Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Final What is Art?

What is Art? Final Paper; By, Maureen St. John

Technique: For my project I decided to paint my own version of an image I found online. The first step I took when I found online what image I wanted to paint was practice sketches and outlines of the major parts of the image such as the saxophone, the guy playing the saxophone, the drum set and the lady in the background. This helped me know what I was painting, have something to help guide me and basically just lay it out. I used a pencil so I can go over it and change or move lines around. Then I took out each color I wanted to use and a couple of different sized paintbrushes. I used acrylic paint the colors were yellow, blue, green, red, purple, and white, orange, black. I added white to darker colors to get a lighter version of that color. I basically started from left to right but occasionally moving around the whole painting. When first putting the paint on the paper I was worried I won't like it so I outlined the sketches using the thinnest paintbrush I had. When I became more comfortable I used thicker paintbrushes to lay the paint on the background colors thicker and have it stick out more. I stroked the brushes across the page lightly to try and give it a smooth look and make the colors flow well together. I used a well-known brand of paint because the colors are very vibrant. I choose the same colors in the painting but I used them differently. I choose the painting I did because I haven’t seen something like that before, I liked all the colors it used and I was able to have music in my art piece. I liked how the guy playing the saxophone had a look in his face that made him look really passionate. I think it’s hard to compare because there are countless paintings because you can paint anything you see, hear or imagine. I made the colors stand out and the lady in the background stand out more than the original and changed the way the guy is sitting and the face he makes. I experimented with various colors because I wasn’t sure if I was going to like the way certain colors looked together and using too much of the same color. I tried to make sure the colors didn’t contrast to where the painting looked odd, to do that I had a plain white paper and put each color I was thinking about using on it to see what looked best together. I searched several images/paintings but only tried painting this one. I guess I did that because I was taught there were no mistakes in art so I’m use to continuing to work on my art piece instead of starting over. My painting shows you can do whatever you want on your canvas there are no limitations and you don’t have to worry about making a mistake you can work with it. It shows that because when you first look at the painting it looks a little messy but after admiring it you can see the beauty.

Point of View: My complete definition of art is a creative form of expression. “Non art” is extremely hard to describe because art can be a wide range of things and to point out not art is hard. But I think it’s when the artist creates something when they didn’t want to create something. When someone forces them self to do it because then it’s not coming from a passion for it and without the passion its nothing. I think this because when I’m writing or drawing I noticed it comes out better when I’m in the mood to do it, otherwise it comes out like crap.

I think my painting describes my definition of art because while painting I used the painting I found as a guide but added my own style to it. I put a lot of colors together but I think it still went well together. In my painting you can see a guy playing a saxophone it could give you a good feeling about doing something you love, it doesn't have to be limited to music though. The dark colors can be seen as sorrow but mixed with the light colors could make it hopeful. The challenge was getting started, finding a good painting to try and paint, deciding where to begin but after I started it became easier.

Context and Connection: Before the actual art piece when creating our definition of art I looked at different styles of art. I looked at paintings, poetry, music and photos. I looked through Frida Kahlos’ paintings because I admired her for a while. I think Frida uses images that are really raw and unique and that other people would never think of using. I feel like I can’t compare to that, but I do think the colors I used made it unique because I chose them myself and painted what ever I felt as Frida does. I read through Carly’s poetry book and I visited a website called Lovepoemsandqoutes.com and some poems on google.com. My painting doesn’t have writing but I liked how those poems didn’t have to rhyme the people just let there feelings out and were brave enough to post it on the internet. I did paint music; my painting has a saxophone and a part of a drum set. I think different art has different characteristics and it’s up to the artist to decide what they are because art is different to everyone. For my painting I wanted a lot of colors and to incorporate music somehow and I think I full filled that. 

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Blog Post #6

The first step I took when I found online what image I wanted to paint was practicing sketches and outlines of it. I used a pencil so I can go over it and change or move lines around. Then I took out each color I wanted to use and a couple of different sized paintbrushs. I used acrylic paint the colors were yellow, blue, green, red, purple, white, orange, black. I added white to darker colors to get a lighter version of that color. I basically started from left to right but occasionally moving around the whole painting. When first putting the paint in the paper I was worried I won't like it so I outlined the sketches using the thinest paintbrush I had. When I became more comfortable I used thicker paintbrushs to lay the paint on the background colors thicker and stick out more. I stroked the brushes across the page to try and give it a smooth look and make the colors flow well.

my process


Blog Post #5
My complete definition of art is an artistic creative form of expression. I think "non-art" is when the artist made something that has no point, makes completely no sense, isn't significant, random. I think my painting describes my definition of art because while painting I used the painting I found as a guide but added my own style to it. I put alot of colors together but I think it still went well together. In my painting you can see a guy playing a saxaphone it could give you a good feeling about doing something you love, it doesn't have to be limited to music though. The dark colors can be seen as sorrow but mixed with the light colors could make it hopeful. The challenge was getting started, finding a good painting to try and paint, deciding where to begin but after I started it became easier.


my interpretation of