Final Thoughts

I had so many memorable experiences in this class but a few really stood out to me. This first thing that I really liked about this class was we got to try so many different art tools (paint, water color, charcoal, etc.) and try different techniques with those tools. I thought that trying techniques that we had never even heard of really help us understand the units more, as well. Another thing that I really liked about this class and the semester was the people in my class. They were all so supportive and we were very open with each other. Our class was so fun to be in and the student made it such an enjoyable time. Overall, I thought this semester was amazing and productive. I would definitely do it again if I could.

Work of Art that I am most proud of

The work of art in this class that I am most proud of is my final still-life drawing. This impacted my learning because it opened up my mind to view things differently. It also taught me more steps to create a great end product; Like adding many different layers. It also taught me to look at things carefully and observe its details so I can add them in. I also learned that even though this seems like such a simple picture, it takes time. I wasn't expecting to spend 4-6 classes and after school time on this project. I thought it would be a quick, simple project that would take me maybe, 3 classes. I was wrong. I am so happy I got the opportunity to do this project and I would do it again any day. 

Final Watercolor Landscape

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

The techniques I used for my final watercolor landscape was tissue paper for the water, salt on the water, latex for the sign, and watercolor pencils for the bushes. I thought everything worked very well except for the salt. It did not show up very well at all. I also thought that the tissue paper was too bright of a color compared to the rest of my painting. I tried fixing the brightness by adding water and a dark blue which toned down the brightness a little bit. I learned a lot through out this whole unit but something that really stood out to me was having to take my time and be very careful in my choice for my work. It really enforced me to slow things down so it would come out as good as possible. Although, I was rush at the end on the ground area and I feel I could have done a lot better with more time. Water color really taught me to be careful on where or what I paint with water color because water color is not very forgiving if I were to mess up. Overall, I learned a lot about myself as an artist and water color while doing this project. 

Water Color Exercise and Technique

Purpose:

• To experiment with a variety of watercolor techniques;

• To make connections between experimenting with watercolor techniques learned to creating your own landscape watercolor.

I learned so much while doing this exercise. When I was in 7th grade, I did a water color and tried salt but, unfortunately, it didn't work. While I was doing this exercise, I was able to finally try the salt again and thankfully, this time it works. I also learned about the liquid latex. I would have never thought to try that and when we got the opportunity to, I was pretty interested. It was definitely a different way to do water color, yet, it had a nice end product. Lastly, I learned about the tissue paper. I wasn't aware that the coloring in tissue paper would come out the way that it did and it was so interesting to figure that out. I tried a few different colors and experimented with it. It was, without and doubt, an interesting thing to try.

Perspective 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.

I had learned quite a few different things in the project like different techniques to make far off objects more realistic. In my drawing, I used one point perspective. To show this, I had a dock leading to one point centered in the picture along with small beach houses leading into the spot of the picture. I made the houses smaller and smaller as they go closer to that point in the picture. I also used shadowing, like on the roofs, to show where the sun and/or the sky was hitting it to create that more realistic feel. I also learned more about shading things with a blue tint to create an atmospherical effect instead of plain colors. Although I did not use this effect in me drawing, I would have liked to. Overall, this drawing assignment helped me leave so much more about perspective and the steps you should take to create a great drawing.

Perspective

Linear perspective is a way to create an illusion mathematically on a flat surface to show distance in objects and showing the shape of the object to give it a 3D effect.

Horizon Line: A line drawn across the canvas to show the eye level of the viewer. It shows where the ground and sky meet.

Vanishing Point: The point in the art work where all the lines appear to be joining together in one sport at the horizon line. The vanishing point is mainly at the viewer’s eye level.

Orthogonal Lines: Diagonal lines that are straight and meet to connect points around the edges in the picture to the vanishing point. It helps the viewer to see the depth of the picture.

Transversal Lines: The side lines of the orthogonal lines that lead to the vanishing point of the picture.

One point perspective: Single vanishing points to show an object

Two point perspective: There are two points where the lines of the shape will lead to instead of one.

While Leonardo was looking at depth perception, he began adding the correct shadowing in the right places. He was also very good at showing the blue atmosphere in the background to show depth in the picture. He also changed the size of far off objects as another way to show the depth in the background.

Atmospheric/ariel perspective is the distance shown on something because of the atmosphere and the fading out of colors. Leonardo thought that the because of the moisture and dust in the air was causing far off things to appear blue and hazy. The light from the sky would reflect onto the landscape of objects causing the color to be blurred out and appear blue.

The perspective of a circle is called an eclipse and it is controlled by a rectangle shape.

Watercolor Painting and 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.

Centuries ago during prehistoric ages in a caves and Egyptian walls in tombs. China also, had printed watercolors on silk centuries ago, as well. Albrecht Duher was the first person to treat his watercolor work equal to all of his other artwork with different art materials like tempera and oil. He details his work amazingly with watercolor.

Title: The Little Owl

Date: 1508

Artist: Albrecht Duher

Anthony Van Dyck is a very noteworthy artist. He mainly used watercolor to paint landscapes, like the one below. His watercolor artwork is not very busy but it is very well balanced and says a lot about his style of art.

Title: Landscape

Date: 1632

Another noteworthy artist is Claude Lorraine. Starting off, he was asked to paint landscapes for monarchy and clergy. His paintings were typical pretty colorful and had a simple yet interesting point of few to them. He used many different techniques to create a great watercolor painting.

Title: Landscape with River

Date: 1640-1650

In the 1700’s, watercolor began to make a peak. Because water color was easy to carry around and pack, it was often used to plan a battle in this time period. Then, in the late 1700’s to early 1800’s, mainly upper class women, began to take up this style of art and teach themselves and other how to use it. These women were also tutored a lot so it was also used to teach children and teenagers.

In the 1970’s to 80’s, watercolor began to make a comeback. Often, students would become interested in the history of watercolor and began trying it for themselves or learn from others. After students became interested, museums began forming art galleries where there would be many different watercolor paintings. Today, there are still different types of watercolor paintings around like earth-friendly paints.