Almost done

This week I kept working with my cup, and now I'm more or less ready for glazing and putting it in the oven. Initially I thought of doing a green slip, but the slip we have is not only pastel green (I wanted more of an emerald), it also acts a bit strangely becoming drops of glaze. Therefore I have decided to do a metallic brown slip.

At the beginning of this week's lesson, I discovered that my cup was bone-dry, not leather hard! I had covered it in a plastic bag and all,, bu it still dried. Lucky for me, I found that it was still good to work with, and that it was perhaps easier getting it smooth, and carving the scales.
I made the coils more even, before finishing the carving. Then I added the bottom part. At first, it looked a bit strange, as the tail was suspended from the air (I had made it without the bottom part). However I managed to make the bottom part to look like it was part of the coil, and I made a new tail, which now rests on the ground.

I really hope that it won't crack while drying so that next lesson I will be able to smoothen it out (especially on the inside, which currently looks a little messy), add the slip, and it will be ready for burning! :D

Here are some in-progress pics:

Continuing my cuppp!

This week I continued working on my clay cup. It was now leather hard, so it was good to work with. I emphasised the releif of the snake coil (making sure that the thinnest parts didn't become too weak). I also made the bottom part, and added the head. For the head, I decided not to make a mouth in order to keep my design "clean", and added the eyes by creating indentations at each side of the head, and adding some clay for the "eyebrow" ( I know, not the right word to use at all, but you get it; the area above the eyes).
Then I started carving the reptile scales. I want them to be darker than the rest of the glaze/slip/whatever I will be using, so I carve them before glazing.

I think it's starting to look nice, but I'm a bit afraid the tail will crack :/

Wellwell, here's how it looks for now:

Here's our cover sheet for this unit :)

Due: 18 April

Clay Cups 

March-April 2013, MYPD

istarts-romans.blogspot.no

Unit Question: Form follows Function...Or?

AOI: Human Ingenuity: Impact of innovation and creation on society;

Taking Action to think creatively.

You will be assessed through all four criteria:

A.Knowledge and Understanding: (DW blog assignment) Write a 400 word essay on a type of ceramics culture and how it is inspiring to you. (See http://istarts-romans.blogspot.no/ for some links to examples of ceramic cultures. You're not limited to those only-- ceramics is possibly the oldest technology and art form known (30,000 years old.) That means that you have a lot to choose from!

Mention: Who made the ceramics? When? What was its purpose? How was it made? (techniques.) Why is it interesting to you?

B. Application: Develop skills and apply techniques in the making of your own cup or vessel.

C. Reflection and Evaluation:(DW blog entries) Describe your process, evaluate your work; consider feedback. Use design cycle as a way of ordering and developing your ideas, from rough stages to more finished.

Vocabulary you should/can use in describing your process: slab, plastic, leather hard, slip, score, relief, carving, surface, glaze, firing.

D. Personal Engagement: Demonstrate curiosity, self-motivation and willingness to take informed risks. Support and encourage peers.

Objectives: 1. Develop critical thinking.Develop composition skills

2. Create a cup that has artistic form as well as function.

New unit!

Today we started a new unit: clay! I'm really excited about it, and I've already more or less started what I want to be my assignment. We were learning about different techniques of making cups (or similar vessels). One of them was making a slab (alternatively cutting slits in it), the other was putting coils of clay atop each other in the cup shape you want, and smoothening it out.
My idea was to join the coils together into one continuous coil, and not smoothening out. By leaving the bottom end of the coil sticking out, and adding a head to the other end (and adding the bottom of my cup of course), I would have a snake cup!

I also had some other ideas, whose sketches (not very good, I must add, as they were part of my brainstorm..) I have added below: (I'm sorry it's a bit weak, but it was pencil sketch, so that's how it came out of the scanning)

End of unit evaluation!

Now that I'm done with my drawing, I guess the unit is finished. It is a bit sad, because I really enjoyed it, but the next unit will include working with clay, and I'm really excited about that, so it's not that bad :)

Evaluation

Actually, I'm oveall quite happy about how my drawing turned out. I particularly like:

The bunad-embroidery
Not only does this represent one of my interests well, but it is also an uncommon pattern that makes the drawing interesting.

