We are capable despite it all
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The New NormalThings have been going well during these last few weeks. The hardest thing for me is staying positive and motivated while working in a new environment while completely alone most days (besides my cat). We have all experienced change these past few weeks and it's not always easy but we will make it work. I have been continuing to work on my second painting and I seem to be moving along faster than with my first. A perk of working at home with no distractions is how much I am able to get done in a shorter amount of time. I am still concerned about not being able to complete all four paintings from my original plan but time will tell. If I need to I have the option of limiting myself to three but I want the challenge. This week I've focused on the larger buildings and those that are more a part of the background rather than the foreground. I am hoping to be nearly finished this painting by the end of next week. This is our new normal and I think I am finally adjusting. Somewhere NewAfter an unexpected turn of events, classes have been moved online and at home. For me, this just meant a change of location. My classroom now consists of my bedroom and my living room. I have converted one of the corners of my home living room into my temporary art studio where I have room to paint and work on my project. Although it has been a challenge to adjust and it took some time I am finally getting a hang of working SO independently. With such a change in how and where my work was taking place, I had a really hard time getting and staying motivated. Without all my VAM friends it isn't the same. I would sit down to paint and give up almost immediately all I could think about was how my last time in class would be my last. We never had a chance to know that it would be our last class together and that thought has affected me. It would throw me into thoughts of sadness which in turn led to having no motivation to work. Talking to my VAM classmates through texts and social media helped me to feel like we were working together while apart. Talking to them helped me become motivated and realize that even though I may be upset I need to move on to continue with my project and life in general. And now for some project updates. I have finished my first painting, but I'm unsure if I'm 100% happy with it so I plan to keep it near to me while I continue to work so if I see something to fix I have the opportunity. I've started my second painting using the same process as before, sketching a bit of my plan onto the canvas and starting with a wash. Everything project-wise seems to be going pretty smoothly. Except I am now behind. With about four weeks without VAM 30 taking place, I fell behind by not working as much as I should have. I'll need to access my progress and determine if I think I can truly complete three more paintings before the end of the semester. It will take a lot of time and hard work these next few weeks but we will see how things go. Some Changes Have Been MadeThis week I finally figured it out. I had been feeling a bit discouraged while painting and wasn't achieving the look that I desired. Nothing was looking quite right until I figured it out. I wasn't liking how 'realistic' my buildings were coming out. I was beginning to worry about how inaccurate it would become with my lack of technical skills. I stopped and stood back from my painting and took a minute to figure out where I wanted to take this series. I realized that my fear came from this series being so different from what I have previously done. I have never painted anything this big and this detailed before. I started painting using some influence from the impressionist style, the way that impressionist artists leave brush strokes visible inspired me to follow suit. Another change that took place this week involves the neon pink sign that is present in the front right corner. We found a neon orange that is brighter then then any pink I have been able to find. I decided to use the orange instead and I am loving it so far! I am really happy with where this painting series is going and cant wait to finish this one up and begin my next one soon. My InspirationMemories from my past travels keep coming up in my mind. I am reminded of my inspiration for this project daily. I love being a 'tourist,' the odd one out who keeps stopping to take photos at every corner. I fell in love with photography when my parents gave me a little camera when I was really young. My family would go camping and I would take pictures of EVERYTHING from the leaves on the trees to my brother's army guys. I loved it all. As I grew and eventually joined the VAM academy I began to figure out that I had a passion for more than just simply taking photos for fun. I started taking my photography more seriously and attempting to take photos that I could later use as inspiration for other artworks. I have always loved crafting, but the academy gave me the time and place to improve my painting, drawing and photography skills. So back to my VAM 30 project; being a tourist is inspiring. Being able to create a world you want rather then what is truly there feels so strange yet so good. Although I know they are just paintings I love the idea of creating my own reality. This week went well, I have felt a bit discouraged when attempting to add specific details to one of the buildings because it is so particular. What I keep telling myself is that it isn't supposed to be perfect. That I have the power to make it how I want to, and that's what keeps me going. I am really happy with how everything else has been coming along so far and am excited to get back to work on Monday. Below I have attached some new progress pictures. Getting Started for Real!We are technically already finishing up week 4! Time seems to be flying by we had a break that lasted over a week causing two Fridays of school to be missed which are the days I should be blogging every week. Throughout these past weeks, a lot has happened. I bought my four canvases, which were originally going to be 24x30 inches but I decided for the photos I would