A Blue Society

At the beginning of the week, we were all given a piece of paper and asked to write down a color - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, or purple, and whatever the winning color was, that would be out theme for our installation. Since blue is my favorite color, that's what I wrote down. Turns out, a lot of people wrote down blue, and that was the color that got the most votes. Each one of us was supposed to bring in any two items that were blue to contribute to our installation. Our small installation was mimicking what  artist Portia Munson does for a living; she takes various objects of certain colors and piles them together. However, our installation is a little more than a bunch of blue things piled together. It reflects the society we live in. 

In the picture that I took of our installation, we see various things like a ball, makeup, perfume, a ball, a belt, paint, and other little items. How does this reflect society? The ball and the paint isn't what I'm pointing towards. I'm talking about the makeup, body spray, the belt, and the iPhone case. The makeup, belt, and body spray all support the fact that we care way too much about our appearances these days, because we have the fear that we will be judged on what we look like and not our personalities. We have every right to that fear, because of the very fact that it is true. People in today's world, including myself, are judged by what we look like and not how we act. I'm judged because I have red hair, because red hair isn't "normal." Appearance is all that matters to society these days, and I'm proud to say that I don't judge people on what they look like, I judge them on their personalities and how they act towards me as well as others. As for the iPhone case in the picture, it represents our ever-growing advances of technology. Soon enough, paper will probably go out of style, and everything will be written on iPads and computers. Even in school, we've started turning essays and homework in and doing presentations on the computer or the iPads. It's ridiculous. Everything is so fast paced now a days, and technology only makes it worse. People need to stop and think about the effect this technology is going to have on the world. Social media has played a big part in my last comment about how people are judged and bullied on how they look. I've had that happen to me multiple times. Everyone just needs to stop and think about how all of this is going to effect everyone, because for all we know, we could be running our world into the ground; while we think these advances are doing us good, they could really be destroying us. And we wouldn't even know. 

Portia Munson's work: http://portiamunson.com/installations/index.html

Collecting vs Hoarding

Collecting: bringing or gathering things together
Hoarding: a large accumulation of something valuable to someone that is preserved or guarded

Two days ago, we were given a paper and asked to answer one of the questions stated on the paper in a blog post. The question I chose was to explain the difference between collecting and hoarding. The reason we were asked questions about collecting is because we were talking about how certain artists, like Andy Warhol, collected numerous things and put them all into cardboard boxes, or "time capsules," and stowed them away. Collections have some sort of connection to the collector, and that is why the collector finds the things in their collection appealing, whether they collect stamps, coins, stuffed animals, rocks, candy wrappers, or whatever else they may collect. A lot of times people don't necessarily know why they started collecting whatever it is they collect; they normally are just drawn to the object naturally and thus decide to start collecting that object. However, there are cases where someone collects so much of something that the person becomes obsessed with the object, and they won't let anyone touch the object or take the object away. This act of compulsive collecting is known as hoarding. Collections may be kept in boxes or on dressers or tables or maybe even in a certain section of or a small room, but it becomes hoarding when the object takes up so much space in one's home that it reaches the ceilings and takes up multiple rooms, and the person or people who live in the home can barely move, because this object takes up all the space. It's okay to collect dolls or coins or rocks or whatever fancies you, but when you have something like rocks piled up to your ceilings, that is when it is time to admit that you are hoarding.

Black and White vs Color

So far this year, we have done one drawing with graphite pencils that was black and white, and one drawing with colored pencils. While the graphite pencils allowed better shading and composition for the bicycle drawing, the colored pencils made the candy really "pop" and stand out. I can't really choose which one I prefer to use more; I guess it just depends on what is being drawn. In my opinion, using the graphite pencils makes a drawing look more  "sophisticated," while the colored pencils add value and make a drawing look more realistic. 

Drawings look realistic with the graphite pencils, don't get me wrong, but the. color presented with the colored pencils that make the drawing really stick out and catch someone's attention. But as I said before, it all really depends on what is being drawn and how the artist wants people to see the drawing. I feel like if color was added to the bicycle drawing or the candy was black and white, it just wouldn't look right. I don't know, that's just how I feel about it. But I'm really proud of my progress and accomplishments as an artist so far this year, and I really can't wait to see what other creations we will be making throughout the rest of the year!

Candy...Candy Everywhere.

Just in time for Halloween, we were assigned to draw jars of candy. However, unlike the bicycle drawings, we used colored pencils for this drawing. I thought I was going to have trouble making the candy look like it was behind glass. But, yet again, I was wrong about my ability to draw. I tried my hardest to use the white colored pencil to draw the reflection of light on the glass, and it actually turned out pretty well, in my opinion. My only problem was that every time I started drawing one piece of candy, I never finished it before starting a new one, so I had multiple pieces of unfinished Skittles wrappers and Tootsie Pops, along with other various candies. But my tendency of starting new things before finishing old ones gradually faded away, and I managed to finish my drawing a few days earlier than I thought I would.

I feel like this year, I've already been progressing as an artist, and it's only the end of the first marking period! And now, I just can't wait to eat the candy!!!

Bicycle Drawing

When I first found out we had to draw part of a bicycle, I had a little breakdown. All I could think of was how whenever I try to draw something realistic, it doesn't turn out looking at all like the real thing. However, this drawing was different. I was so taken aback when I saw how realistic the drawing that had I created seemed. Sometimes when I'm drawing during some of my free time, I'll look at a picture and at first, I'll try to copy the picture, but as I continue to work, I'll put the picture away and draw freely. I think the reason I didn't have as much trouble with the bike picture is because I actually got to look at a real picture of what I was drawing, and because I kept trying to stay positive throughout the drawing and shading process. When I realized I was supposed to draw part of a bike, my first instinct was to say how there was no way I would be able to do it, but I stopped myself and thought about how if I really try hard, I'll be able to pull it off, and

 that's exactly what I did! I tried to pay as much attention to detail that I could, and the concepts and processes of shading and composition with the graphite pencils didn't seem like as much of a challenge as they had when I first took this art class. I'm really proud of how my drawing came out, and I can't wait to see what else I get to draw this year!