The hut 
I think this turned out very realistic, and is super-typical to Norwegian people's outdoor life, including my own. I was a bit scared about the shading beneath the roof, but think I managed that quite well.

The shoe
As I mentioned in my previous posts, I used quite a lot of time on the shoe. It was a practice excercise that lasted several lessons, allowing me to focus on this for the time I needed. I was therefore quite thorough with it, and like the grading of it. In hindsight, I think it was a smart choice to use this shoe, instead of drawing a set of a new pair. Although I would have liked to be "looking down on my own shoes" in the drawing, it saved me a lot of time which I used on other areas of my drawing, and turned out quite cool.

The Sami sun and the pine tree
I feel that the Sami sun adds a cool effect to it, even without knowing what it symbolises. Also I think the pine tree looked quite realistic.

I also like that I managed to use atmospheric, one point, and big-small perspective, how the different object symbollise my culture, and the general composition of the drawing.


On the areas that could have gone better, I would have liked to be able to create more contrast in my drawing. Even though I used the darkest shade I was able to on some areas (like the tree in the foreground, and areas of the shoe and its leg), and completely white on the background, I felt that things got a little smudged into each other while I drew and moved my hand over them.
Another thing was the flag. I wanted it to be waving in the wind, but struggled with getting it realistic.

Changed design of my blog!

As you may (or may not) have noticed, I've changed the design of my art blog! I thought the previous one was a bit dull and dark, so I replaced it with a pic I took on holiday in France. I think it looks pretty neat. :)

Finished with working on the drawing!

Today I finished my drawing! I finished the million trees and shaded the hill in the background. I also drew the Sami sun, making it a bit darker around the edges because a white sun against a white sky would be kinda invisible. (Yes, my sky is white, I wanted to use the atmospheric perspective technique where close things are dark and faraway things are light. Initially I had planned on doing a flag, but placed the flag by the cabin instead.) I decided some transmission towers instead of the camels because:

a. I don't really know why I wanted camels in the first place

b. There has been a lot of debate about if we should build transmission towers to supply the cities of Norway with electricity, even if they're placed righht in the middle of nature landscapes. Thus, they fit in with my "we trample on nature" idea.

c. They demonstrate the usage of one-point perspective (and big-small perspective i guess).

Finally, I made some of the shades darker, and some of the highlights lighter so that there was a bit more contour in my drawing.



Now, I'm done, and happy with my drawing :D

Still working on the drawing

Yesterday, I kept on working on the drawing. This week I drew the ground of the foreground. I added a footpath because I was beginning to feel that the foreground began to seem a bit uniform and monotone. Then I added a tree on the left side where I had initially planned for the cabin to be (inspired by a tree outside the classroom window) because in my opinion, pine trees are EVERYWHERE in Norway. I'm also deliberating on drawing a rock to add some detail to my drawing, but I fear that it might end up looking like a grey potato.
Also, I finished up the cabin, adding a flag (because I like the Norwegian flag), and a pair of ski poles because skiing is very typical to my culture, and I also quite like skiing.
Then I began working on drawing a million tiny trees in the background.

Working on the drawing

This week we started drawing the actual assignment. During this, I made a couple of changes. The first and most significant of these was realising that we did not have very long before the drawing was due, and thus deciding upon using the shoe that I had already finished drawing. I added a leg to my shoe, adding the bunad-pattern that I wanted to include onto it, and ereased the other one. The other change was somewhat a byproduct of the first. Initially, I had planned on drawing the cabin on the right side, but with the shoe in the way, I ended up with drawing it on the right, where the shoes were originally meant to be. After doing this, I sketched up the contours of the hills.
Actually, I thought it looked quite cool with the shoe in the middle of the page, and I think the pattern looked pretty awesome, adding a kind of "exotic" Norwegian feel (if anything that is Norwegian can ever be called exotic...). This also saved me a lot of time, and allowed me to make use of what I had already completed, and focus my efforts elsewhere.

