Final Thoughts

Some of the highlights of this semester would be the first unit of the year, portraits, and linoleum. I really enjoyed working with the charcoal and learning how to draw facial features. I learned a lot from this unit and think that charcoal may be one of my favorite mediums. My second favorite part of the year would be the linoleum. Although the beginning when we had to plan out our print and cut it out was hard and less enjoyable, the printing part was fun. I liked using the different types of paper and colors and seeing what worked best.

Work of Art I am most proud of

    Of all of the in-class work we have done this year, I am most proud of my self-portrait that we did in the fall. Before the portrait unit, I had no experience in drawing people, especially portraits. I had done some abstract ones as a kid at a summer camp or class, but never a real self-portrait. I now feel that I definitely know more about drawing faces and the proportions. I know that before drawing, you have to break down the face so you know where each feature is. Also, this project taught me a lot about value and how important it is. Using value to create shadows gives the subject texture and shape, such as the shape of the head or the texture of the hair. This project made me feel more confident in my ability to draw a portrait, whether it is of myself or another person, and I am very proud of the outcome.

Final Watercolor Landscape

Purpose: To use and demonstrate what you learned from the watercolor exercises you did in class to create your own landscape painting

The four techniques I used in my painting were salt, gradient, masking fluid, and watercolor pencils. I used salt in the bottom left corner to give the sand texture. It didn't work as well as I had hoped, probably because my wash of paint wasn't dark enough for the salt to show up. My second technique worked much better. I used the gradient technique for the sky's reflection of the water and the mountain's reflection. Because I didn't want the darker wash to get into the white or lighter parts of the water, I used masking fluid to cover those parts. I also put it over places I wanted to paint yellow so I wouldn't paint trees onto that area. This technique worked well for me, especially when painting the water. The final technique was watercolored pencils and I thought that those worked ok. The pencils had limited colors so the green of the pencil didn't match my painting entirely. One thing I didn't like about the pencils was that you couldn't give it much texture like you could with stamping with a brush. It did work well for making the pine tree look like it has needles rather than leaves which would have been hard to get with a brush. Overall, I think the most important thing I learned from this unit is to be patient when painting because watercolors are very different from other mediums. If you make a mistake it is hard to correct it, you cannot paint over it or erase it. I think it's also important to not over work any area too much otherwise the paper gets soggy and it is even harder to correct. I enjoyed this unit very much and felt that I learned a lot about watercolor.

Watercolor exercises and techniques

Purpose:
To experiment with a variety of watercolor techniques;
To make connections between experimenting with watercolor techniques learned to creating your own landscape watercolor.

For this water color exercise I learned many different techniques that I had never tried before. I learned that using other objects in your painting, such as tissue paper or saran wrap, would create an interesting effect that you wouldn't be able to get with a brush. I also used many techniques when we first started watercolor in my larger painting that was divided into many different sections. For the small landscape, I tried different techniques to see what would work best for each texture, such as whisking for grass. Over all, I think these assignments have helped my understanding of watercolors and prepared me for my final painting.

Perspective Strategy Drawing

Purpose:

To review the perspective strategies that you learned;

To make connections between what you learned and demonstrating your understanding by creating a drawing using one of the perspective strategies.

       The strategy I used for my drawing was one point perspective and a little of ariel perspective. I used the end of the street as my vanishing point and and put the buildings in the background in a hazier color than they would be if it was closer up. One thing I had difficulty with was the windows. I found it hard to get the perspective of the windows right and they ended up not being 100% correct. I now know that in order to get them right, I would have had to have the horizontal lines of the window going towards each other instead of parallel.  Over all, I think this drawing helped my understanding of perspective and how to draw it right. 

Perspective

Purpose:

To demonstrate and understand, learn & create, various perspective strategies to show depth on a two-dimensional surface;

To review and interpret some of the work created by Leonardo da Vinci.

Linear Perspective- A mathematical system for creating the illusion of space and distance on a flat surface such as a canvas or wall.

Horizon Line- In perspective this line is drawn across the canvas at the viewer's eye level. It represents the line in nature where the sky appears to meet the ground.

Vanishing point-The single point in a picture where all parallel lines that run from the viewer to the horizon line appear to come together. The vanishing point is generally placed at the viewer's eye level.

Orthogonal Lines-Straight diagonal lines drawn to connect points around the edges of a picture to the vanishing point. They represent parallel lines receding into the distance and help draw the viewer's eye into the depth of the picture.

Transversal Lines-Transversal lines (always parallel) are always at right angles to the orthogonal lines and establish a fixed height or width between two orthogonal lines.

One point perspective-Uses a single vanishing point to draw an object (is the simplest form of perspective drawing).

Two point perspective-Two point perspective uses two sets of orthogonal lines and two vanishing points to draw each object.

A couple of ways to show depth perspective are: size and distance, and aerial perspective.

Creating a sense of depth in painting by imitating the way the atmosphere makes distant objects appear less distinct and more bluish than they would be if nearby (also known as atmospheric perspective). Leonardo found out that the more distant the object, the more its color approached that of the surrounding atmosphere. The further away and object was, the more “diluted” the color seemed to be as opposed to a closer object where the color is clearer and more concentrated.

The perspective of a circle called an ellipse and is controlled by rectangular perspective.

Watercolor History

Purpose:

To become familiar with the history of watercolor;

To become familiar with various watercolor artists throughout time;

To make connections between watercolor purposes and techniques from long ago to its uses today.

    Water color painting was used for prehistoric cave paintings, in many Egyptian wall and funerary paintings, Chinese silk paintings Western medieval Europe monastery paintings. Albrecht Durer was considered the first watercolor master due to his sophisticated techniques. In Italy (1494-95) Durer worked with Giovianni Bellini and started landscape painting. One of his famous works Alpine Landscape/Welsch Pirg shows and example of his original style of the “wash technique”.

                                        Albrecht Durer “Alpine Landscape” 1495

Durer would layer transparent washes to create the forms (such as waves) through an “atmospheric space”. Other water color masters were Anthony Van Dyck and, who painted landscapes in watercolor as studies and backgrounds for his oil paintings and portraits, and Claude Lorraine, who was commissioned by the King and Pope for his landscapes of Rome. 

                                           Anthony Van Dyck, ‘Landscape’, 1632

                                        Claude Lorrain, View of the Acqua Acetosa, 1645

Watercolor began to peak during the 1700s and academies began to introduce painting to officers. Women also were able to take part and colored in black and white prints with watercolor and by the 1800s painting and sketching became the education of upper class women. In 1970s-80s, an interest in watercolor reemerged from academies and art collectors. Today, watercolor painting is more environmentally friendly with more “advanced” supplies, such as paints that are more light-fast/fade resistant and ongoing experiments with varnishes and glazes that will protect paintings. 

"History-Overview." Watercolor Watercolor Painting Watermedia History Contemporary Exhibitions. Web. 18 May 2014.

"HISTORY OF WATERCOLOUR." CSPWC English History of the Medium. Web. 18 May 2014.