Charcoal Gesture Portrait of the King

His eye is a bit off, but that's a gesture drawing for ya! 

Painting without Thought

There are no "techniques" that I learned from my art class that I applied here. I just sat and painted whatever came to mind...I actually wasn't even thinking. Lol. Oh well. Here's a painting! 

Printmaking

This art project was by far the most tedious; encompassing many, many steps.  It was the most time consuming as well. We were first to create a design for our prints.  I came up with the idea of a man blowing a conch shell....a latte stone and a replica of Nan Madol, Pohnpei in the background.  These represent both Saipan and Pohnpei, the two places I come from.  I then took my mental design and transferred it onto tracing paper.  I continued to work on the design until I was happy with the outcome.  (I still feel, however, that I could've done better :/ ) After the design was complete, we used carbon paper to transfer the design onto the linoleum block using a pen to trace and carbon paper to solidify the transfer.  The next step includes carving out the "white" areas of the design to ensure that the "black" parts are printed onto paper accurately.  It was a bit of a confusing concept to grasp, but once I began to carve with the tools, I began to understand more and more.  I, at first, hated the carving/cutting part of the project because I had a few scabs in the beginning.  But, it became easier and easier with every stroke.  After the cutting was done, I used black ink to roll on the block with a brayer (spelling?).  There was a certain technique we had to learn for the rolling on of the ink. We had to use a flat surface to get an even coat of ink on the brayer and thus onto the block.  We had to roll up and down in different directions until we heard what sounds like velcro.  The ink is now ready to be transferred onto the block.  It took about three prints and three times going back to the block to cut out and fix things that had printed that shouldn't be there.  It then took another 10+ tries to get five (somewhat) exact prints.  Again, this was a very tedious assignment.  It gives me a better understanding and appreciation for the printmakers of our past and just how much work they had to endure to spread knowledge and art all over the globe.  :)  

Relief Sculpture; Mask

I must admit that my mask didn't turn out as planned.  I wanted a plain mask, with just the eyes and mouth filled in with color.  However, working with the acrylic paint, I realized that I wasn't able to create the exact base color I had initially wanted for the mask.  And the totally new design took off from there.  I at first didn't know what I was doing, but as I became more and more comfortable painting, the mask took shape.  I was able to decide what it was I wanted through the experimentation phase.  I ended up loving what I had created and was happy with the overall paint job.  I then worked my way into the additional materials I was to attach onto my mask as mixed media.  I chose pink feathers to represent my femininity.  The ivory corsage of flowers represents my love for nature. The shells that form a flower shape actually came from a necklace made on Pohnpei, where my mother's from.  It was important to me that I showcase a bit of my culture onto my mask.  The image above shows the finished mask.  I absolutely love how it turned out.  It was amazing to me how the mask turned out entirely different from what I had sketched.  But, I guess that's the beauty of art!  

City Scape

To create a cityscape, we first must understand the concept of depth and space, as well as the devices that portray depth/space.  We learned, beforehand, concepts and terms like overlapping, vertical location, vanishing point, horizon line as well as the different perspectives (linear, aerial/atmospheric, one-point, two-point).  With these learned concepts, we were to create a city scape of 10 one-point, and 10 two-point perspective buildings.  The mathematical/geometrical aspect of the assignment was by far the most challenging.  I had to be sure that the lines all matched up to the points.  Vertical placement is seen as the two buildings in front are obviously closer to the viewer.  The other buildings diminish in size the further back they go.  Overlapping is seen as well in the overlapping of the buildings.  Also, it is safe to say that the cityscape is seen at an aerial perspective as the illusion is given off that we are up high, looking downward unto the the city.  This was by far the most tedious assignment yet.  However, I learned a great deal in carrying out the assignment.  The assignment allowed me to realize that we must be able to think about our art in a much deeper sense....the placement of figures and the message we want to relay through such placement.  Despite this assignment being my toughest, it was a very enjoyable one and I learned so many concepts and terms with just this one assignment.  

Mask Modeling Part I

At the very beginning of the project, I was a bit nervous to work with clay.  I always thought that I wasn't very good at hands-on projects and didn't know how to go about "sculpting".  But by paying close attention to instructions and after experimenting with the clay more and more, I eventually became comfortable while I worked.  My nervousness faded and i began to have fun working with a different media.  
After being shown what could happen if the clay wasn't properly handled, I became nervous again, but it helped me to pay better attention to what I was doing.  We were first to create the shape of a face about the length of our back board.  That took about two class periods to finish.  The next step was to experiment with different textures to figure out which ones would work with our mask and which ones fit into what we were ultimately trying to achieve in designing our mask.  This experimentation led me to finally come up with a final make-up of what I wanted my mask to look like. Within the next class period, we were able to create a contoured shape for the mask as opposed to it just being flat, by using crumpled up newspaper sheets.  After this was done, I went on to attaching the common features of the face.  I went on ahead without any instruction, but it turned out I took the right approach in doing so.  I feel that this was by far my favorite part of the project because I got to see firsthand how versatile clay was as different shapes could be made over and over until you were satisfied with the overall outcome.  It is here that we stop and wait for our mask to dry before the final stages.  :)