Planning the drawing

Now that we had finished the practice, we started planning out the assessment task drawing. For elements of our culture, I wanted to incorporate various elements that were relevant for me, and that I found interesting. As an outling for my drawing, I decided upon doing a landscape drawing, with typical Norwegian hills, because I find that the nature of Norway is something that is often emphasised when one talks about Norway. Atop the furthest hill, I plan on writing "Miðgarður", the Norse name for earth, because I like Norse mythology.
I'm also quite fond of bunad, the Norwegian traditional garment, and their embroidery. First I thought about doing the sky with one of the embroidery patterns, but decided that this would turn out a little messyy-looking, so I incorporated it onto the legs that would be wearing the shoes instead. For the sky, I decided upon a Norwegian flag. Not only do I think the Norwegian flag looks like, but it is also very representative of my culture and who I am. On the left part of the sky I wanted to draw a sun in the way the Sami people make it, because I am part Sami, so it relates to my ancestry. I also find it quite fascinating.
At the side of the drawing, I drew a tradinal Norwegion mountain cabin made by notching logs together, and with a sod roof. I think that this both fits in with my mountain landscape, is typical for the Norwegian culture, and is relevant for me as my grandparents have a cabin like this, and this is where I spend many of my easter breaks.
On one of the hillsides, I am toying with the idea of drawing a camel trek, to represent how Norway is interacting with other countries. I've also ridden a camel myself.
For the shoes, I am planning on doing a pair of converses, as these are shoes I wear a lot. i also find them relevant for the modern culture of Norway, as these shoes are quite popular amongst people my age. I want to draw them in a resting position, as if the person wearing them (me) is just resting from a hike in a mountains.

I think that this could be a really cool project :)

Here are some photos that I found inspiring:

Continuing the shoes

Today I finished up my shoe drawing. I continued working on the shading, darkening various areas, and lightening the highlights that had got a bit smudged. I decided to only do one of the shoes, since if I would have done both, I would have needed to rush.
At the end of the lesson, I thought they looked quite nice, especially the lines on the heel. I also liked how dark and rough I managed to get them, since ususally I do my drawings too light and too cautiously.

New unit!

Today we got started on a new unit, called "A walk in my shoes". We are going to make a drawing which includes shoes, preferrably worn by us in the drawing, and is to represent our culture. I think that this is going ot be an interesting unit, as  haven't really done anyhing like this, and I like symbolism. I also like making drawings, because I like the challenge of representing colour through different shades.

During the lesson, we were to draw the shoes that we were wearing that day. First we made a scale of shades, ranging from white to the darkest we could manage. It was a bit difficult getting the various sections of the scale even, but after a while I got satisfied with the result.
Then, we created a contour drawing of our shoes. Once we were happy with the shape, we started shading using the scale we created in the beginning of the lesson as reference of how dark the shading should be. Since my shoes were black, I had to use mainly the dark part of my scale, and a little of the light for highlights.

Cover Sheet - A Walk in My Shoes

MYPDArt

3.Jan-7.Feb- 6 weeks; Due: Thursday, 7. Feb, 2013

http://istarts-romans.blogspot.no/

A Walk in My Shoes

Unit Question: Can your culture be represented by the environment in which you live?

Area of Interaction: Environments

One's culture is represented through fashion and by the items that surround us.

What am I going to cover in this unit?

·         Drawing from observation (contour, shading.)

·         Drawing objects (drapery, shoes)

·         Drawing in perspective and depth (linear, overlap, atmospheric, hierarchical)

·         Combining observation and the symbolism

·          

How will I know I have been successful?

·         Design and plan artwork in sketches and studies(drawings) (Criterion B, application)

·         Draw a finished composition with one's shoes and other cultural symbols(Criterion B, application)

·         Describe the process in DW (Criterion A, knowledge)

·         Give and receive creative criticism. (Criteria C, reflection, and D, engagement.)