my position in the light, I feel as if I look like I am being “lit up” as opposed to “in the dark” on whatever piece of knowledge the light is casting upon me. When someone thinks of light and dark, they often think of the stereotypical good and evil. If a person looked at my image in this mindset, they would see that the majority of the time, I am good and enlightened. Even so, I am only human so it seems fair that I include the negative aspects of my personality as expressed through the inviting darkness on the right side of the page. Taking a further look, my eyes are gazing at the darkness, terrified. Perhaps this symbolizes my fear of becoming a disappointment, or getting sucked into dark times, or dark memories from the past. In my image, I represent someone who is attempting to escape such darkness to happier times. If I used this piece to pursue a concentration I would probably focus on the struggle between good and evil and what they represent. Transition: //**Neon Stereo **// If this piece were to be the first one in my concentration, it would suggest a focus on the combination of urban design and pop art. While in the future an umbrella or a coffee cup may become subjects of a piece, I would spend my time on //city// objects such as buildings, lampposts, or cds.

Pop art is all about drawing attention to something, and adding emphasis. I tried to incorporate this idea in my last piece with the use of neon color, and harsh, defined, black lines. I believed that the addition of such colors, helped to not only make my piece stand out, as pop art should, but show the emphasis on the motion of sound.

I chose to work with paint because it always seems to by my first reaction, but looking back on it, I probably should have used printmaking. This would, however, contradict the idea not to make the subject of our composition obvious. In general, pop art is very clear about what the subject is. Printmaking would boldly point out what the idea was. Instead of focusing on the subject itself, I chose to focus on the movement of sound waves and the feelings a song gives a person. To show this, I became inspired by a band poster, and drew in black lines, spinning in different colors on opposite sides of the piece.

I think that this piece says that I am a person who likes things that are confidently executed (or at least appear that way), and bring forth an emotion. It is a weird thing to think about, because I am not a huge fan of realism, which is completed in the same manner: obvious. Instead I prefer art that is twisted visually, or is even made up of things that it shouldn’t be made up of. I think this says that I am the kind of person that would like to clearly be told what is going on around me, yet I am more fascinated with how and why. Thinking about this, I realize that I strive to be the person causing the intentional confusion, so that I understand what and why things are going on. It also clearly explains why I want to major in forensic psychology.