My Pottery

Here's just a little progress post on how my pottery's going, I JUST finished carving my designs into my cup, and its going into the kiln a little later today! I cant wait to see how it looks when it comes out, I really am hoping that it doesn't crack because it is fairly thin.

 

Here is what it looks like now. After it comes out of the kiln, I am hoping to paint the carvings white, and the rest black. I just want to go very basic and classy with this cup.

 

After this project is done, I want to try a similar shaped cup, but make the designs all weird and loopy and the colours really crazy and vibrant, then sit them next to each other, kind of like a set. Its just an idea I have and i hope it will work out and look the way i want it to. :)

 

Invisible art

Yesterday in art class we talked about "invisible art" by Lana Newstrom.
Heres a little clip to help form your opinion, and maybe relate to mine.

My first opinion on this "art" is just that it was very dumb.  My opinion has not changed much except that I found out that precedes go to a charity.

But after watching this video I began to think of what I consider to be art, how do i distinguish art from something I would not think of as art?
I thought of a general statement: I think art is anything that you can see (canvas, paper, lawn/yard, walls, windows) and make some kind of creative change to it.

Lana didn't change anything to the pieces she is claiming her own.

Take this piece for example, someone started off with a blank canvas and changed it with colourful paints, to make this masterpiece.

I also consider this to be art, because  someone started off with a basic piece of land, and changed it with different materials and created a beautiful landscape.

 

This is art as well, in many ways , the person who took clay and turned this into a vase is an artist, and the person who took the plain vase and added colours and designs is an artist.

 

I think this is art as well, someone took a space where there was once nothing, and built a house.

 

All in all, I think art can be many things, it is all around us, but it is not nothing.  It must show the artists abilities, Lana's shows nothing.

Leonid Afremov

I found a contemporary artist that inspires me, I like all of his art!  He mainly painted in the 1990s, so I still think it is considered contemporary.
http://www.demilked.com/colorful-paintings-by-leonid-afremov/
Here is a link to a website he is featured on^^

He does a lot of colourful art work and I love that! He doesn't stick to one pattern, he really steps outside the box, I was looking through pieces I liked and realised a lot of them were actually his!  He does a lot of the same style art but it is all so interesting and intriguing. 

This art is awesome! Although I do not think it could stand the test of time, it doesnt have the depth that people in 50 or so years would still appreiciate it.  But I appreiciate it, I think its awesome :)

I love the different stroke lines and direstions of them in this piece!  It starts from dark long lines, to shorter bright ones.  It gives depth to this picture.

Leonid uses canvas and mostly oil paints to paint his master pieces, I would love to try oil paints sometime this year!

Here are a few videos of Leonid creating his art work, I posted the short ones because I was too bored to watch the long ones, but there are many more if anyone was interested! Just search his name in youtube :)

Pottery

Just taking a little break from the series of posts I've been making. I will be doing a post on a contemporary artist sometime this week. But for now i will be talking about what I've been doing in art the past few days.

Ive been working with pottery! Its really cool because this is actually my first time working with clay and a pottery wheel so it is just opening up a whole new door for me, I never really thought about art in a sculpture kinda way, mostly because i never tried it, I am really enjoying it though! I love how it all about the movement of your hands. I like how you can stop at a good thing or try to work the clay some more to make it great, while knowing in the process you might fail. It's just a really awesome way to do art! It also really lets your creativity show, you can have a vision in your mind, and this allows you to make a 3d sculpture of what you envision.

This was my first try, its really messy, but I like the shape. I used some older clay so it was a little chunky.

This is after i smoothed it out, it looks so much better but it is still way to thick, I didn't have the patience to try and thin it out so I decided I would just practise some shapes and patterns I liked on it for a good cup or pot I wanted to do next.

I really liked the way these looked together! So I decided to try and make a small thin cup to put these designs on.

This is exactly the shape and thickness I wanted for my cup! I used some new clay this time and I loved the results.

My next step is to add the designs! I hope it turns out okay :)

Contempary Art

There is alot of conteperary art I like, I think that it is easier for people to enjoy contemparary art rather than traditional art because there is alot more of it out there.  Actually, I dont really know if there is alot more of it out there but it appears that way because when looking at traditional are there are always the 'established' pieces, maybe 100 or so, but we see contempary art everywhere we look around, and we can easlisy choose the style we like.

Some contemparary art I like:

I like abstract art like this, really all it is is paint splatters but I like how the veiwer can interpret it however they want.  Like when I first looked at it I imagined myself laying on my back in the autum looking up at fall leaves around sunset.  This is the kind of thing I like about contemparary art, tradtional art willnever give you something like that.

