Clare


 * Part 3

This grading period has been my most successful so far in terms of finishing pieces in a decent amount of time, but I still feel as if my actual concept of things reflecting happier than they appear to be isn't actually coming across very well. My favorite piece in this section is the ariel photograph of the lake, followed by the reflected sky in the building. I feel as if these two pieces convey what I'm trying to do the clearest and have a pretty strong connecting link. The one of my mom in the shop window took the longest, mainly because I wanted to stick close to the original colors of the picture; my concept isn't that reflections completely distort things and force them into being portrayed as happier than they naturally are, but it's more about how seeing things reflected in something else changes the perspective one might have about something or someone, specifically how it changes into a brighter perspective.



Part 2**

When the second quarter started, I felt really behind; none of my first three pieces were anywhere close to being finished, my concept was still up in the air, and I was becoming really frustrated with the whole process. The thought of coming up with 9 more pieces was daunting, and I had no idea how I was going to continue my not-so-solid concentration. I looked at the 3 pieces that I had done so far and tried to find a common theme or similarity between them, but since none of them are done, that was a little hard. I looked through some old pictures on my computer I had taken and came across one of my mom's reflection in a subway window. I liked the composition of it and used it as source material for my 4th piece. Again, I'm still no where near done with it yet, but, unlike the first 3, I actually like this piece and could start to see how it would blend in pretty well with the loose structure that is my concentration. The 5th piece is a photograph of one of my friend in the hallway; her reflection is shown in the marble floor, and I'm painting on top of it. It was pointed out to me that my 2nd piece -- the building and balloon piece -- could be seen as showing the happier side of a place or thing in a reflection, even though the actual place isn't so happy. I thought about this idea as I was editing the picture in photoshop, and tried to continue it in my 5th piece. I then felt a small sense of relief that I had finally decided on a concept for my concentration. However, as I looked back at my first 3 pieces, I didn't really see the new concept in any of them, so I had to go back and rework some parts of them. Even though my concept hasn't really been defined at any point while I've been working on my concentration, I think that there is a linking point between most of the pieces I've done so far. My only thought now is if I want to expand my new concept to include reflecting the darker side of things in happier places. Or I could reflect an unexpected feeling from a place or thing or person. I'm not sure if I will, but I think expanding my concept could give me a lot more options for future pieces.




 * Concentration...Part 1**

Let's see, my original idea was reflections, which I honestly thought was a legitimate concept. I did realize at the time we were doing the 3 column sheets that I would have to narrow it down a bit more in order to get more of a concrete and workable concept, but at the very beginning I didn't know I would be expected to create deeper meanings about every piece and relate them to one another. So, this being said, my idea has thus far evolved from reflections to reflections of things not actually seen. I like the idea of doing something along the lines of showing how the brighter or more joyous aspects of darker things or places is harder to see, and then showing the brighter side just in the reflection, but I really feel that I won't be able to come up with 8 other pieces pertaining to this. Which brings me to the question of what I've had a hard time doing. My answer to this would probably be the whole concentration process. I completely understand and appreciate the importance of confining one's theme, idea, message, etc., but I personally don't like having to plan pieces alongside other ones, or having to stick to a subject matter, or concentration. I'm used to having the freedom of basically doing whatever I want when it comes to art. Another problem for me is definitely time, because I like to be meticulous with details and tend to work really slowly. And doing 12 pieces in 4 months is going to be very hard. So for this next group, of which I've only done 1 so far, I'll have to really develop my concept more and try to find a workable relationship between the pieces I've already started and the ideas for other pieces that I have.



__Repeated Shape Collage__

Doing this project I learned how to place shapes around each other in order to create a good composition. The ability to alter colors and opacity of the various keys allowed me to have variations and create more posibilities than I would have had with any other medium. The filter that I used also allowed me to make a drastic change that I otherwise would not have made because taking it back simply required me pressing the undo button.

__Embracing Chaos__

I chose yellowish graph paper as the base for this assignment because all the lines going across the page made it more interesting, and I chose to paste the pieces so the lines intersected. I liked the blue spatter across the entire canvas because it was an element that I couldn't control. I painted the green cassette tape so that some of the blue showed through, but some if it was completely blocked out by the green. Then, to combat the harshness of the multitude of the small lines, I painted an orange fingerprint to add a more circular element and a warmer color. Finally, to connect the tape and fingerprint to the graph paper, I painted over some of the lines of the graph paper with green and orange.

__Still Life__

My favorite part of this project was being able to pick a smaller section of something big and focus on that one area. I thought it was interesting how everyone was essentially drawing the same still life, but none of the actual compositions were the same. That being said, my least favorite part was actually drawing it. I'm okay with charcoal, even though pencil is much easier. It was hard getting the proportions of everything in my composition right in relation to everything else on the page, and having to work with charcoal just made it that much harder. If this was a concentration, I'd probably return to the aspect of this project being a part of something bigger. I could really focus on the corners and edges of the page to try and give the impression that there is something bigger than what i was focusing on. It'd probably turn out to be more of a "it's not what it seems" kinda thing, but that might be a little too cliche.

__My Face__

If light were a metaphor, it would probably symbolize a deeper meaning about something that’s seemingly simple. At first glance my stare into the camera is obvious and blank, but if looked at a little longer, there’s a sort of anger or sadness behind it. I think my expression is an unhappy one, and light could also be a metaphor for something that I’m not happy or sad about. While I can be happy and joking when I’m in a good mood or when I need to be, the majority of the time I’m more cynical and serious. So this drawing basically shows what I’m like when I feel I don’t need to put on a happy face to please somebody. If I were to proceed with this idea, I wouldn’t just take pictures or examples of people being unhappy; I think I would capture them when they don’t notice me, so whatever expression they have is sure to be genuine. I think most people put on fronts for others, so it would be interesting to see what natural expressions various people have.

__Project 1__

My object was a clock, which is kind of an ordinary object that people look at everyday and not even notice. So i had to come up with a way to make it interesting. I kept the colors just black and white to copy the usual colors on clocks, but sort of deconstructed the shape of it, and the individual numbers were various styles and sizes, which I thought would add interest. In my original sketches the forms that came from the clock and spread across the page were just squiggles, cause I like the spontaneity of them, and that aspect of them reminds me of time. I've always considered the concept of time silly in a way, because it is a man-made thing, and it seems to dictate so much of our lives, so I wanted to express chaos coming from such a conventional thing. The more uniform clock to the right is there to bring back the chaos that's coming from the main clock back to reality, which relates to the realistic ways of how everyone is expected to use their time.

Using charcoal, pastels, and paint I started by laying out the basic shapes and numbers on the page, and then went crazy with drawing squiggles all across it. Then I realized there wasn't really any balance or space, so I added blocks of black and white, and re-worked the perspective of the clock. I guess if I was going to continue this as a concentration, my focus would be creating the opposite feeling expected to come from a certain object or subject, if that makes sense?