#9: Research

"Research Blue Jay and Cardinal"

Magazine paper and watercolor

4.5"x 5"

The subject of my creation is a blue jay which I created out of magazine paper. This shows different textures and blue shades throughout the bird, from the different blue shades. The inquiry question that I'm focusing on throughout the year is, “how can I show the beauty in birds through shape and color,” so on this project I wanted to experiment with texture and materials. I choose this bird because it is symbolic to Maine and I have painted this bird before, but I wanted to continue to show my research and development of this specific species.

I wanted to make a collage and document my research throughout this project. I started by first sketching the birds in my sketchbook, to experiment with perspectives and what type of material choice I wanted to use. I decided that I wanted to make a collage using magazine papers, which have many different colors and are easy to layer.

I used color in my artwork to express the birds beauty through the different shades of blue paper. Throughout the background, I show texture due to the layered paper. In my piece I also showed color in the blue jay, it makes it stand out from the outgoing background. I wanted to experiment with my material choices, so I decided to make a collage using different materials. I also wanted to show different perspectives because after reflecting on semester 1 I noticed I continued to use the side profile. In this project, I experimented with the frontal view. My next steps in this project would be to continue to develop the birds, by layering more paper and maybe even adding paint on top of my project.