Foreshortened Portrait Evaluation

As the late, great artist James Whistler once said “It takes a long time for a man to look like his portrait.” Whether it be the first self portrait you do in kindergarten or the photo put in the paper for your obituary, modern culture isn't as much interested as who you are currently, rather the embodiment of what you leave behind. With this in mind, the embodiment of myself I wanted to leave behind with the foreshortened self portrait I have created for this project is one of introspectiveness, alienation, and thought. In order to do so while also fitting the criteria of a foreshortened figure, I decided to draw a monochromatic portrait spacing out in a full color rendering of my room. The use of pastels and charcoal as the medium was chosen not only due to a nostalgic urge to return to the drawing board I have long forgotten, but as also a means to add a more personal and textured feel to the project as a whole. While working on the project, having pictures to work off of was a really big help for that it took all the guess work, the only con being the lack of realistic shadows which is a drawback in the final product in some areas. In the end though, I am overall pleased with the end result for that the contrast between the figure and the environment is strong and the shading of the skin and sweater are for the most part realistic.

(PICTURE TO BE ADDED POST CRITIQUE)

Self Portrait Proposal

In order to meet the criteria, I will create a self portrait through exaggeration by choosing a a perspective that forces the body in to a elongated form. To do so I either plan to continue down the painting pathway by using oil paints or stepping it up a bit and go back to my drawing roots and use charcoal or some ink. The other big idea is perhaps making a print of sorts and etching the entire portrait. With this in mind, I wanna have my piece be me laying across my floor staring up at my ceiling fan with the point of observation taking place from either a hand or the top of my head. I feel this is a significant area for me for that as time moves forward and friends and family continually dip and bend and change, I still come back to my room and feel, even for the smallest of time, able to be totally stagnant in time, letting the world around me stop almost instantly with only my ceiling fan reminding me that I'm still alive. This will surely produce some exaggeration for that by having one part extremely close and large, it forces all other parts of the body to shrink and mold around the initial body part. The composition will stand out for that there will be very sharp contrast between cloth, walls, skin, and carpeting, along with the framing of the piece following the rule of thirds. In the end I'm excited to see what my skill level is able to create from the high hopes I have set in my mind.

Nature Scape/City Scape Final Report

Hwæt! We as a society are in a constant battle between machine and nature. From the grass suffocating on the dark and tumultuous concrete to the skies once an infantile shade of  periwinkle, now a murky, discolored mass of chemicals bundled in clouds of smog and industrialism. That being said though, I honestly love the city life and would rather have the dank and smokey fog of commercialism swaddle me in warmth(and lung cancer) before ever stepping foot into a large forest type area or a boring park. With this in mind, choosing a city scape to create using the medium of collage was truly easy as I had just gotten back from Saint Norbert's and stopped at a home away from home, Ear Wax Records in Madison. While any record store is comfy to me, Ear Wax Records is something on a completely different level of appeal and overall soothingness for that the store chock full of Death Metal, Grindcore, Heavy Metal, Harsh Noise, and other merchandise that evokes the little rebellious twelve year old who wanted to learn how to skateboard but never did due to the fact that skateboards were too expensive and he was too fat and ill-coordinated to ever pick it up as a hobby. In order to pay tribute to this gem of a store, I began by sketching out the design on a plank of wood, then going on to finding the correct shades of paper, and then finally layering and modge-podging the whole thing together. The process was overall enjoyable yet tedious for that nothing was stagnant or pasted down till the very end for that layering needed to be free flowing until all the parts were established and cut out. The result of this process I would say is very flashy and portrays the record store in a good light for that the store itself is a mishmash of multiple counter-culture items and doohickeys.

As the subjectively easier project became finished, I began working on the ever-elusive naturescape. From the beginning I wanted to portray a supposedly calm scene, but when looked  into a sense of taboo or stress was induced. With this in mind, I began searching through various wartime naturescapes including Dresden, Vietnam, Hiroshima, and finally Afghanistan.  While researching Afghanistan, I came across numerous photos of poppy plants, reminding me of Vonnegut's’ Tralfamadorians seeing as they were stalky, bulbous, and an unearthly shade of green. Along with the taboo of the opiated nature of the plant, the Vonnegut connection made it clear what I wanted to create a piece about. Getting to work, I used oil paints on a wooden surface, seeing as I wanted to embrace nature I thought why not use a more rustic approach in terms of a canvas. During painting I found a major pickle had been formed through the process of working on wood for that with such a porous material the amount of paint required often needed to be doubled which invoked the ever tedious job of matching shades of nonexistent paints. With the piece now completed, I enjoy the piece for that it is much looser in stroke than my usual work which I hope to continue for that I feel that is something that brings the quality of my work down from time to time.