HALEY COWAN ART 1 Fall 2015

Artist Statement I didn’t know much about art before Art I besides simple things like the color wheel and how to sketch. I have continuously surprised myself throughout this course with how quick I learn and how well I apply the skills taught to me. I have learned so much that it’s impossible to list it all, but a few things I have learned are the following: The dimensions of the face, how to paint, and how to identify the Elements and Principles of Design. If anything this course has made me love art even more than I did before.

Favorite 3 Styles of Art Realism. Realism is one of my favorites because I like the great amount of detail put into each work and the obvious time and dedication devoted to the work. Impressionism. I enjoy Impressionism because through it artists express their emotions and feelings. The artists focus more on expression than making it look realistic. Surrealism. This style of art is enjoyable to me because of the vibrant colors usually used to depict the weird images of the artist’s mind. I enjoy getting to peek inside someone else’s mind and thoughts through something as simple as a painting.

Preassessment The first day of class we were required to sketch a face and a hand. I sketched these with a black ink pen.

Zentangle We blocked off sections and “doodled” zentangles in each section that could not be repeated.

Figure Zentangle This is the second major zentangle we created. We were allowed to take an image of our own, outline it, and fill it with zentangles. I chose my dog that passed away as my subject. Since I work slow, I did not get to finish it.

Contour Line Drawings We quickly drew these things without taking our sharpies off the paper. We practiced working large, something I had issues with initially.

Shading We began our lesson on shading by drawing 3-D figures, identifying where the light source is, and shading appropriately. We learned the uses of the specific drawing pencils and how to manipulate them by using tissue paper as make-shift tortillions.

Shading Drawings We simply gridded and drew these photos. We then erased the grid lines and shaded. I did not get to complete the dog or the cow.

Half-Face Drawing For this project, we chose a face with only half of it printed, gridded the papers, and tried to recreate the face on the blank side of the paper. Taylor Swift is unfinished.

Self Portrait We practiced shading and drawing yet again with a gridded drawing of ourselves. We sealed them with hairspray to keep fingerprints off of them after we finished, and mine was displayed in the hallway.

Positive/Negative Art We drew objects around us with this style of art and then chose something else to use for Pos/Neg art. I chose a record player.

Mannequin Pastel Drawing I chose to position the mannequin in this way because three of my best friends are going into the military. This simple work means a lot to me because we are on the brink of another world war, and my best friends are going to be the ones that have to fight it.

Color Wheel We painted a color wheel in order to familiarize ourselves with colors and how to mix them to achieve the color we needed.

Monochromatic Painting Our first painting was a monochromatic painting. We could choose either a face or a tree, and we could only use one color of our choice. I did not get to finish my painting before we had to move on.

Cupcake/Pig Paintings We all had to paint the same cupcake and the same picture of a pig.These images were assigned because they involved a lot of blending, shading and were simple introductions to upcoming harder assignments. I finished my cupcake but did not finish my pig before we had to move on.

Birch Trees Next we all painted birch trees. For the reference, we looked at the unfocused version of the picture in order to place the colors where they needed to go and practice waiting until the end to add detail. Each day the reference photo of the birch trees was put into a little more focus, teaching us how to properly approach paintings….a little more detail each day.

Categorized Paintings We had to paint one painting from each category. Since I paint slow, I only got to do two. I painted the face from the “Free” category and changed it into a domestic violence painting. I chose the car because of the vibrant colors.

Details

Final Painting on Canvas This last painting means the most to me out of all of the work I have created in this class. This painting is based off of a picture I took of my dog, ‘Shine, who died December 1, I knew I wanted to paint him because I don’t have anything left of him other than his favorite toy.