Gesso Piece

For this piece, we were asked to right a story that is meaningful to us on poster paper. We had to completely cover the poster with writing in any font and in any direction. Then we cover it with gesso and taped the spots that we wanted to keep readable. Then we were to think of an image from the story that we could create on top of the gesso surface. For my project, I chose the memory of my 18th birthday when my friends and I camped out in my friend's backyard. I wrote down the story and on top of the gessoed surface I made a collage of fire using small squares of construction paper. When I was done, I felt it was missing something, so I got a plastic stencil of a small square and made small squares all around the outside of the fire. This created a huge cubist them. 

For this assignment, I would give myself a 4. It has the range of 2-D design principles, like color, shape, contrast, balance, and emphasis. The work is an original idea that portrays the story well. The work expresses a small part of the story. The image could have been different so that it would fit the point of the story a little bit better. The work does engage the onlooker and the person can see certain phrases in the story, that were not gessoed, and that share key parts in the story. Overall, the piece is good. 

Architectural Photography

This week, we had to take photos of architecture that we find interesting. Most of my pictures of a set of business buildings. Others I took around my house. We had to take pictures that emphasized the different elements of design, like balance, contrast and emphasis. We took as many photos as we could, and narrowed them down to the best of the batch.

For this assignment, I would give myself a 5. It shows the variety of different elements. It shows line, shape, contrast, space, color, emphasis, and balance. The photographs are originals and shows the different way the elements are manipulated. The photos also show a confidence in the photos. The lines of the buildings help make the pieces look dynamic, and they engage the onlooker. The photos of architecture in my home are a little more simple, and some could have been taken from a different perspective. The lamp, for instance, does show some contrast, but the white overpowers the black and so it washes out the piece as a whole. Overall, the photos are strong breadth pieces. 

Visual Pun

This week, we did a piece called visual pun. We had to choose a one or two-word pun that could be illustrated in any medium. I chose "pancake", or the way I portrayed it "pan-cake". I used colored pencil and graphite pencil for this piece. I probably would have changed one thing. I would have done the pan a little differently, maybe a different shape and more value.

For this assignment, I would give myself a 4. It shows a variation of different elements, such as color, contrast, value, shape, and form. It shows originality in both the idea and the way the idea is expressed. The cake has a lot of value and bright colors, but the pan could have been shaded a little better and maybe even done a little smaller so that there would be more focus on the cake than the pan. Overall, the work is good.