Knox artwork response

"The Music" Matisse

"Untitled" Sandback

"The Marvelous Sauce"
Vibert

"Tam Gan" Henri

"Self-Portrait With Monkey"Kahlo

"la jeune bonne" Modigliani

"Convergence" Pollock

"The Canoes Overhead" Rubins

"Jakob/Big Psycho" Wurm

     After spending some time at the Albright Knox, I was able to choose a handful of artwork that I felt partial to. I made note of the artists, dates, and media, but was not sure what the scale meant. Several made more of an impact on me than the others:Fred Sandback's "Untitled" (Sculptural Study, four part vertical construction) which was done in red acrylic yarn, Nancy Rubin's "The Canoes Overhead" made out of canoes, completed this year, and Jehan Geourges Vibert's "The Marvelous Sauce", done in 1890 in oil on wood panel. Below Sandback's study was a sign on the floor that read 'please do not touch', it seemed hypocritical to me because the design itself was 3-D, therefore it was practically asking to be touched! I almost walked right into it. It impacted me because it made me feel that that idea of a piece of artwork that is 3-D, is that you can just reach your hand out and run your fingers across it, but for this piece you can't! I want to walk right through the piece and explore it. Ruben's canoe sculpture made an impression on me because it portrays an organic form with many inorganic forms. It broadens the horizon for artists in experimenting with all different kinds of media, and looking at it made me feel like I can do anything, by making and using my own media. The sculpture was incredible, like nothing I had ever seen before. An idea that others may have thought of, but would have never tried because they thought it would be too complicated perhaps. Vibert's 'Sauce' piece has always been a personal favorite. Every time I come to the gallery, I stare and study this piece. Every detail is so precise, from the shine of the copper pans, to the rich tomato red of the chef's garment. The funny thing is, the title, the expressions on the faces, and the vibrant colors are all so full of excitement... yet you can't even see the sauce! This piece was so impacting on me because it drew me right in with it's detail and precision. There were several artworks I felt a connection with: Frida Kahlo's "Self-Portrait With Monkey" done in oil on masonite in 1938, Henri Matisse's "Music" 1939, done in oil on canvas, and Jackson Pollock's "Convergence" as oil on canvas, in 1952.  Kahlo's portrait reached out to me because I feel like I used to look like her when I was younger, which is pretty funny. My mom gave me a doll as a souvenir and it was Frida, she said it looked like me with a unibrow! I'll never forget that doll, and when I saw the portrait, it brought me right back to my childhood. I had a good chuckle over that one. I had a connection with Matisse's piece because when I was younger, I slaved over a mini colored pencil copy of that very piece. I remember paying extra attention to the colors used, and wanted my own work to look like it. I remember breaking the image down into shapes, which was basically what it was made up of. Pollock's piece was especially special to me, and I felt a strong connection with it because my style of watercolor painting is very much like it. I have adapted some of this particular style to my own artwork. I didn't mean to, but one day it happened as I was messing around with paints, and splattering them. When I saw this piece, I thought immediately of my own work. There were several piece's that interested me and made me curious, and want to know more about them: Robert Henri's "Tam Gan" done in 1914, as oil on canvas, Amedeo Modigliani's "la jeune bonne"(The Servant Girl) 1918, oil on canvas, and Erwin Wurm's "Jakob/Big Psycho VIII, 2010, aluminum and paint. Henri's beautiful and warmly lit piece draws my attention because of the little asian girl's eyes are so captivating and mysterious. The background and clothing are done in neutral pastels, but the facial features and hair are dark. I want to know what the look is in her eyes, was there any significance behind the particular focus on the girl? What is her story? Modigliani's piece has me wondering why there are no eyes on the dark figure of the servant girl? She seems to be staring, with her head tilted ever so slightly, Either there's holes completely through her head, or her eyes just happen to be the exact color of the background wall. It is so eerie , and there is no expression on her face. People say you can see a soul through the eyes, does she not have a soul, and is it because of her slavery? Wurm's sculpture has me wondering why there is a silver, human figure, who seems to be stuck in a large, blue sweater. It looks as if the figure has put it on the wrong way, but they don't look to be struggling to get out, just frozen. The figure is bent over, with palms pressed together as if praying. There is a scooped out empty hole in the belly area where the neck hole is located. Is this person really  psycho, as it hints in the title?

