I'm all caught up in my classes!  Even ahead in some.  I think I'm starting to do well in painting, while I seem to be getting worse in drawing.  Ceramics I'm starting to like more, too, even though it is soo super messy.

Painting:  The still life is nearly done, I just have to do some cleaning up and touching up this weekend.  This is the scene we had to work with:

I cut it down a bit, and the professor said we can mess with the colors and even make up the shadows.  My view is slightly different because I stood farther back.  But this is what I've worked on so far:

So, obviously I changed the colors.  But I'm really happy with how the pots turned out.  The shading is pretty good, I think.  I have worked on it since I took the picture, but nothing big has changed.  I'm still working on the flowers and the bottle.  Hopefully I can get another A on this and finish strong.

Drawing: We spent so much time drawing skeletons and bones, and I absolutely hated it.  There was just something about it that I couldn't get, and no matter how much I tried I couldn't get it down.  These are the best ones I ended up with.

And everyone else did sooo well.  Again, I felt like crap in this class.  I've started to really hate it and dread going in the morning.  

We just started on working with ink, so we'll see how that goes.

Ceramics:  I've finished my big piece that I was working on.  All set to be fired, and then I'll glaze it.  Here's how it turned out.

I still don't really like the supports, but I tried to take them out and it nearly collapsed on me.  It was a bitch trying to put them back in, but it turned out alright.  I think it was pretty successful.  I put some slip paint on it before it gets fired, so then the glaze I put on will turn out in different colors.

Speaking of glaze, I finally glazed a piece and got it fired.  Remember one of the original pieces, the manipulated slab?  Well, I dipped it in a really cool blueish green glaze.

 

It's kind of metallic-looking, and pretty cool if I do say so myself.  You can see in the second picture that it must've gotten stuck to or burned by something in the kiln.  Geez.  Thanks, professor!

3D Design: Today in class I made a vase for the flowers.  It took a lot longer than I planned because the first one I made was terrible.  So I made it a simpler design, and it looks much better.

The reason it took so long is because of the side.  I had to cut out a strip, then score, break, bend, and fold every half inch so it could twist on the sides.

     


But basically the whole point of this is, I'm all caught up in everything!  Hmm, I feel like I should find some wood to knock on or something.

Playing Catch Up

Well, now that my field hockey career is completely over, it's time to refocus on my classes and catching up on my work.  I've basically missed the past two weeks of class because of traveling and away games, so this week I was really swamped.

It's been especially annoying for my 3D Design class because it's only on Fridays, so I have missed the past 8 hours of class and was soooo far behind.  Or so I thought.

I go into class yesterday and find out that last week apparently only 4 people showed up for class, and two people were still working on the first project that I thought was finished 3 weeks ago.  Guess I'm not so far behind.

The professor for 3D design is really nice, and really laid back.  And I think that's part of the problem.  There's no real due dates or class structure.  The class is supposed to run from 9am-12:40pm.  But people just come in at random times and leave whenever they feel like it.  I feel like I'm in one of those high schools where you sit on bean bags outside and the teachers are former hippies who still smoke weed.

So, due to this structureless class and people not doing their work, turns out I was able to catch up and actually get ahead of most people in one class.  Heck yes.

The newest project is basically just creating a mold or form out of foam board that contains 3 separate parts and not using right angles.  Kind of the opposite of our previous 17-sided figure using only right angles.  So I got this idea to do one of my favorite craft projects, making a rose.

I used this little DIY Instruction webpage, and created the spiral on the foam board.  Then I had to kind of break up the foam in the board so I could spin it all together.  And it worked!  And turned out really well!  I had to use hot glue in order to keep it together without unravelling.

I made three roses, and then hot glued them to wire rods.  I had the choice between the wire rods and wooden sticks, but the wire moves better and makes it more visually dynamic.

Whoa.  Visually dynamic?  Guess the art-minor in me is really coming out.

Yep, another mobile upload.

A Hockey Hiatus

On Thursday my hockey team left campus to travel to Baltimore and Philadelphia for our final games of the regular season.  This week, we travel to Norfolk, Virginia to play in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Conference Tournament, for a chance to qualify for the NCAA tournament.  We're leaving on Tuesday evening, so I am missing a whoooole bunch of classes.  Not that I have any problem with that.  I just hope my professors are understanding...

So that's why I won't have any new updates for awhile.  Right now in...
Ceramics: I've just cut out the spiral in my 14-inch piece.  Hopefully it doesn't completely dry out over the weekend.
Drawing: we're learning "perspective" and "vanishing points."  I am putting those in "quotations" because it's all a bunch of made-up stuff that forces me to use a ruler and measurements in a drawing of a cube.
Painting: we turned in our reproductions on Wednesday.  I was done with mine last week, and I already know I got an A on the project.  Apparently the next painting is a still-life (shocker).
3D Design: I'm so behind in this class because it's only once a week and I missed last week and will miss this week.  We're still supposed to be working on the same project, the one with foam board and no right angles.  Still trying to figure this one out.

