Final Project: Brain Storming

Idea 1:
When thinking about what I wanted to do for my last project I began thinking about things that I liked or that excited me. One of the first images that came to mind was the giraffe-- by far my favorite wild animal which I hope to one day see in its natural environment. I shuffled through my thoughts to try to think about what it was that I liked so much about the giraffe... the pattern of its coat, its shape, its eyes, personality (yes I feel animals do have personalities) etc.? I came to the agreement with myself that it wasn't just one specific trait but rather a combination. The giraffe physically has a very bold shape, however it also seems to have very gentle characteristics. Thinking metaphorically or comparatively to a person I would think the giraffe would be a person unafraid of who they are, yet is humble and unpompous (which I would consider to be desirable characteristics).

Idea 2:
Next I went on to think about exciting memories that I had. Immediately images from my experiences in the Amazon and Galapagos came to mind. Specifically the image of a canopy (bridge) that was up about 32-35 meters in the rainforest trees. Initially the idea of trust came to mind when I looked back on this images. Trust was held in the people teaching me how to use the safety equipment (in another language), trust in myself, as well as trust in the construction itself. I also thought about how fast it took me to trust all these different division, which was kind of interesting and in some ways a little unsettling when thinking back on it.

Idea 3:
I then branched off of idea number 2 and focused more on the image/subject of the bridge itself, and what it does. I've always found bridges to be beautiful and intriguing structures. After breaking down and thinking what it is that the bridge does I was able to think about it metaphorically in relation to life. Literally the bridge is a connector between two places. Sometimes between two pieces of land while passing over water, sometimes simply passing over another road or in the image I was thinking about from in the amazon, it connected one tree to another. Now those trees had something in common and had some kind of physical relationship. Connections are something that I see throughout my life in so many ways, and I love when they arise and show them self to me. I feel it is connections that really help one grow as a person. When thinking about connection in my life I thought both about connections that I have with other people as well as connections of how one thing relates to another. Throughout my life I liked to be involved in a variety of things. Music, dance, art, sports and academics. And although some may be more distantly related than others I feel there is always some way that they connect. For instance while learning and playing the violin, when we were taught how to play different notes, in many cases there was more than one way to play the same note. Often times the difference was between playing the open string, without holding down the string with any fingers (which seemed easier) and using the placement of your finger on another string to create the "same" note (which usually seemed a little more difficult). In later years of studying the violin, the open string was something thought of as being unacceptable to use.  For the longest time I didn't understand why, but meanwhile I was also learning more about art/painting and how rarely you apply paint directly from the tube. It wasn't until I made a connection with something that seemed to make more sense to me that I was able to understand what I had been told about using this alternative method of playing a note. By mixing and using a variety of colors instead of using a color straight from the tube, the color becomes richer, adds dimensionality and seems to give me more control to sensitive details. In comparison, playing a note by pressing my finger on a violin string rather than just playing the same note on the open string, it is like the many colors in painting, it gives a musician more control to the note creating a richer and more powerful sound because now vibrato could be used. This is just an example of one connection and the relationship between two different things, but it shows how connections and finding relationships can help grasp ideas or give reason to things which in our world, people, including myself, find as something satisfying or desirable.

Self-Portrait 2

This project we finally got the chance to add some meaning to our piece. It was fun and at the same time difficult coming up with what I wanted to say about myself as well as then figuring out how to physically portray that idea. My composition though fairly simple was something that I was excited about doing. Though it may not have challenged me in all areas of technical development of painting, like my use of color, it brought with it other sets of challenges and maybe more mind work prior to beginning the painting. From the reference I was working from I scaled up quite a bit, so when developing the basic outlines of the forms it was fine, but when it came to developing the different facial features it took a lot of looking back and forth to my reference and dealing with  proportions to make sure everything was the right size and shape. The nose was one feature in particular that caused me some trouble. After working with it and trying to identify the problems of shape, size and value changes I feel I was able to improve it over time. The eyes were another feature that I spent a lot of time on. The eyes were a very big part in my piece and were one of the few parts that were in color so I felt pressure to get them right. I wanted them to stand out as in being emphasized but not stand out in a way that they were distracting and incoherent with the rest of the painting. The eyelashes were particularly difficult. It was strange for one to paint on eyelashes not using your smallest brush but rather still using a fairly thick brush due to the close zoomed in scale. The eyes also had a lot of subtle details but when creating a large portrait I had to often remember to step back from the painting because this piece gave pressures to look at it from further back rather than close and intimately. By doing this I found that in some cases I could be bolder with the subtleties than I initially expected when looking at the picture. This was something strange to me, because at least when drawing I often like working real small and focusing in on the gradual, very delicate details.

I really liked how we ran critique this time through. It was really neat hearing what others saw and took from the paintings as well as hearing if the responses matched up with what the artist was trying to convey. It was good to hear that people were pulling out the main ideas that I was thinking about when planing and developing the painting. It was also interesting to hear about other ideas that my painting made some people think about which I may not have consciously done. I think those extra bits are neat to hear because it gives me the chance to see how others can relate to the piece. Ideas that the class pulled out of the portrait was the importance of the eyes, as well as the significance of the bracelets. It was good to hear that others may have had similar associations with the bracelets as what they represented to me. The idea of experiences helping identify who I am, was a message that both the class picked out and a main message I was trying to convey. Approachable and sharing were some other words that were brought up during the critique which I also was happy about, because wanting to be approachable was something I thought about in respects to my posture during the very beginning of this project. However,  I actually forgot about this idea until the class brought it up again since I began thinking about other things during the development of the painting. Overall I enjoyed working on this project, as well as watch others work to see what they had to say about them self.

Stage 1: Initial placement of main composition and
 began adding in value changes--highlights, lowlights and
the mid-ground

My work easel and image I am working from

Stage2: Continued to work on the change of value
 of the skin tone, bringing the arm up to date with the rest
 of the painting and beginning to work around the eyes.
Also began to blend values so there is a smoother transition.

Stage3: Starting to bring in the hair and continuing
 to make adjustments to the skin

Stage 4: Worked more on the hair bringing in the few
strands on the right, details of the eyebrows, as well as finally
working on the eyes so I look less like a mask, there is
life to this person!

Stage 5: Finally added the colored bracelets,
which seemed to add balance to the piece as well