Logo Design week 4

Creating my logo was not a simple task, it took long periods of thinking, sketching, and brainstorming. I knew I wanted to create something that would represent me, so I had to start thinking of ideas that relate to me. I went through a couple of ideas and sketched them out, but it's so hard to fit all your favorite things into one design. I knew I needed to think simple. Wine came to mind, and my middle name (Sweet), and i thought about combining the two in a way that the wine pouring out would be like my curly hair, but I didn't get anywhere with that. Then I saw a work of art by Milton Glaser that I liked, it was a picture of Bob Dylan's profile. It was colorful, and visually stimulating. I knew I wanted to create something involving a profile of sort. I experimented with not only my own ideas, but borrowed other artist's ideas and creations. In the end I think by branching out and taking ideas from other's helped my logo. It's quite amazing how small sketches end up turning into a design, when they hardly look like they did when they started! I love the way our brain works, and how the more you brainstorm, the more ideas solidify. I had fun with this creative process, and I was able to identify what I was doing, and at what point of creation I was at. The most important discovery I made was the fact that any logo has the potential to change, and it can be said that it is never officially done. It is an ongoing process, a continual creative process, and it can constantly be simplified and changed. I realize this about my own logo, and that I may feel like I'm never satisfied. After watching the videos, checking out the sources, and reviewing the websites, I am proud to walk away knowing that there is no right or wrong in graphic design, there is only effective and non-effective communication. I now understand the challenge in designs and logos, and it's absolutely amazing to me how often they are used in everyday life. Through the sources it helped me to open my eyes to all the graphic design around me, and have a greater appreciation for it. I liked the videos, I thought they were interesting in that they really exposed all the steps of the entire process of creating a logo. I thought the videos were informative of what goes on in the business world concerning design.

Color wheel and Value scale

1.)I felt comfortable drawing out the value scale because I work with them all the time when I am drawing anyway, so it was a fairly quick, easy, and familiar thing for me to do. I also thought I have always done the typical 6-step color wheel the right way, but  I was wrong! I had always thought the primary colors were red, blue, and yellow, but it's more specific than that; the primaries are actually magenta, cyan, and yellow. I think a color wheel is a good way to learn about working with colors, and getting a feel for complimentary colors, and mixing.
2.) I definitely prefer working with paint (acrylic), because it involves color. Pencils or charcoal are good for learning techniques, but I am a huge fan of color which is why I prefer paint. I liked being able to mix the colors and see their results.
3.) The most important discovery for me like I mentioned before, was the fact that instead of just red, yellow, and blue, the primary colors are actually magenta, cyan, and yellow.
4.) From watching the videos, some important information I learned was, to correctly make a value scale,  it takes a sharpened pencil that has been filed down (with a nail filer). One is supposed to build up the surface gradually, creating layers of color in a circular motion. I also learned a technique that saves space, where you blend colors in the middle of the palette, while keeping solid colors on the sides of it. If you keep brushes clean, and the palette neat, the color wheel will stay neat as well.

Photobucket Slideshow and response

When I chose the images I wanted to use for my slideshow, I chose images that were interesting to me. I love nature, and by having many of my images from nature was just what I wanted. The sun was slowly setting, and I hurried to get shots that still had some good light in them. The backyard that I took the photos in is gorgeous, and I wanted to incorporate it as much as I could. I took many more pictures, but edited them down to which ones represented the elements and principles the best. I had some problems with my camera with focusing it, which was extremely frustrating. I merely wanted to capture the shape of a rose, and it was difficult to get my camera into focus. I'd like to work with a better digital camera next time. At first I took pictures of objects (household) by positioning them myself, but I prefer the look of still life objects, and objects in nature that I didn't change. One of my personal favorite photos is the one of the backyard, with the sunlight streaming through the tree in the background, and the hanging flowers next to the red brick wall. It looks magical and the aura and colors, and entire scene is unified. Check out my slideshow, and let me know what you think!

