Monica



Concentration 3: __**Ambition**__: Due at the beginning of class, Thursday, April 7th.

This last quarter really focused on perfecting a human organic image in contrast with the cold, geometric form of the bits of computers i was using. I need to step up my game to really push through and not only finish 12 pieces but make them with quality. During this last quarter i think i really effectively explored a new dimension of incorperating a sense of human identity into the metal and plastic of the materials i painted on. Making the self portrait on a mac was dificult and time consuming, but i think my efforts to really get as close as i could to my vision with this piece really paid off. The person's expression mirrors the coldness of the material it is composed on, making the figure less a representation of our own humanity poking through the computerized world and more representative of the colorful, beautiful, yet empty and lonely alter egos technology allows us to create. Now i just need to get to work on the other pieces i have yet to start or finish!



Concentration Entry 2 In the beginning stages, I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do with all my materials. I struggled with finding a good way to communicate the sense of distance and also lack of privacy that our generation is faced with in the technological age. There is also a sense of shallow satisfaction, accompanied with an increased need to satiate a hunger for social contact, an addiction of sorts, that I think is a very interesting effect of the unlimited internet. I didn’t know what I was doing in the first stages of this project in respect to these ideas, for I was still mostly working out how to use the materials I had chosen. In this second stage, I started working a lot quicker and more deliberately, and developing communication with the observer of my pieces. I deliberately changed my approach to my pieces. At first, I would spend a lot of time on each piece before starting another, trying to get it as finished as possible. Now I realize it is more efficient to start several pieces so I can keep coming back to them to build on them. Therefore, as my thoughts evolve, so do all my pieces. One technique I discovered in doing one piece can be transferred to another. Another thing that has changed is my approach to the figure. I really want to start studying more complex forms, people with more motion, and more detail. My figures will hopefully continue to evolve as I work.

Concentration 1 I have been thinking about my concentration for months now i guess. This particular peice was made in the span of two weeks. I used acrylic, technology, and paper towels to get the effects of the background. The most challenging part is making my piece into a good image, not just a figure on paper. I need to take more risks, this quarter i was very tentative. I was at a loss for how to use the vast amount of materials i had access to, and at the same time, i was worried to waste any of them.



Digital Project It was nice to be able to hit the undo button all the time. If i did something i didnt like, i didnt have to deal with it. I like working with physical materials more i think because you actually make the marks with your hands. THere is a strange disconnect when you are using a mouse to draw. I will definitely be improving the colors and saturation of my pieces. I also would not mind actually adding things to my pieces and making new ones.

project 5: Embracing Chaos

I think the purpose of this project was to push the class to think way outside of the box. Everyone was placed out of their comfort zone, trying to create something worth investing time and energy into out of a seemingly random and jarring assortment of things. For all the chaos in this piece, there was a large amount of structure as well. We were given specific and precise instructions, and although different colors and objects were used, in the beginning the entire class was basically doing the same thing. Only after completing these instructions could we deviate. We went from having limited freedom to having an infinite amount of freedom and control over how our piece looked. In this project, i learned to take risks and chances. It was my fear of making unfixable mistakes that held me back the most in this piece. However, only when i took risks did i make meaningful advances in the piece. Staining it initially, drawing the skull on it, and painting violently with the red were all risks that, consecutively, led to my success. I think what really unified my peace was the interaction of color and braking up lines and space. What really brought my piece together in the end was the red streaking, which broke up the stiff, flat image of the swan.



Project 4: Layers

I used very little strategy in completing this piece, aside from keeping with the directed guidelines. My painting consists of three layers, and their complexity and detail are both factors that keep them separate and impose a sense of perspective and distance. I began this piece with a very different strategy than how i ended up finishing it. My strategy for communicating what i wanted changed with my piece instead of my piece conforming to my first ill suited strategy. There was some consistent structure throughout my progress though: I chose to work with only 6 colors of paint, which limited my palette nicely and created patterns of color combinations throughout the piece that played very unifying roles. I also kept the layout of space and objects in my piece very much the same as my initial idea. I mostly fiddled with how to display light and reflection, only coming to a conclusion on the last day. I found the structure of this piece and my lack of freedom to be spontaneous restricting and confining, and it was a struggle to really figure out how to create something i liked out of the strategy, structure, subject, and materials i had chosen to work with. BUt, after much frustration, I am happy with my end result. Detail in my piece pays a defining role, for i used it to create a cinematic feel. The objects closest are most "in focus" while the crowd in the very back is just a colorful blur. While strategy plays an important role in time management and finishing works efficiently, art is by nature expressive, and over structuring pieces leaves little room for freedom of expression. I trust myself that in given freedom to do the most wild and outlandish things, i will pull through and push my potential.

Project 3: Self Portrait

If light were a metaphor in my drawing, its absence would symbolize the gravity of action, and its presence would symbolize the fluidity and motion of rumination. The illumination in my piece is used to bring out the motion and organic chaos of my hair and contrast that to my relatively placid and tranquil face. I think the lighting in my piece is my hair. The lessons i take away from this project are as follows: TIME MANAGEMENT, TIME MANAGEMENT, TIME MANAGEMENT. I definitely need to work on managing my time so that both my works and my physical well being are not compromised by a dry in tune with my expression. It intensifies the stress and ambiguous anarchy of everything surrounding my face. Observers can then rest their eyes on the most illuminated part of the drawing: the face. The person in my drawing seems torn between thoughts, It seems as though she was caught offhanded by something five minutes ago, and now, is forced to make a decision. The eery calm of my face could almost seem doubtful or fearful. During the photo shoot i tried to just be as crazy and strange as possible. I did not want to miss any opportunities for amazing pictures on account of me being timid and as motionless as a cinder block.



Project 2:Object

I really tried to explore the material in this project. It continued to evolve with the new techniques i discovered and new approaches to communicating the beauty of mold. While i didn't incorporate any images of actual fruit, a lot of my source images helped me figure out how to paint convincing yet totally abstracted mold. I hope that i can continue to bring this aspect of discovery to my other pieces .