Saturday, April 9, 2011

Victor Wang

Victor Wang was a visiting artist from St. Louis, Missouri who spoke at WKU on Wednesday, April 6, 2011. Victor’s works have been shown in numerous galleries both national and international. He is originally from China. He was 18 years old during the Cultural Revolution and was taken out of school to work on a farm. The labor was severe and painful. A lot of his paintings come from this experience. He puts a lot of emotion into each of his pieces with the majority reflecting his former time in China, his wife, and his daughter. He bases the style of his painting on some of those from his favorite artists such as Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Christo, and Kiefer. Victor said that he only paints when he’s mad or upset not when he’s happy.

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Direct Light

Direct Light
-hits the object without bending
-not shadow
-light defines things


1.) Highlight
2.) Middle Light/Transitional Light





-the lightest part on these two images would be the highlight
-the place where the direct sunlight would hit the object

-the middle light/transitional light is the part next to the highlight, the shade between the lightest and darkest shades

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Shadow

Shadow
-light bends in order to touch the "shadow"
-obscure things

1.) Core Shadow
2.) Reflected Light
-indirect light
-secondary light
-tells the viewer how close/far away the object is to the light source
3.) Cast Shadow


Gesso Project - Final



my finished piece

Monday, March 21, 2011

Gesso Project - Part 3

Different Stages of my Gesso Project (in order from start to current)














Gesso Project - Part 2

Selecting an object
-after preparing the board you pick an object
-you want to this object to be somewhat detailed but not too much
-I chose a cowgirl boot
-after you find your object you need to decide what you are going to do with it/how to draw it
-i chose to draw it in three different angles







Gesso Project - Part 1

What is Gesso?

"Gesso is a primer. Artists sometimes apply it to a surface before painting on it. In fact, gesso looks a lot like paint.

Originally, gesso only came in white. Artists put it on canvas, wood, or other surfaces before creating a painting with oil paint or acrylics.

Gesso makes the surface a little stiffer. It prevents paint from soaking into the support (canvas, paper, wood, etc.), and it gives the surface a little more texture (called "tooth"), so the paint sticks better.

Today, gesso comes in many colors. White is still the most popular, but black and colors are also widely used for art journaling and other art."

-The first thing we did was sand down a 12x12 board so that there were no rough edges/spots.
-After sanding the rough edges/spots we painted the board, about 5 times and sanded between each step to make sure there was no build up of paint or other things.
-Paint with the grain, against the grain, diagonal both ways, and maybe once more. Each time make sure it is a thing coat of paint.



Maggie and Hannah painting and sanding!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

In-Class Projects

-"drawing through"
-working on realistic perception






Sarah Dineen

Sarah Dineen
-guest artist/speaker at WKU
-works in series
-works from poems/inspirations
-paints the feelings that the words convey to her
-she is a very emotionally oriented painter, paints things based on how she feels
-figurative
-loves the human body especially bones
-has a realistic background but likes to paint abstract with some figurative thrown into the mix
-painting is a way for her to express her feelings and emotions just like writers do when writing

www.sarahdineen.com

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Project Two: Residual Drawings

This project was done by picking a certain part of the still life, sketching it (gesture, measure, etc.), then erasing the majority of it at the end of the day. This project was tedious but it was good to improve memory and measuring skills.



Part of the still life that I chose to draw.



Day 1- Before Erasing



Day 1- After Erasing



Day 2- Before Erasing



Day 2-After Erasing

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Project #1

Project One
-Transferring a masterwork using Empirical Measuring Devices

Masterwork: Still Life with Fallen Candles


Xerox Print with Markings from Measuring



My Drawing After About an Hour of Work (Gesturing, Measuring, Erasing, etc.)

Monday, January 31, 2011

Sighting Devices

Sighting (Seeing) Device

Different ways to make your drawing (lines) exact.

1. Plumb Line
-perpendicular
-a cord from which a metal weight is suspended pointing directly to the earth's center of gravity;used to determine the vertical from a given point

How to use the Plumb Line:
-hold out your pencil at arms length straight out (perpendicular), find a point on what you're drawing, close one eye and see if things in your drawing line up the way they do in the thing that you're drawing

2. Level Line
-horizontal
-a line whose points are at the same elevation

How to use the Level Line:
-just like the Plumb Line except horizontal

3. Transferring Angles (Dropping)
-Find an angle, hold pencil (not too far away from your face), line up pencil with the angle you are trying to transfer, lock wrist in place, slowly move the pencil to your paper (keep eyes on pencil) and check your angle

4. Comparative Measurement (Proportions)
-Comparing different parts of the subject to other parts in the drawing. Helps when trying to figure out the height of something compared to the width, etc.

How to use Comparative Measurement:
-Hold out pencil at arms length, close one eye, line up one end of your pencil with the edge of what you're measuring, move your thumb to the edge of the opposite side of the object (in order to know the distance), compare height and width, etc. with the measurement
-Example: if the height of your object is twice the width then compare it to your drawing. The height of the object on your paper should be twice the width
-Using this can be confusing at first and hard to understand but once you grasp the concept and pay attention to what you're doing it is a very helpful/useful technique

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Gesture Drawing



I work at a daycare and one of my kids was in timeout so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to practice figure gesture drawing :) I had some trouble making the legs and arms too round but after a little work I think I fixed that problem.



Instead of practicing the piano I sat down and drew it. I'm having trouble figuring out how to make it more realistic. I don't know how to make it look like the legs of the piano are farther back instead of in a row with the pedals and the back leg.




I was watching tv and figured it was the perfect opportunity to mix homework and leisure!