Final Hoorah

So as a final piece to this large puzzle I have seemingly created involving all these artistic ideas and pieces, I have to say that photography just possibly may be my absolute favorite medium.

Photography will forever be a part of my life, and scrapbooking, too.  They go hand-in-hand.  I have a friend that loves it as much as I do and sometimes we go somewhere just for the purpose of taking interesting pictures, not always just from the straight-on view.  We brought along a megaphone cheerleaders use one time to set up the self-timer.  Sometimes we concoct some way for it to be above us, and sometimes below.  Always changing the angle, getting a different angle on life.  Perspective is a big thing.  Why take a picture straight on, when everyone can see the same view?  To me, photography is about getting different views of a subject, views that are not seen by the naked eye.  Maybe one person stands on a bridge while the other is down below, frolicking on the water's edge.  You would have to be careful not to get the bridge in the picture, though, because then it would just become something you could imagine yourself seeing if you were walking across that bridge.  It would have to be unseen becaues that is what creates the element I am looking for.  

Graduation is coming up, and I will be one that has a zillion photo albums out on a table for people to see.  I don't really think people actually look at them, but graduation will be a good reason for me to get motivated and finish them for my own future use.  I love the art of creating a new world for my viewers in the photography era.  Interesting.

Building Up

Think of the absolute most amazing thing you have ever seen.  The most visually pleasing, the most prominent.  What is it about that that sticks out in your mind?


For instance, I love interesting images and views of the sky, especially right at sunset when all of the colors are swishing and swarming together.  The pinks and oranges, reds and golds, all gathering in one place to release an amazing sight to see.  If it was just one piece of the picture, missing just one color from the view, it would not be the same.  It would not have the same effect.


In order to catch all the messages something is attempting to express, you have to notice all of the details.  All of the colors, marks, sounds, textures... everything has something to do with the whole picture, the greater, deeper meaning.

Words & Pictures

With all this talk about art, I repeatedly search for visual art by means of paintings, drawings, sculptures, etc.. but while I sit here and think, I wonder: why shouldn't written art count?

Books and paintings have a likeness about them.  By reading a book you as the reader have a liberty to imagine the described plot and scenes in any way you like, no two perspectives will be exactly the same.  The author gives you the artistic privilege to take his words and statements and interpret them in your own way.  But paintings are the exact opposite of this.  With paintings, you as the viewer have the liberty to conjure up your own story, your own ideas for what made the image come to life.  No one could ever think of the same story.  The artist behind the work, just as an author of a book, leaves the viewer to interpret his or her work in whichever way most appeals to them.

Neat.

BioMedical

Recently, we have gone through a lot of college-prep and deciding what we want to do with our lives, "we" being the junior class I belong to at my school.  I was trying to decide which classes to take for my senior year, and I knew that I wanted to take Anatomy 2.  I am usually not a science person, but I really enjoy my A&P class right now, so I had to drop Spanish 4 and ditch math in order to fit it in.  Regardless, I can still fit in my two art classes I really wanted to take, Creative Drawing & Painting, which we use to dabble in the careers we are thinking about, and Adobe Photoshop 1 & 2.  Then, we had a college fair at a nearby university.  Colleges from all around showed up with their reps to talk to us about the possibility of attending their school.  While looking in to CIA, Cleveland Institute of Art, I noticed that one of the several programs they offer was called Biomedical Art.  In further inquiry, I really thought it might be an interesting profession.  Or maybe if I want to be a physical therapist, it could go hand in hand, as most of the biomedical art classes would almost but not quite the same.


I looked up some bioartists, and Hunter Cole is really something.  She has posters that read "Ebola is beautiful" and "Herpes is beautiful."  Pretty interesting interpretations.  Above, seen in warm colors, is a painting called "Malaria Resistance."  Below, seen in cool colors, is "Blue."

