Gibbs

Third quarter concentration: I got a lot done this quarter. I did the vine, rainbow, rain, and grass pieces. I also took a better picture for the fall scene one. I've realized that it doesn't take very long for me to make the actual pieces, so I've been spending a lot more time in the lab. I've really experimented with adding color to the backgrounds of several pieces, and it really makes them a lot more interesting. Although I still have two left, I think that the majority of my time will be spent in the lab editing the images or outside of class taking pictures.

Second quarter concentration: This quarter was a lot easier for me. I learned more efficient ways to work from the first quarter. Also, I started 6 pieces, almost completing most of them. For one piece, I worked with a smaller scale to save time then I took a picture of it and put it on a picture I had previously taken of a billboard. Also, for this deadline, I worked a lot more with photoshop. I played around a lot more with the lighting, using tools like exposure and curves. I really liked these effects because they made the backgrounds look even for "dead" and made the post its stand out even more. For the next deadline, I plan on working more with smaller scale pieces and trying to do more like the fire one where I put the post its on an already interesting background. I'm going to try and focus more on making the pieces more visually interesting, as well as try to apply the principles and elements of design. But so far I'm happy with the work I've done. First quarter concentration: What is your idea? How has it evolved thus far? What have you tried that hasn't worked or you have had a hard time doing? What things are you contemplating changing about this next group of works? How might this inform your concept?

My idea is to bring the urban scene to life through works made of post-its inspired by images from nature, such as waterfalls, sunsets, and forests. So far, my idea has evolved from just using post-its, to using paint on the post-its and possibly in the backgrounds. Because my concentration idea requires so much outside work, the hardest thing for me has been finishing in time. To help with this problem, I have decided to to smaller scale works that I will translate onto images of unrealistic scale, such as billboards, buildings, etc. Another thing I will be thinking about for the next group of works is to whether or not to include more color or techniques in photoshop than I had originally planned (ie desaturate). However, I don't want it to take away or change my original concept in any way. I just want it to enhance my images and create to best visually interesting piece that I can.

Digital Shape Repeated Collage: What did you learn while working on this project that you may be able to use for your concentration? How did this technique or tool affect this piece and add to a possible interpretation?

I thought it was very helpful to learn how to use photoshop, especially how to distort pictures and change their color and saturation. I think it would be cool to somehow incorporate these techniques in my concentration somehow. My favorite technique/tool to experiment with was curves and hue/saturation because it created a really cool effect on my object where it would have multiple colors at once. It almost made it look electric which was really cool. I also liked experimenting with the opacity level and the desaturation effect because it created space, as well as made some colors look faded. This was very effective with my piece because my object was a flower shape and a gradual fading or desaturation could represent the flower dying or a changing in season...Overall, I learned a lot of new techniques and tools on photoshop that I never knew before that could possilbly enhance my concentration. Embracing chaos: At first, I just focused on the objects and making them stand out and look real. Then, however, I realized that my piece was not balanced with the two objects dominating the piece, so I started to incorporate ideas and lines from the map in the background. I also blocked areas out with some solid, but mostly mixed colors to help with the balance and intrigue of the piece. The solid and dotted lines on top of the objects are supposed to represent the lines on the streets as well as the many intersecting lines of the map. As the piece progressed, I started focusing less on the objects and more of the piece as a whole and trying to make it as visually interesting as possible. Because I started to "embrace chaos", the piece became less about the objects, even making the piano hard to make out, and more about a balanced and interesting composition. The more I embraced chaos the easier it became for me to reconcile the different elements and objects.

This piece could carry a message about travel with the footprint on top of a map with the different lines that can be seen as street lines. It could represent the everyday chaos of trying to get to lots of different places in so little time and the typical daily rush. I learned from this piece that if you allow yourself to let go and embrace chaos, not only focusing on the initial idea or goal of the piece, then you can end up with a much more interesting piece. It also learned better how to balance a piece, especially an extremely chaotic one. And this could carry on to life and trying to balance/ manage my time.

Crazy Object Still Life: Charcoal has always been hard for me to use. I think that was my biggest challenge with this project. Also, it was hard to get started and getting the right proportions and dimensions of such a small section of the still life display. However, once I got going, I was a lot easier. The biggest thing after that was getting the shading right. Although I didn't think this at first, believing it would be too difficult to accurately portray, the orange and blue ball ended up being my favorite object to draw. The many different values made the object really pop and became the focal point of the drawing. My least favorite part to draw was probably the duck. Also, I would've liked a little more time to finish. I think that because it was so animated and cartoolike, unlike the rest of the objects in my still life, I thought it didn't fit it. If I were to continue this idea into a concentration, I would probably do more charcoal still lifes of toys and childlike objects, kind of like some of the other objects in the display, but even more childish. I would set dramatic lighting on each piece, and would probably try to incorporate something, like the duck, that just doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the objects.

Self Portrait: I think that the light in my self portrait could represent the sun. I see myself looking out in the distance straight at the setting sun, where the light is just bright enough for me to have to shade my face with my hand. I think that I could be very interesting for me to, if I were to continue this into body of work, experiment with the lighting, making it represent differnet stages of the sun throughout the day. For example, sunrise, midday, sunset, dusk/night. If I were to do a self portrait representing the sunlight at the middle of the day, I would magnify the light and place in directly above me, and if I were to portray dusk/night, I would dim the light dramatically and place it a good distance away from my face, creating a lot of shadow. I think this idea could be really cool because it would show the cycle of the sun throughout the day. Simply through lighting and the placement of the light, I could show the duration of a day.

Object Drawing: My piece focused on the light bulb. If I were to continue with it, if it were a concentration, I would look at other ways of portraying a light bulb without just drawing it. For example, my other ideas included a diagram of all the different parts of a light bulb, as well as incorporating life into the bulb, such as making it resemble a tree or having trapese walkers walking across the wire/filament of the bulb. I would ultamitely want to portray the light bulb in a way that people haven't seen it before. My idea evolved from just portraying a light bulb to the going green concept. By having a pattern of all regular bulbs except for one environmentally friendly one, really, I believe, emphasized the going green movement. I decided to work with water color because I thought that its translucent effect portrayed light and the clarity of the light bulb well. It also allowed me to layer different shades of color to show different values of light etc. The in class critique really helped me finish my piece. It made me think about things/aspects of my piece that I hadn't thought about, such as balance. This piece showed me that art can truly be anything, especially after seeing the extreme variety in class. Also, that it can be as simple as portraying an everyday object in an unusual light. And finally, that it can say an important message without words, such as going green. Posted Yesterday 11:15 am