2D Methods: Mixed Media

I was really happy with what was in the Tis the Secor. My family enjoyed themselves even though I had to kind of push them a little to get them talking about the works. I'm also happy with adding the extra flowers to it, I think it helped incorporate the material I used at the top to make it feel more balanced. Having my two canvas boards (the brown one and white one) also helped to show my family that humor I was trying to convey with that piece as well as the face cut out. I think having it in the darker area also helped with that. Stephanie's heart box with the red glowing light also added a mood that I wouldn't have been able to do without it so I am happy that she placed it where she did. I know it is a little off topic but I'm grateful for the Tis the Secor show. It got my family here to Toledo on their own accord (I didn't have to ask them to come) considering this isn't their favorite thing to do. Even so, I was able to get them talking and I was amazed by their views of all the work including mine. Regardless of the fact that I think they had more fun at dinner afterwards, it was the first time my family actively chose to be a part of this art world that I love so much and for that I am very very grateful.

2D Methods: Mixed Media

Here are a few images I gathered that I referenced to during the process of making my dad's portrait. I stumbled upon the artist Francoise Nielly. These are all portraits done by her and they are very intriguing to me. Her ability to render the face with these bold colors must be very empowering. Not that there's anything wrong with a realistic portrait but the colors are so bright that I can't help feeling better, about anything and everything, when I look at them. The people don't even have to look happy. My dad's portrait isn't finished but I want to keep working on it when the semester is over. I think it'll be a challenge as I've already hit many road blocks with it but I'm going to keep trying. I want to make his portrait bright and complex and in a way that always makes me feel happy when I look at it.

2D Methods: Mixed Media

A few things have happened. I got sick...again. On the plus side, I have made some progress and changed directions a little bit. I made progress on the portrait of my dad to find out that I should have been more self-conscious of how and what colors I was choosing to apply. Trying to go back in with more paint to change how it looks only made it worse so I decided to start over. I will use the old canvas for something else in the future. I have also made progress in my face-cut-out while also deciding that I need some fake flowers at the bottom which I will be buying tomorrow. I wish it wasn't so big so that I could work on it at home but then again I like that it is so big. I also want to make another small image using gouache paint with colored pencils but I'm not sure what else to make. It is becoming difficult to think of ideas.

                    
                     

2D Methods: Mixed Media

Here is my progress on my dad's portrait. As much as I hate stippling, I've been enjoying this painting. I plan on adding hole punched colored paper to further accentuate the fact that I am stippling. I also changed the colors a bit. I added white to my list (yellow, red, blue, and black) to help get the affect I want.

2D Methods: Mixed Media

I gathered a few images in light of re-doing the top layer of my human life cycle. I also made progress on my face cut-out but neglected to document it. I am still getting used to that. I plan on purchasing fabric and paint to continue the work.

2D Methods: Mixed Media

I got started on my portrait of m dad. The picture isn't very detailed because it is only my sketch for a rough outline. I plan on filling the space with color with certain meanings. For instance, the times my dad has mad me:

Yellow=smile/happy, Blue=cry/sad, Red=angry/frustrated, Black=empty/lonely.

                          

2D Methods: Mixed Media

I sort of finished my human life cycle piece. I think this is something I could continuously go back to and work on. I want to experiment with the top piece of paper that will lay over it before 'declaring' it finished.

2D Methods: Mixed Media

My next idea to work on is a face cut-out board. It is similar to the ones that are at zoos, carnivals, amusement parks, and even wedding receptions. In light of my desire to make something big and the inclination of making it interactive, I will be making a face cut-out board that displays a casket. I find it interesting that some people, including my family, who go through the process of picking out flower arrangements, a casket, music, what will be said, and so on that involves a funeral. But what I also realize is we may be doing these things to help us find closure and feel more human. A downside that I have also taken in is that the things mentioned above that are chosen for the deceased may not even be what they would have liked. My dad's ashes are in a tear dropped shaped urn but he could have thought that's ugly but we'll never know. I gathered some photos of caskets and face cut-out boards as reference materials. I couldn't find the angle I wanted for viewing the casket from above but I'll make do with the images I do have. It was also hard to find a blueprint for either one as well.

