Bork - Plein Air

(Oh my goodness this is late, please forgive me)

Plein Air

1) This plein air piece is captured by the Rio Grande, where a road crosses over the river towards the other side and is shown on the right side of the painting. The emotional tone is calm, walking beneath the changing trees as they sway gently in the breeze, highlighted by the autumn colors. It has a deep vanishing point in the middle of the panel with trees on the left side and a dark area under a bridge on the right.

2)I think it is balanced with the bright green and yellow colors on the left and then more blue/tan and darker colors on the left, while the middle ground is a mix between shadow and light. Perhaps with more light blue of the sky poking between the leaves of the trees.

3)There is a sort of volume in the piece with the pathway vanishing into the trees farther into the picture, the depth shows as well. Texture is where I fell away a little bit, although you can see the leaves in the trees as I did dot each one individually, however frantic the process was.

4)I have captured a specific time of day, the light stays the same for about four hours during this time and is around 12:00PM - 4:00PM. I didn't want to do it at sunset, run out of daylight, and then trip over a stump on the way back to my car.

5)I could improve this by making the details a lot more prominent, as the piece seems to merge into a mess of colors from close up, even though it looks alright from far away. I could also mix a few different shades of green and give a bit more shadow in the trees, since that is something I deemed unnecessary at the time that I was trying to get the thing done.

Bork - Deconstructed

Deconstructed Self Portrait - Transition

I constructed my self portrait to be able to change depending on how someone saw it, meaning that the four pieces of the canvas can be moved to show different levels of connection between alternating pieces. the colorful mess of sharpie and acrylic is meant to signify all the medication that I willingly put into my body in hopes that I will somehow be cured of my illness. While the grey figure in the bottom piece is supposed to be what is left of the old me, and it looks as if its all too colorful counterpart will consume it. Some back story; I have had kidney stones sine I was fourteen and stared taking medication and editing my lifestyle in order to alter my poor health. Yet I feel as if nothing has helped me thus far, instead my body and mental health seem to be suffering more. Changing and manipulating itself into something I seem to recognize more as myself than the grey healthy blob that I used to be.
The piece itself is made up of three canvas panels and one stretched canvas. With no real frame and the separate pieces can be moved as the viewer may see fit, if they are willing to rearrange the thumbtacks that is. I used acrylic for the colorful beast and oil on the grey figure and the eyes. The crazy detail work is done in sharpie, while there are underlying texture/bumps of glue and puffy paint, As far as deconstructed I feel that this piece shows how I now see myself appearing. No longer as a figure recognizable shapes and body parts, but as a dysfunctional thing being fueled by artificial means.

Bork - Final

(Super late-but posted)

For my final I wanted to show different expressions that can be seen simply by looking into a person's eyes, because a lot of the time people lie through their teeth and think nothing of it. Yet most of the time if one were to just look into that person's eyes they could see them twitch just a little bit, as if hoping someone will catch them in their lie. For a while when I drew people, or wanted to draw anything, I started with the eyes, because even without the nose or the mouth a lot can still be seen in the ways of silent language.

I used acrylic paint on a stretched canvas, contrasting red/yellow/orange colors in relation to rage, and blue/green/purple colors in relation to surprised. It was a lot of painting with really water thinned out paint and then smudging it with my fingers into the canvas, which was fun and reminded me of charcoal shading. I just wanted to so something that I was proud of that wasn't an apple.

Schoen - Final

For my final project, I wanted to make an attempt to be closer to my brother. As I said in the critique, he is currently in Okinawa, Japan and I haven't seen him for about five years. I have never been to Okinawa and I was curious to see what it looked like, but through my brother’s eyes. What did he see that was cool or beautiful or common on the island? So I asked him to pick a place on the island that he liked. I made sure not to make any real suggestions, so he could pick on his own, outside my influence. And I did tell him NOT to send me any photos, but to describe it as best he could. I originally thought he would pick something around his work. (He is a mechanic for the planes.) I was actually kind of nervous that he would pick something easy like his toolbox, which wouldn’t be very pleasing to look at, especially for a final project. Luckily, he decided on a part of the landscape, a hill in particular. He described it, I tried to squeeze more information out of him, and I painted the best I could. And I’m happy to say that he thinks the painting matches pretty well! For this project, my brother was the eyes and I was the hand painting.