be using and for the quality of this project overall to get canvases that measure 24x36 inches each. I have now picked the first photo that I will base my first painting on. I began by doing a wash made of a mixture of paint and water over the entire canvas with the correlating colors. I have now begun painting it but have only begun the main colours so far. I'll add in a few photos below so you can see my progress. Things seem to be going almost perfectly to plan so far but I have to say I am feeling nervous (and excited) to begin all the details that are on each building. There is a neon sign that is present in this first photo that I am excited to paint is that I have never used such a bright and loud colour before. I will have to go out and buy some neon pink paint, being that the art room is all out. I'll be going out to pick some up within the next week to ensure everything stays on schedule. This month has gone pretty smoothly and I'm excited to continue with this project. Wow! It feels crazy to be in VAM 30 already. After so much time and effort I’ve put in throughout the past two years it’s almost at an end. For my last semester of high school and my last time in a Visual Arts and Media class, I will be doing another series of paintings. Last year I went on a school trip to New York City, where I took photos of the skylines, land/cityscapes, and the architecture. This year I have decided to use four of the photos I took while there as a reference for four 24 x 30-inch acrylic paintings. I will be taking these four photos into an app called Prisma to play around with the styles and possibly colours of each photo as well. I want to keep my paintings more realistic this time around compared to my VAM 10 project where I changed the colours completely and made them into my style. I want to make sure that viewers are still able to tell what each painting is featuring. Much like my project for VAM 20. This past week I re-wrote my proposal which helped me to get a better grasp of what my true intentions are with this project. With only four classes until our next break, my goal is to have all my photos edited and ready to go and begin my first painting. I’ll begin my painting by doing a light drawing on the canvas to ensure I get my proportions correct. I will then begin a wash and hope to have that at least halfway done before Friday the 14th. I hope to use this project to show everyone how much I have improved my skills since I fist started in VAM. I am really excited to get this project started. Below are the photos I'll be using as refrences before any editing has been done to them. This semester I learned how to print make, and continued to improve past skills. I also spent more time exploring collage and multimedia projects. My smart goals this past semester were to learn the ukulele and to have all my work in on time or early. I didn't really complete my personal goal, although I did practice ukulele a TON I ended up only learning two songs. I learned Riptide by Vance Joy, and Ode to Joy by Beethoven. I didn't learn a new song every month, turns out it's a lot harder than it looks… I feel as though I had been working so hard at school this semester that I pushed my personal goal aside so that I could best achieve my academic goal. I didn't hand anything in late this past semester, which makes me feel quite proud of myself. Honestly, the main highlight of this past semester was probably when we made collages and then turned them into paintings. That project brought me a lot of joy, learning to turn ideas upside down and how to make it work no matter what. I’ve always been interested in collage but haven't had a chance to experiment with it until then. This project gave me a time and place to experiment with my ideas, I then transferred them over to my favourite media, an acrylic painting. It is by far one of my favourite projects I've done recently. I think one of the most challenging things about this past semester would be our printmaking unit. I don't know if it was just that it was something brand new to me or if I'm just not meant to do it but it was extremely difficult for me. It also could have been the immense fear of stabbing myself accidentally… but anyways I found it fun yet challenging. The carving of the linoleum was the hardest part, getting straight lines was a challenge, difficult but I just took my time and continued to try my best. Another challenging part of printmaking was getting an even layer of ink on the linoleum each time, that took time and a bit of experimenting trying to figure out what worked best. The whole process of printmaking ended up being super interesting and the challenge was appreciated. Going into this next semester I really want to focus on pushing myself out of my comfort zone. Throughout the past semester, I have learned that I need to branch out. I tend to stay where I'm comfortable, sticking with mediums that I know I can do. I want to change that, I want to learn new techniques within different mediums. I know I that need and want to learn to push myself to improve and learn new things. I think I want to learn more within the medium of watercolour painting. I've always had a slight interest watercolour but I've never really given myself a chance to properly learn. Maybe an idea for my upcoming independent project? We'll see...
This goal is measurable by me either having my work in or not. Luckily with this goal, it is going to be pretty easy to know whether or not I am sticking with it. For me, this goal is challenging yet possible, which is why it is an attainable goal for me. I tend to take extra time to finish projects because I get overwhelmed and worried that I haven't done it to the best of my abilities, even if I have. Which is also why this goal is relevant to me, I hope by working on my ability to have everything done on time will make it easier for me in the future. I plan to have every school assignment in on time this semester, which ends January 31, 2019. If I end up missing an assignment date I will be disappointed but I won't let it get me down, or let my end goal slip away from me.
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