Tuesday 30 April 2013

Final Drawings From the Year

While cleaning my room I finally took the time to look through the few newsprint pads that I used for the final couple of weeks. Turned out there was a bunch of some pretty neat ones. So here they are:


30's

Not the best, but I love the posture of the pose.

1's



2's

I forgot my pack of conte and only had a graphite stick with me. I had to draw differently and decided to experiment.


5's
Decided to play around with my knowledge of cubism that day.


10's


This was a warm-up for that exquisite corpse assignment we did.

My favourite of this bunch. I also just like how I did the pillow on her back.

***
I registered for life drawing this summer at Sheridan and hopefully if there's enough people that did, I will be able to do it during the summer every wednesdays. I'm preparing myself as much as I can before September, I just need something to push me into doing so and I think the classes would help big time.

Digital Manipulations

For my digital imagery class we had an assignment where we needed to take a photo we took and create a series of images using what was in the photo. I took my panorama and also sometimes used the chain photograph that I had because of how interesting the silhouette looked.

One of these digitally created images were then to be printed out and used to create some designs through traditional means and the use of stencils. I did enjoy the stencil process and may use that technique more; I started to enjoy it once I got the hang of it.





This was the one I used for the print series.



Panoramas! Finally!

Oh look, my panoramas for my final photography assignment last semester! Well, better late than never right? Plus I have an upcoming post related to one of these images. So I hope you enjoy these because I  had a blast taking them around where I live.



This one is my favourite...




This one is also my favourite and is from the other side of the previous photo. It definitely looks way more interesting.

Sunday 28 April 2013

So long VCA!

These past 2 weeks have been the most fun I've had in a long time. The last week of school was so relieving and finally being able to hang out with my classmates was a blast. If only we were able to do that often throughout this year but alas, we were always busy with work.

Setting up the art show was a wild ride as well. From the start of the year, to actually setting up and seeing the show finally happen was such an enjoyable and memorable experience. I also learned a lot about installing artwork, that itself required knowledge on visual design. Just finding out which pieces work together, how to balance an area with certain colours and sizes of pieces and how to guide attendees towards other areas of the show floor. There was so much more to it than I initially thought.

Photos taken from http://sheridanvca.com/

Photos taken from http://sheridanvca.com/


Video created by Megan M.

The night of the show was so much fun! So many people showed up it was amazing! Friends and family came and it was great seeing people coming out just for the show. The free wine and cheese was also a sweet bonus. Seeing all the different kinds of artwork was so inspiring, I was itching to go home and create. Talking and hanging out with the teachers there was also an incredible experience and their support and advice they gave will be something I will take to heart. Not to mention just talking to them about something other than schoolwork and about anything else made me wish some of them connected with us on that same level throughout the year.



Here are the pieces that I got into the show! I also put a QR code that links to this blog next to my labels. Judging from the amount of hits on my blog that night, I'm pretty sure people checked it out.



I also got nominated for 3 awards!




And I won the VCA Book Award along with fellow classmates!


Each person that won the book award got a present that was unique to themselves. I received my drawing teacher's favourite book: Complete Guide to Life Drawing by Gottfried Bammes. Here I am along with my western landscape painting I did. Thanks Rebecca R. for the photo!

Just being classy, as usual.

A lot of people tend to think VCA is a waste of time but for myself it was more than just a fallback when I got rejected from animation previously. I was hesitant to take second year after Art Fundamentals but a friend convinced me on the last day to accept offers to join it, I don't regret it one bit. I genuinely enjoyed the program, which is why I stayed for the third year, and I learned so much and met so many great people. 

The program is not everyone's cup of tea but I figured that whatever I learn will have an impact on my art skills. It wasn't until this year when my drawing teacher summed up my belief perfectly with just a few words of her own mantra, "Nothing is wasted." From learning about new materials and mediums I've never heard of to figuring out the business side of art, I learned a lot and have already applied this knowledge in different manners. 

VCA was a fun ride and I'm actually kind of sad now that it's over. I wasn't sad during the last day of school but when I was picking up my work today from the show, it finally hit me that I wouldn't be seeing some of these wonderful people again or for a while.

To everyone that I met and won't be returning to Sheridan, it was wonderful getting to know you all. You've all been such great and inspiring people and I wish you luck on your future endeavours. Continue your amazing artwork, as I wish to continue seeing them, and I hope you find success in it.

So long and thanks for all the kitsch.

Sunday 21 April 2013

Visual and Creative Arts Grad Show 2013!

The Visual and Creative Arts Grad Show is coming up! 

April 26 at 7 pm

Everyone is invited and IT'S FREE.
There's the Sheridan Open House from 10-5, but the fun is during the reception at 7!
Can't make it that night? No worries, the exhibit will still be up on Saturday April 27.
Did somebody say free wine?
With free wine, you too can become an art connoisseur!
Invite your friends! Invite your family! Invite your neighbours! Invite your pets! INVITE EVERYONE!



Hope to see you there!

Lost

Since first semester after hearing that we'll experiment with miniatures in second semester, the first thing that came into my head was a sculpture of a scene submerged in water. 
Throughout the semester we experimented with different kinds of sculpture from readymades, books, textiles and armature, miniatures and a couple more that I forgot in class.

Anyway our final could have been anything but I decided to stick to my idea and go with it. I struggled at first to create a composition that worked in water, most of what I was able to come up with didn't make use of it being submerged. I then had an idea, but when it came to buying supplies for it...let's just say miniature materials aren't cheap. At all. My wallet wept that day. 

So I changed that idea and worked with the supplies that I was able to buy and with the abundant materials I had, I made a second piece with similar themes of lost and loneliness. I used containers with an open top so that people can have a bird's eye view on the scene when they get close, as though they were peeking into this world that is confined in the space. I also made it (especially the second one) to be pieces that you could just place on a table as decoration.

Ta-da!

Marooned




No Stories to Tell



They were a hit! A lot of people liked them and a classmate of mine took many pictures of it. I was happy with how they turned out and I'm even more glad people loved them. I still have materials left over and even had a third one planned (same size/container as the smaller one) but due to time I wasn't able to finish it, so I'll probably make more.

***
I had a ton of fun making these and spent several days just working on them, putting in as much detail in the little space I had.  Here are some process pictures.

I first started by making the armature for the cliff out of foil. This was the most important part for 2 reasons: it needed to be in scale with the rest of my miniature pieces and it needed to fit in its container. For this one in particular, I needed the landmass to be able to be taken out and put back in when I filled it with water rather than resorting to using a funnel.

I used apoxie to sculpt the cliff because it's waterproof and I love apoxie. 

To paint I just used acrylic. I did many, many, many layers of paint on this and used a variety of different greens and browns to make it look natural. I asked if I needed to coat the paint with anything if I put it in water but my instructor told me it should be fine, which it was. To make the colour of the water I just took watercolour paint and mixed it.

Here's the second one painted and glued some pieces of bushes and the campfire with just regular old white glue. For this one I created holes for the trees to be placed in. In the final the trees are not glued and are able to be removed. The trees themselves were from a kit, all I had to do was paint the trunks of the trees and take clumps of the foliage material and hook it onto the branches.

Here's the final with the figure, which was part of a pack of hobo figurines. I created the rocks with the little bit of apoxie that I had left when I mixed it and painted them as well. After noticing how illogical it was for him to have a campfire surrounded by three trees, I threw in the rocks that I made into one of the holes. This one's shape was difficult to place into its rounded container and required me to do a scooping motion to get it in.