I also really like pieces like this, it is like a series piece where you have to buy all of them in order to complete the picture, this is a generally new idea, and I really like it, it looks really modern and classy.

This is a really nice painting, it reminds me more of tradtional paintings and it really demonstrates the diversity of contemparary art. It can be really upbeat and bright, or more suddle like this one.

I also added a bunch like this before, but I really love the colors here!! I think this is so beautiful, this style of art is probably my favourite at the moment,  I like how there are a few statment colors but still a bunch more inthe background, I like how it is mostly scenary with maybe a sillouhette of a person in the background.  I just think they are awesome!  I would love to look more into an artist that paints pictures like this, over the next few days I am going to try to find one and do a bit of research on them. I'll post what I find :)

 

Traditional art

The focus of this blog post will be traditional art, I will be expanding on my likes and dislikes of traditional art, also, I will be choosing a traditional artist and just talking a bit about them.

My thoughts on traditional art:
I really like some traditional art, I think that it is very beautiful and valuable, being able to say that you saw a piece of traditional art is really cool! It is a great conversation piece, because everyone has heard of it.  Its also pretty cool that it has withstood the test of time, it will never go old or unheard of. This is something I really like about traditional art, that no matter what, it will always be known.  Unlike a piece of art that may be popular today, and may mean nothing to anyone in 10 years, 5 years, or even a year from now.  It really shows how good the artist was that their work is still known to this day.

Tradition piece I want to analyse:
I am going to look at the Mona Lisa, this piece is a piece that everyone has either seen somewhere, or heard of at some point in their lives, it is a very beautiful piece of art.  I like this one because I feel like everyone can connect to it somehow, weather they've seen a spoof of it in a cartoon, seen a mystery about in in the DaVinci code, or actually seen it with their own eyes. 
Although I can recognise that the Mona Lisa is indeed beautiful, if it wasn't a traditional piece of art I do not think I would like it nearly as much. I think that the colours are kind of dull and it would not be a piece that would catch my eye.
However, since it is traditional,  I have seen it over and over again, and have been able to analyse it.
I think that this piece became so popular and well known for a few reasons, some of which being:
-The painter it was done by, Leonardo da Vinci painted alot in his time and he managed to get his name out there
-The mystery in the painting, the girl is the focal point of the painting, and what is behind her is kind of faded and blurry, the location of this painting is not entirely known, and it is not known if the girl is even real or not, many of da Vincis painting are like thins and are thought o have a deeper meaning.
-The older the piece is, more and more people want to see it because it is now a treasure that can not be recreated.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)

Leonardo da Vinci's style:

da Vinci and many other traditional artists painted a lot of religious paintings, because religion was a really big thing back in the 1400s-1800s, I'm not saying that its not now, but most people back in those days were extremely religious.  This made his style of painting typically very religious as well. I feel like if he was a modern day painter, his work would not be as popular, because religious paintings are just not as popular any more.  Also as I mentioned a little earlier, his paintings all have a sense of mystery to them, like a puzzle no one can figure out, it is really very intriguing, and he is not around to explain.

 

Some of da Vinci's other work:

The Last Supper

 

This piece is one that has caused a lot of controversy over the years, that's one of the reasons I like this piece.  There have been movies made about it, documents wrote about it, it has just been analysed time and time again.

 

 

Vurtuvian Man

I don't really know a lot about this one, but I figured I would post it anyways, because I have seen it around a lot and I think it is kind of neat.

 

 

My conclusion about traditional art:

Traditional art is so unique and can never be recreated, that gives it so much value!  We can also learn things from this art that no history text book could ever teach us.  I think that this art is sacred, and it gives the viewer kinda a brief glance as to like what life could have been way back then, it shows the viewer what the artist valued, and also a bit about the way of life.  It has a sense of mystery to it also which I think is the best part!  However, in my opinion, if this art was not done so long ago, I do not think that it is anything super special.  I would love to visit an art museum filled with traditional art!  But as for art I would like to see on a daily basis in my own house and around town, it would have to be contemporary art. I don't like either of them better, I just think both are nice for different things. 

 

I will make a post about a contemporary artist I like tomorrow :)

What art do we value more?

In art class yesterday, our art teacher gave us an assignment comparing traditional art to contemporary art.  In this post I'm just gonna expand a bit on the assignment and answer a few questions.

Do you think we value traditional art more or less than contemporary art?
I think that as people, we generally value traditional art more than contemporary art, for a few reasons, I think some of these reasons are:
1: Its always been around, we've basically been looking at it since we were kids, its familiar to us
2: The judgement of most of traditional art has already been made, we pretty much just choose a side on the matter, we don't have to judge it ourselves.
3: we are not a fan of change.
However with this said, I like art, all art, it doesn't matter if its contemporary or not, certain pieces just stick out to me.