Auditory Pictures

I have had a lot of time to listen to the radio, driving to school or practice, to a friends house, to church.  I always listen to the same radio station, 88.5 YES FM, mostly as a result of a missions trip I embarked on this past summer.  They play so many different types of music--heavy metal, rap, hip-hop, melodious, alternative--but they all have one thing in common.  All of the songs they play are christian.  Sometimes they take non-christian songs and make parodies of them to give them a great message along with the beat that attracts its listeners.  But what is it that makes music so appealing... so artistic that we quite simply can't live without it?


Songwriters, lyricists.  They both have one goal in mind--to appeal to their audiences.  For many, it is through interesting beats, much like the one you have stuck in your head right now. That is what they want--to create a beat and rhythm so intriguing that you want to listen to their work at all times.  


It's evident you run the show so let me back down. 
You take the leading role, and I'll play the background. 
I know I miss my cues, know I forget my lines 
I'm sticking to your script, and I'm reading all your signs. 
I don't need my name in lights. 
I don't need a starring role. 
And why gain the whole wide world, if I'm just gon' loose my soul. 
And my ways ain't purified, I'll live according to your Word. 
I can't endure this life without your wisdom being heard. 
So word to every dancer for a pop star 
Cuz we all play the background, but mine's a rock star. 
Yeah. So if you need me I'll be stage right. 
Prayin' the whole world will start embracing stage fright. 
So let me fall back and stop giving my suggestions 
Cuz when I follow my obsessions I end up confessing. 
That I'm not that impressive, matter fact I'm............ 
A trail of star dust leading to the superstar. 


In these lyrics, the narrator has given up his life and handed it over to Christ.  He no longer has complete control over his life.  He knows that with him he does not need to be famous (i dont need my name in lights.  i dont need a starring role) and he does not need to have all the power in the world because he knows that it will just corrupt the ways set for him in Christ (and why gain the whole wide world, if im just gon' lose my soul).  He has conquered his fear of trying this new faith, and wishes the world would do the same thing.  He is accepting his role, realizing that his new place has made him a bright extension of Christ himself, and he is no longer the same.


When I hear this song, the picture is so vibrant in my mind.  I see a very bright, luminescent man (Christ) standing in the middle of a huge stage, speaking his word for all to hear.  I myself am small in the corner, going unnoticed by almost everyone in the room, and that is okay with me.  I have stage fright myself, so I relax when I see this man in front of me, taking up all of the attention.  Although I am small, I have a light glow that resembles the bright blinding light of Christ in front of me--proof that I am following in his ways. 


It is a great song, and I suggest you look it up on YouTube.  Search "Background by Lecrae."  Listen to the song, let the emotions you feel flow with the words and pictures you generate in your mind.  Here's the second verse... comment to let me know your own paintings in your mind's eye.


I had a dream that I was captain of my soul.
I was master of my fate, lost control, and then I sank.
So I don't want to take the lead
Cuz I'm prone to make mistakes.
All these folks that follow me gon' end up in the wrong place.
So, just let me shadow you. And just let me trace your lines.
Matter fact just take my pen.
Here, you create my rhymes.
Cuz if I do this by myself I'm scared that I'll succeed.
And no longer trust in You, cuz I only trust in me.
And see, that's how you end up headed to destruction.
Paving a road to nowhere. Pour your life out for nothing.
You pulled my card, I'm bluffing
You know what's in my hand.
Me I just roll to trust you to cause the dice to land.
I'm in control of nothing. Follow you at any cost.
Some call it sovereign will, all I know is you the boss.
And man I'm so at ease. I'm so content.
I play the background like it's an instrument. 

My Own Art

I myself have dipped my hand in the art world.  Mostly in drawing and painting, until this year when I took ceramics.  I have pictures of what I have done so far below.

These two are just semester projects I had my freshman year in Beginning Drawing & Painting, where we had to stipple an animal of our choosing.  I'm not really a fan of cats--I just liked the pictures.

This is not one of my favorites--I could probably fix it now that I am more experienced in the arts and how I want to use colored pencil.  I actually might, now that I am really looking at it.  But we just had to take a pop can and draw it any certain way on a table with some background.  It's alright.