 

2D Methods: Mixed Media

For our mixed media challenge we are supposed to use found objects. I decided to do a box of some of the stuff that my dad left behind when he died. In the box I have an unpainted pintail duck painting kit, two hats, a Cleveland Browns flag, some pictures, and a biker vest patch. A few other things I have of his that I didn't put in the box are his stereo, record player, sweater, an old T-shirt, and lots of memories. I didn't put them in the box because I either use them or they're too big. So far, I haven't cried from looking at all his stuff which isn't actually that much stuff. My Grandpa has more of it like model racecars, even more Cleveland Browns items, and his glasses. I would love to have his glasses. It gets really hard not to cry when going through everything. My family and I didn't have much time to mourn him because we had to pack up his apartment in only a few days time. It was like flicking a switch. Even though I was going through losing a parent, cleaning out the apartment just felt like we were moving again which we've done plenty of times before. I always wonder what my life would be like if he was still around. Would I have dated the asshole in high school? Would he have finished culinary school? Would we move into a house? Would he have remarried? How would he feel when I graduated high school or moved out or met the man I'm with today? Would he like him? Would he be the one to teach me how to drive, to vote, to do my taxes? Instead I am left with tons of what-ifs and a tiny box of what he left behind.

2D Media: Mixed Media

I took a slight break from working on my human life cycle piece. I tried asking myself how to represent my notion that there is no afterlife. How can I show that I believe that when your body stops working, that's it? We are animate because we have a heart, a brain, and organs that have to work together for us to live. It's like a clock or computer. One part may stop working but it doesn't stop it entirely but one piece can also fail and the whole thing stops. I was finding it hard to represent. In light of that, I turned back to my work of the Ancient Egyptian beliefs of the afterlife. That is when someone dies, their heart is weighed against a feather to judge if they should go on to the afterlife. In their book of the dead the heart and the feather are equal on the scale which means you past the test. Although, in realistic terms the heart will always weigh heavier than the feather. This means if everyone believed in the ways of Ancient Egyptians then all of our hearts would have been fed to a God which meant our souls would be lost forever which, in their terms, is worse than death.

2D Media: Mixed Media

I forgot I was supposed to post my research images for my human life cycle work.

2D Media: Mixed Media

I have been struggling these last few days due to a very bad cold that has been a mix of headaches, a fever, and an insistent exhaustion that sleep cannot conquer. Through this cold I have not been able to do much artwork along with any other homework. Because of the positive feedback I had from my frog life cycle, I am creating a human life cycle including the fetus, infant, child, teenager, adult, and elder as the distinct stages. Each stage will have an appropriate drawing to accompany the silhouette. This is my current progress thanks to my horrible cold:

2D Media: Mixed Media

I think the Pour, Pool, Puddle Challenge was somewhat successful. I think most people liked that I was finally showing my point of view and that the piece itself was very personal due to using my own dad's obituary. I wanted to add another note that makes it more personal and use it also as to explain why I chose the suit colors I did. It is simply that my dad wore a dark blue suit with a red tie for the visitation and funeral service. I was upset that the idea of embalming was not clearly recognizable and that was a suggestion that was raise, to make it easier to understand, but I'm not sure how I'm going to do that. The actual process of embalming is injecting the chemicals into the veins but I thought trying to convey that would have been even harder to understand. Either way, I am happy with how it turned out and I was happy to be able to represent my view and I think I want to keep exploring it. I'm just not sure how. I know I believe in science and what that information tells us. I do not believe in heaven, hell, reincarnation, spirit worlds, or any sort of afterlife. I simply believe we have a organs that have to function for us to survive and if something stops working so do we. It just stops, we end, we stop being conscious, we stop living, and that's it.