Which type of art makes more sense to you?
Although I kind of answered this up there, I will just expand a bit, generally I tend to like looking at contemporary art more, but i usually find tradition more beautiful and meaningful, but if I were decorating my house for say, I would choose contemporary.

Do you think traditional art is more valuable because it has been here longer and is more established?
Defiantly!  Its like a comparing Betty Crocker pancakes to Safeway pancakes, both taste the same, but in the end, more people go with the Betty Crocker ones.

What about the artists who produce art and share it via social media, extending a virtual invitation and redefining art appreciation for the world's population?
This might help a bit, defiantly helps get the artists name out there, but I think that in the end, everyone likes a good old fashion art show more than seeing anything over the Internet.

Painting styles

I was looking through paintings on Google, and these were some of the painting styles I would like to try! I want to try experimenting with bright colours, and i like how the colours here are not really 'typical'. I like how the grass is not only green, and the watter is not only blue, I would just love to learn how to incorporate different colours into my paintings and still have it look realistic.

I really love the Colo's in this one! And the textures of the leaves, looks like it might be done with oil paints.

I really love the simplicity of this picture, but I like how the colours pop in the back, I feel like this would look if I tried to copy this idea in watercolour.

I love the sky in this one! the colours kind of contrast each other but it looks so beautiful! Also I like how dark the boats are and how the light of the sun brings a focal point to a certain part of the boat and makes you realise that it is a boat after all.  I just really like this whole picture.  I like how the background looks like it starts as a city/town scape kind of, then as you move your eyes right it progresses to a mountain type setting. It is such an interesting picture but it looks awesome!

These leave have to be some of the nicest painted leaves I've ever seen" I love how they are all funky colours, the tree branch coming out of the left top corner is really cool because you cant tell if the blue around it is leaves or the sky.  I really like how this artist made the setting look like night time after is just rained, but there is no sign of rain or that it is nighttime, its just something that the viewer can comprehend when looking at the painting because of the streetlights, the reflection off the ground (which by the way looks amazing!!) and the umbrella the man is holding.

This one is a bit different than the rest of the painting I said I liked, but I thought this looked really neat! I love how the eyelashes are not perfect, and I like how when you look into the eye you can tell that it is meant to be viewing something, by the colours, but you don't know what, it brings a sense of mystery to the painting.

Vine #2

Here is the one I like alot!  I had to do 4 vines and merge them all together because I wanted it to be longer than 6 seconds, this one took me about 30-40 mins to do, and I was thinking about how much better it could have beem iof I would have spent longer on it! Some points of error in this video are:
1. It shakes too much, I would like it to be stiller
2. I wish I would have played some up beat music in the background, I dont like the sound (and I couldnt figure out how to mute it and the music overlay I tried wouldnt work)
Beside these flaws I think it turned out pretty well!

Our assignment over the next few days is kind of to 'represent' #niprockart and I feel like I did this in this video.  I cant wait to do more for #niprockart over the next few days !!

Also excuse the black boarder! It was the app I used to merge the videos

Vine #1

Here's the first vine I made for #niprockart ! This one was just a trial , I also made a really cool one that I will post as soon as I can ! just gotta do a bit of editing first.

Water Pencil Crayons

Today we were just kind of doing our own thing in art class , and I decide to try experimenting with some water pencil crayons , or water colour pencils. my sketches don't look the best or anything , I just wanted to see how certain colours looked together , or see how pressing down hard or gently would effect the look of the picture , also I wanted to check out the range of colour one pencil crayon could have , by adding only a little water it was dark , and when I added a lot it lightened up a lot. over all it was a good day , because I like trying new things , next time I use these pencil crayons I would like to try drawing a nice landscape picture , I think it would turn out pretty cool !

But for now , here are my little sketches I did today

I really liked how the flowers were turning out here , I just didn't like all the bulk I added around. 

I liked the idea of how this was going , I would just like to start from scratch so I could make it a little neater an add some more colours 

This is the one where I used all one colour , I kinda liked it a bit ! I think if I had maybe added a background it could have looked pretty cool 

First Post

For art this year our teacher told us we would be trying different things, like focusing on art that interests us.  I am hoping to experiment with a bit more with painting, I want to try out a few more painting techniques.  Also, I want to try drawing a bit more realistic, but I want to have fun with it as well.  I am really looking forward to art this year! This is my third year and my goal this year is to make more posts about what we are doing in class and things I've tried in and out of class :)