http://s1118.photobucket.com/albums/k610/merlols01/?albumview=slideshow

Color Theory and Emotional Effects

       Color is described as a function of light, which is an outcome of sunlight rays broken up, and refracted. These mere rays refract into different colors, and these very products make up one of the most pleasurable of the visual elements. Color has the ability to touch into our emotions and affects a wide range of responses, both psychological and physiological. It has many meanings, symbols, and ideas behind it, and each artist uses it differently, for their own reasons. Color can be pushed to its very limit, or be used casually. Color can be used in a wide spectrum, or very subtly, but however it it used there is meaning behind it. A most intriguing aspect about color is that color can be used to play on not only emotions, but feelings, and appetites for example. Mark Rothko was famous for using color in some of his pieces to purposely decrease the appetite of diners, and make chefs in the kitchen feel trapped, and encaged. He used  certain colors such as reds and dark blues to his advantage, but to other's disadvantage in the way he presented it. His using color to bring out emotions in people whether they were for pleasure or not fascinates me because it gives me a broader range of possibilities to use with color and further inspires me to use color in my own work. The effect color has on emotion makes quite a big impact not only on the viewers, but more importantly on the artist. While watching the "Color" video, I was able to follow along with the featured artists process of a painting, and observe her strengths and struggles, which were surrounded mainly around color. As a viewer of artwork, color has its own effect on me personally, but what impacted me the most is realizing that the artist him/herself has to be happy and triumphant over their work, and to gain this, they need to be satisfied with their use of color. The featured artist worked from her imagination to recreate the colors she observed in Venice. It was difficult for her to capture them and it took weeks for her to be satisfied. After watching the "Feelings" video, I was impacted by the idea of color harmony, and how it effects emotions. Artists from thousands of years ago used the idea of colors and harmonizing them to give a certain appeal to their work. Once they realized the effect colors had, they used them to stir up emotions, on opposite ends of the spectrum. They either harmonized the colors, or made them so opposite that they created an "unharmonizing" effect.

first video response

Changeux proposed scientific terms and links to genetics and aesthetics in his lecture. He mentioned many definitions of art, the meaning of it, and aesthetics. He views aesthetic experience as being a conscious access. His accent was very difficult to understand, so it was hard to decipher what exactly he was saying, and his ideas and proposals. I felt his lecture was dull for the most part, and made scientific sense, but didn't catch my interest. There were plenty of facts, but not enough appeal. The book reading was more interesting than him. In fact the most interesting fact that I pulled from his lecture, didn't even follow his theme; it was a description of empathy for pain, and how two people with a good relationship can experience each other's pain. Ramachandran discussed how science and art interact in the brain, and how art has an enormous affect on the brain. He believes in using 8 laws of art, which relate to one interesting fact about his lecture; where one has an "aha" experience as your brain and eyes linking things through aesthetics. At every stage, there is mini "aha" jolt when your brain visually perceives images. I thought the first film lacked any kind of interest, but the second film (the Ramachandran) had more of an appeal. Both films related to the text, but the first film related to it the closest. I felt that just by reading the text I had enough of an understanding, rather than watching the films as well. The films reinforced what I watched.

My first post

I thought setting up the Gmail account with help from the powerpoint through ANGEL was perfectly easy. I already had a Blogger account from another class and I would have preferred to use it instead of starting completely over. I don't know if I'm supposed to decorate my blog or anything, but I don't mind if it's simple. I expect to learn how to work with new technology in this course, including using Blogger, and the internet to enrich my art, and knowledge of art. I like taking online courses, but they are certainly time-consuming, and it will be difficult for me to manage my time in the summer, with the constant temptations of great weather!