This one, along with the rest of the images, are from my sophomore year.  This is a colored pencil drawing from sophomore year, it was also a semester project, if I recall correctly.  We just had to use an inanimate object such as a game piece, or keys, as I chose.  It was right around the time I got my car, so I used my brand new set of keys as my subject.  And my favorite color scheme--orange and blue.

To the left, the combination of watercolor and marker, was a project we did where we got to choose something from our childhood.  I showed horses for about 5 years, and it was a big part of growing up for me.  Don't get me wrong--I am still a child, but this time in my life was one that made me who I am today.  I first used watercolor to  lay the base for the colors, then used marker to get the finer detail that I couldn't achieve with a paintbrush.

To the right is a colored pencil drawing.  We were given a picture, then told to create a frame to place around the image to find the spot we wanted to recreate.  I took the liberty of adding a little something extra in drawing the face not once, but twice.  This is one of my better pieces.  In the image below, we used acryllic to create an abstract painting. I painted a ring that was given to me when I turned 16 years old from my mother.  The opal in  the ring was a part of the ring my grandmother gave to my mother when she turned 16, and the sapphire is my birthstone, so the ring meant a lot to me.  The red in the image was a random color chosen to offset the colors in the opal.

The brightly colored image below is a watercolor also done in my sophomore year.  I really like this one, especially the use of warm colors in the flowers contrasting with the cool ones in the background.  We were given a large vase of flowers and told to paint a blocked recreation of what we could see form our perspective.  I usually go for making my pieces untraditional, which is why you don't see a simple vase on a counter full of flowers.

We also got to experiment with pastels in my sophomore year.  I personally had never tried them, I actually had no idea how to use them.  But I was quite satisfied with my first attempt with this forestation seen below.  I really like the left side of the piece, the long tree trunks, as well as the path below.  The leaves need some definite work, though, in my opinion.

And finally, here to the right is also a first attempt at using charcoal.  I love everything about this piece.  Even the background, which, I must admit, was drawn quite haphazardly.  It was a last second thing the instructor requested I add.  But I especially loved the easy way charcoal blended beneath my fingertips to get all the shadows, the smoothness of her sweatshirt, and the different textures seen.  It was my first drawing with a live subject.




Hopefully once I get through this year of ceramics I will be able to add to my collection of art.  I intend to enroll in a photography class as well as creative drawing & painting, so look to see more in the future!

Picking Apart Pixar(t)

As a result of a recent knee injury followed by reconstructive ACL surgery, I have been laying around watching movies as I recover.  I have been visited by my best friends and relatives, and as of this moment, my best friend, my Mom, my brother and I are having a Pixar movie marathon.  With Wall-E, Monsters, Inc., and Finding Nemo under our belts, we are settling in for the second half of the day with Toy Story, Ratatouille, The Incredibles, and A Bug's Life. 

It is amazing the depth of the art industry today.  To have come from drawings on cave walls, it is truly a novelty.  While I sit here and watch the free forms flitting across the television screen, beautiful, brightly-colored fish swimming through an animated ocean or rusty, dilapidated machines slowly saving the planet or ferocious, intimidating monsters releasing the screams of little children, I can't help but think of all the work that was put into the making of the film.  These movies are not just millions of drawings slapped together to create the illusion of movement.  I mean, sure that is a huge part of them, but the art behind it, to me is the manipulation of these drawings to conform to what appeals to the viewer's feelings.  I mean anyone can put a few people up on the screen, make them fall in love and that is that.  But with these Pixar movies, they stray from the normal human figure and think like machines.. or monsters.. or fish.  Then, they take those thoughts and weave them into drawings, which eventually get put set to motion, and finally, to music and words.  Sometimes, as in Wall-E, they don't even have words.  That, to me, is a fantastic art--one that is somewhat taken for granted in today's world.  But then again, most things are.