Family Portrait Reflection

To make my family portrait I wanted to make something that when you look at it the first time just seems like a normal family picture. However if you look closer and you think about it you can see the subtle differences. I wanted it to be a reflection of my real family, which has its little differences. On the outside, we are a good example of the "perfect" family, mom, dad, one boy, one girl and a house in the suburbs. I tried to represent how my family differs from the norm and also show that we are truly happy together most of the time. The fun, bright colors that border the Polaroid-like picture in the middle represent the fun that we have together, which holds us together. I think the biggest strength of my family portrait is the drawings that I did of me and my family. I think I did a good job of drawing us accurately.

Principles of Design Book Reflections

The story that I told in this book was a story of an old couple, and when the husband goes to find wood for the fire, it starts to snow, and he gets lost in the woods. While he is missing, his wife remembers their life together and worries that he won't come back. The last picture is of him standing outside their house, and her looking out the window at him. I used three different xeroxes copied multiple times. I made some of them smaller or bigger in order to tell the story. One of the principles of design that I used to tell my story was emphasis, which I used in the picture of the husband, alone, surrounded by white. This showed that he was alone, and nothing was around him to help him get home. 

Reflection

If you could do one of the projects again, which one would it be and why?
If I could do one of the projects that we did in class again, in would be the self portrait, because I loved working with color. Color is my favorite aspect of art. You can do so much with different colors, such as expressing emotion and illustrating the passing of time and light. I also would take more time and pay more attention to details and colors.


Of all the artists you've researched, which one do you think is most interesting?
The artist that I think is most interesting is Mary Cassatt. I chose her painting Elsie in A Blue Chair for my portraits blog because I thought that the way she painted the expression in the little girl's face was interesting and different. I thought that it was fascinating how she mainly painted women and children, and focused so carefully on how they were feeling while she was painting them. You can tell from her paintings that she had some kind of connection with the subject of her paintings. All of her portraits are slightly different from "normal" portraits. The people in them are doing other things, or just thinking, but none of them are just sitting and having their portrait done.

I See The Light Drawing

Title: Coyotes

The story I'm trying to tell with this drawing is when, last year I was walking my neighbor's dog at night, around eight, and I heard a whole pack of coyotes howling really close to us, in the woods. I was alone outside with no protection except for a small dog. It was probably the scariest moment of my life, and the darkness had a big effect on why it scared me.

I used value in my drawing to make the area under the streetlight more prominent and what the eye focuses on first. I also made it the brightest spot in the drawing, so that it was clear that I was alone. The darkness in the background contributes to the mystery of the picture, because you dont know whats there or what might be hiding in the darkness. Even though the person who is looking at the drawing cannot hear the coyotes, the can see the fear in the darkness.

The most challenging part of this drawing was the changing from the light to the dark either gradually or abruptly, like I had to do with the streetlight. Also, trying to make it dark enough as to make it beleivable that it actually is nighttime.

I think that the most succesful aspect of this drawing is the streetlight and the darkness behind it. It looks like i wanted it to, and I think that it conveys the feelings that I was trying to display.