Andrew Blundell Advanced Art
Andrew finished.mp4The lots of dots project took the longest of any project any of us have done. Probably because of the pandemic but I guess we'll never know. It wasn't my favorite project, as it was stiff and repetitive, although I'm glad I used color as it made it more of an activity trying to match colors using the few colors that we had. I did enjoy vlogging, however, and if you watch you can see my thoughts in real-time of the project.
Memory Project
Preflection: I'm more excited for this project than the last, as we will be trying out a bunch of different mediums, including oil pastel which I haven't used before. As of right now, I'm leaning towards colored pencil and oil pastel, because I think colored pencil will look the best, but oil pastel is more expressive. I think the memory project is a very nice idea, and I'm very excited that my art will go somewhere other than the trash. I hope to make my child happy, and something I have to remember is to make this project about them. While I may want to make decisions to make the project more interesting, I will not distort the picture and have to remember to keep the color palette exciting and colorful for Dorian.
Pencil
First we practiced using pencils. I have rather neutral feelings towards pencil, as its not too hard, not too exciting, just a rather consistent medium. I went really fast on the pencil, likely because I told myself I wasn't using pencil so I don't need to try that hard. Overall, I like how it looks, but I don't think it looks like Dorian, which is a problem. If you scroll up in this portfolio, you can see me say I hope I don't sacrifice the look of the child for artistic style. I'll try harder with the next one.
Oil Pastel
Oil pastel was definitely something that I was very excited to do before we did it, and it really did not disappoint. I actually had so much fun doing it, which was such a refresher from pointillism. I think pastels are great for expressive work, which is definitely something I've been wanting to do this year. I realize that I just doing like trying to make things look exactly like the pictures. For this practice, I really tried to experiment with all of the colors; I don't think there was a color that I didn't use somewhere in this portrait. On that note, however, I wish I tried to be more detailed with the eye and ear, because the practice looks a little too unlike the picture for my liking. I want her to recognize herself, especially the bright, youthful smile in her lips and eyes, which I feel I failed to capture here. I will take my time more with the real assignment- oh I didn't say this I think I will be doing this project for the real one.
Watercolor
Watercolor was the most scary for sure. Day one I was sure I wasn't doing it and that it looked awful, but day 2 I kinda turned it around. I guess we failed to remember that watercolor is a layered medium, and on that requires like a lot of layers. The thing with this one is that a.) there are things here that I really like but also really hate, and b.) I'm not sure even if I tried that I could do the same thing or better. What I do like about watercolor is that like pastel, it can be very expresive and loose.
Colored Pencil
So coming into the project, I knew colored pencil would be the one that I was strongest at. I know it better, it has alot of control, fun to use colors. However, colored pencil, like regular pencil, is kind of boring. Also, of all the projects, this one takes the longest, and I'm not sure I want to do that to myself, especially after doing the pointillism project. What is keeping colored pencil in the ring for me is that it will look most like Dorian. If I want to do the other projects, I'll have to try much harder to really get her features while still doing the fun parts.
I have decided to do oil pastel. It was a difficult decision, but I think that oil pastel will be the most fun and interesting project.
This project was so much more than our traditional art projects. Normally we do something that means something to US, or a subject that we chose ourselves, but this project not only allowed us to see others but do something good with our art. We finally put our talents to use to at least lift the spirits of those who need their spirits lifted. I could finally be a servant of God through my art, and truly change something, even if it was for a short minute. Something I have observed through all portraiture is how I am able to notice details in faces I never would have, and this project is the same way. However I have never done someone with such a different skin tone as me, and probably my favorite thing to do this project was look for all of the beautiful colors in Dorian's skin tone that I could use. I am very glad I chose oil pastel; it has definitely opened my eyes to how fun they are, and how diverse they can be.
To Dorian I would say I hope you understand, that no matter what you may be going through, understand that I am thinking about you now. You have someone thinking and praying for you, may that be any comfort to you. You are a beautiful child of God. I truly hope my image allows you to see just how amazing you are and how bright you are.