Concentration 5

My fifth concentration: The Daruma Doll 

if you click on the highlighted link, you will find a brief explanation of what these dolls are. There are displayed five colors of dolls, each one with a different meaning, from longevity and luck, to love and wealth. These cute little guys are done on acrylic paper with acrylic paint mixed with water. Soon their little faces will be painted with traditional features showing goofy, grumpy expressions. I really can't wait to see the outcome.  

Concentration 4

JAPAN - NIPPON

 I've juggled though what I want to focus on with my concentration assignment, and I finally came down to it: Japanese culture! I have always love the style of Japanese wood block prints. And I have been inspired by artists like Utagawa Hiroshige. 

This piece is a bit of a different style though, I just wanted to play with ink and figure out how these artists got the texture shown in their artwork. 

mountains fade at the base, and there is a lot of attention paid to fore, middle, and background. I tried to recreate this, and I think I had a little bit of success. 

Fondest memory

My fondest memory: I have many memories to choose from in the short life I've lived but I chose to create a poster in honor of a musical group named "HORSE the band" 

I was introduced to this music by my first love, and I have enjoyed their sound ever since. They tie the classical sounds of midi file with the rough sounds of the metal genre, and despite their goofy sound, the cryptic lyrics hide a true meaning. 

The piece is done in acrylic on paper, and it shows a horse running through a psychedelic desert. Soon in writing I will have the name of the band. I cannot wait to get this completed so I can hang my poster on my wall. 

Social Norms/ Taboos

Social norms and taboos. This is a risky one, but it touches on the issues that face us. 

this picture is done in watercolor, you can see on the left- a gloomy sky, a factory pumping out noxious fumes, the land littered and yellowing from chemical burns. To the left: a clear blue sky and green grass and out in the grass grows a field of- you guessed it, hemp/ cannabis.

The silhouettes in the foreground have written in them some medical issues people face throughout their life. You can see one of the silhouettes looks to be bashing on the the other. These silhouettes both have the same disorders, only they treat these ailments in different ways. 

I think once this piece is finished it will prove a powerful point, if I've not made that point already.  

The Game

The Game! for this assignment I got 5 cards, each one with a different element to the piece that I had to create. My cards read: Purple, dotted line, spade, emphasis, and a shape (the one you see around the spade in silver). 

This piece was challenging at first, to think of what I should do. I spent a lot of time looking at the shape on the small piece of paper, and at the word spade. Finally I realized the shape I got in a way resembled the form of a spade, and man did I feel lucky for that. 

I decided to take a fun turn, and make each box of the shape a different rendition of a spade.
I truly enjoy the way this turned out, it was a challenging game of how to make the elements work, but with the power of my creativity and artistic wit, I created a fun illusion to the eye. 

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Seven deadly sins

I took a twist on the seven deadly sins and decided to add in yet another flavor of Greek mythology: Pandora's box 

In this piece Pandora has already unleashed the sins of the world, and she sits on the floor while lust kisses her hand and envy gawking at pandoras hair. Over toward the right you can see greed running away with a bag of money. 

So. Many. Lines. 

This assignment has pushed a lot of artistic boundaries for me, with perspective, and shading, and cross hatching. And I love the way it looks. 

Monster

For my monster assignment I imagined a storm brewing out in the ocean and a little boy that goes out to spy what's happening. When he pulls his binoculars onto his face; out from the depths of the ocean roars a giant sea beast! 

In this piece I tried to work on making it feel like you were behind the boy, looking out to the ocean with him. 

I like to play with Greek mythology in some of my pieces, this being one; where the monster somewhat resembles Poseidon. 

Honestly, I didn't like this piece very much, I think it's because it's in graphite on paper that feels weird, so I don't get the flow or feeling I want from the medium.