Once hockey is over, I'll be able to really catch up on everything and hopefully do well on the projects.

But hopefully we'll be missing next week too for NCAA's!  It's a long shot, but cross your fingers!

Long Island Arts Alliance

As you should know by now, I am not an artist.  So why am I taking all these art classes?  I'm a Fine Arts minor.  It was supposed to be photography, but I couldn't fit the classes into my schedule, so it turned into an all-around art kind of thing.

Which, actually, turned out for the better.  My major is Public Relations, and I'm in my final PR class of college (woohoo!).  The class acts as an actual PR agency for a non-profit organization, and my group this semester is working with the Long Island Arts Alliance (LIAA).  So it all connects!

Our main goal in the class this semester is to help the LIAA put on their second Roundtable event.  A group of panelists, including a keynote speaker, will discuss how arts education on Long Island has diminished and what we can do to gain support, both publicly and financially through the government.

We don't have all of the details yet, but I CAN tell you this.  The keynote speaker this fall is folk singer Lucy Kaplansky.  She's a really amazing talent, and we're so excited to have her speak and perform!

If you're around Long Island and into the arts at all (and I mean any kind of art: dance, performing, singing, drawing, painting, sculpture, writing, you name it), check out the Facebook Fan Page or the Twitter profile.

This event is going to be FREE, and if you're looking for a way to promote the arts, this is the perfect way to do it.

The Afghan Girl

I'm actually sitting in my Painting class right now writing this.  I've already finished my painting that isn't due until the end of class on Wednesday, so I brought my Macbook into class to "write a paper."

Riiiight.

So, last time we left drawing class, we were working off a photograph to make a realistic (or "illusionistic" as my professor says, since it's the "illusion of realism") drawing with graphite pencils.

If you remember, this is the girl that I drew.

And this is my drawing.

I did make a few little last minute changes, like shading and stuff, but overall this is how it turned out.  I was so absolutely thrilled with this drawing because it's the best drawing I've ever done in my whole life.  It may not look exactly like the picture, but I thought it looked pretty damn good.  Especially for me.

I had the most trouble with the face, which I think is obvious.  Faces are hard to do because everything is so subtle.  How do I get that skin texture with a freaking pencil?  I don't know.  And the eyes were tough because they are the focus of the whole picture.  

At first she was looking cross-eyed, and everyone in class was freaking out as I was working.  "Oh my god, she's got a lazy eye!  I can't tell where she's looking!"  Chill, people.  It's a work in progress.

So I go into class really confident, pin it up on the wall, and take a look around at the others.

And once again, all my confidence was completely shattered.

Even the people I didn't notice before did so extremely well on this project, I was blown away.  Mine was like, at the bottom 20% of the class.  I was so disappointed, which totally sucks since I worked so hard on this.  

I really just don't know what to do about this.  I won't get an A on this, but seriously, I don't know what else to do.  It's not like a test I didn't study hard enough for.  I worked for hours and hours and HOURS on this drawing, probably upwards of 12 to 15.  That's a long time!  More than I've ever studied for a test.  Actually, probably more than I've studied for every test I've ever had (What?  I'm not big on studying).

What do I have to do to get an A in this class?

Van Gogh Reproduction

My Van Gogh reproduction has turned out really well.  So well, in fact, that my professor told me today (and the painting isn't due for another week) that I have a guaranteed "A" for this painting.  YAY!

Is it sad when I say that this is the best work of art I've ever created?

Screw it.  I'm proud.

Ceramics and 3D Design

I realized I never really have any pictures of my ceramics pieces.  I think it's because my hands get so messy with clay so I never want to take my camera out.

But just a little update, our next assignment is making a 14-inch piece (using coils or strips of slabs) that has many changes in its profile.  The professor suggested using an already existing piece and making it our own.  So after Googling a little bit, I chose to do this one.

Yeah, yeah.  It's gonna be hard, but I'm not doing an exact replica.  I'm changing the bottom a bit so it goes in and then back out, and the swirly part is going to have to have support pieces because it's made out of clay and not wood like the original.  I've got the bottom almost built, so this week comes the hard part.  I'll try to snap a shot this week to give you a visual.

Now, my 3D Design piece is really annoying me.  It's just, I don't know.  I just don't like it.  We had to paint it using only red, blue, and yellow, and I just feel like those colors make anything look very elementary.

I actually hate how it turned out.  It's just so... I don't even know.  You can decide for yourself.

Next class I'm starting the next project.  Basically the same as this one, only instead of using only right angles and straight planes, we are not allowed to use right angles.  And we don't have to have the mold filled with plaster, it could be made out of just the foam board.

I am learning to dread this class.