(Below is an edited version of my brother's emails)

Brother: There is this BIG hill on base that rises up at somewhere between 45 and 60 degrees on both sides, and the left kinda falls away as the land beneath the hill gently slopes down. There are one or two short, rectangular houses far to the right that are a light tan. Like a generic, boring, off-white color. The sides of the hill are thick, dark green jungle, and it has a wide swath of golf course that goes up and over the middle of the hill.

If you need more detail of surrounding stuff, I'll have to go look again

Me: So here's a stream of questions: Where are you in relation to the hill, are you at the bottom of the hill or the top, or from the side? Also how many stories are the buildings? How tall is the foliage on either side of the jungle (just a bunch of bushes or a legitimate jungle with 50ft trees and vines)? And does the jungle continue to the buildings or is there a clearing around them? (Told ya I needed a lot, but thank you for sending something :D)

Brother: Jeez woman x3

I'm looking at the hill, and yes, legit jungle but the trees are only maybe 15-20ft. The jungle more or less ends at the bottom of the hill, I think, and the buildings are just one story.

Me: I also finished the painting. Does it look ANYTHING like the hill you were describing??

Brother: Pretty close! Just the wrong angle :D

Farrell - Final

My final project is made of a variety of cotton fabrics, wood, masonite and oil paint.

This project started purely as an experiment. Originally I was going to make a quilt, but I got worried about how I would defend it as a painting. So I decided to sew a quilt top and paint on top of it. Because of time limitations I ended up sewing a quilt top and gluing it to a stretched canvas. I then painted on top of the quilt/canvas with thin glazes of oil paint. I enjoyed the process of making this piece and loved playing around with different materials, but I am not completely satisfied with current state of the piece. I feel like the piece still requires more work and I do plan to continue to work on it. One of the best things about working on this piece is that it made me want to try the same technique again. I started to sew more quilt blocks Friday morning and I hope to start painting on them soon. I am very interested in how the glazed colors will change the base fabrics and the early layers of glazes. This project has confirmed that I want to continue to play and explore what I can do with paint.

Farrell - Deconstructed Self-Portrait

My deconstructed self-portrait is made of wood, Masonite, sculpy clay, aluminum wire, acrylic paint, oil paint, yarn and a pair of knitting needles.

When someone asks me who I am, I tell them what I do and what I create. I have been knitting longer then I have done any other kind of art and so I generally start by telling people I am a Knitter. I wanted to show not only my identity as a Knitter with this piece, but how it feels when I pick up a set of needles and some yarn. I become invigorated, passionate and start to feel overwhelmed with the ideas that rush into my mind. I have planned out many of my best pieces of artwork while knitting. As my hands work to create a garment my brain flys and explores my imagination.

Overall I am extremely happy with how the piece turned out, especially since I only started it the night before it was due. I had been working on something else, but I ended up hating it and couldn't stand the thought of turning it in. I liked the way this piece turned out so much  that I want to create a series of similar piece, each focusing on something that I do with my hands that is a part of my identity, i.e. writer, print-maker, crocheter, spinner, ect.

Farrell - Master Copy Artist Statement

For my master copy/study project I did the painting Drowning Girl by Roy Lichtenstein. This is what I could find in regards to an artist statement about the piece:

In the Drowning Girl the water is [...] Art Nouveau, but it can also be seen as [a reference to the artist] Hokusai.   I don't do it because it is another reference. Cartooning itself resembles other periods in art — perhaps unknowingly...I saw [the resemblance] and then I pushed it a little further until it was a reference that most people will get. I don't think it is terribly significant, but it is a way of crystallizing the style by exaggeration. 

This quote is from an interview the artist gave. I wasn't able to find the complete text, just this excerpt.