Art II Final Portfolio

1- The sticky situation project was by far my most successful solely due to the fact that I tried harder on this project than any other. I learned that if I apply myself and listen to advice from other classmates as well as Mrs. Rossi I can make art that isn't incredibly terrible. I added more value in this piece than any other and though it is hard to see from the picture I used different techniques on the background and the actual cotton candy. I really like how the black and white bars in the back aren't perfectly straight and clean because I don't believe art is about staying in the lines and painting/drawing something how you're supposed to.  I used an orange layer under all of this that if you see the painting in person you could slightly see through the white paint in the background. I also like the way the cone-like thing that holds the cotton candy blends with the background and creates that kind of effect where you barely even see it.  I actually struggled on how to shape the pink ball of cotton candy but eventually I just decided to kind of make a shapeless form that would seem to resemble cotton candy and I think it turned out well, I don't know if there is a perfect shape for cotton candy.

2- I believe I was the least successful whilst using anything that has to do with oil pastels.  I find it hard to blend and add value when using pastels.  Mixing the use of pencil for outlining and the pastel for coloring in is also something that doesn't excite me.  I prefer to use only one medium so I can focus on the actualt art instead of trying to incorporate two different mediums.  If I could do anything to change this piece it would probably be to draw a straighter lollipop stick, better bends in the wrapper, add more value (to the best of my ability), and use up more of the paper.  I find it very hard to draw three dimensional objects which was another obstacle in this piece of 'art.'  I also tend to add too much of a color and make it too dark and when you go too dark you can't just make it lighter again which is something I struggled with in this drawing. I should have used an actual picture of a lollipop but I instead drew this off the top of my head which was a mistake, if I had a picture it might of been slightly less bad and more realistic.

3- For this question I am comparing the picture used from question 2 and this picture above of my oil pastel candy. I believe that comparitively this drawing trumps the other in terms of value and the quality look of the wrapping on the candy.  On this piece I really tried to properly shade the pastel by making the outermost part of the candy light and then the further towards the middle the darker it gets.  This candy is probably my most realistic drawing along with my cotton candy painting.  I used the idea that not both sides of the wrapping of the candy would be even so I made one short and the other long and extended from the actual candy.  In the first piece I failed to add a 10th of the value I did on this drawing.  The first drawing has very sloppy outlines as well, the second drawing of the candy had smooth outlines and appropriate shading to complement the wrapper and the darkness towards the center.  Using brown paper on the second drawing I believe is also more complimentary to the blue in the candy than the lighter paper in the first drawing.  The second drawing still needs improvement but I improve vastly and unexpectedly in my use of oil pastels.

4-  These mini projects really helped me in both practicing how to balance things on the page and how colors mix and layer. The first picture is showing how to center things in the middle of the page.  Centering things using that technique is also very useful for copying if you can just draw those same for lines on the paper you're copying onto.  This technique is very useful also when drawing the face of something because you can center the nose and the eyes.  I feel that in both of these mini lesson I received the appropriate instruction from my teacher and fellow students.  I prefer the second mini lesson and picture more because there is alot more color and being able to use your hands to place the color on the paper is always good.  The second lesson really sets in the whole color wheel sceme in your head once you start mixing all sorts of colors and seeing which new ones they create.

5- I'll tell you what my LEAST favorite medium was... OIL PASTEL. All jokes aside acrylic paint is my favorite medium and oil pastel is the least favorite. As you can see and from what I've already said... I'm not very talented whilst using pastel but I do find joy in just simply painting something without having anything specific to paint.  My cotton candy was my favorite project mostly because I got to use my favorite medium and act creatively using the sticky situation theme.  The ability to layer paint is what I like most. I feel as if oil pastel blends to sloppily and as if paint is so much neater when it comes to mixing different colors.  With paint you can really create any color you want if you mix different colors correctly. With pastels you can only really mix colors on the paper and if it doesn't turn out as plan than you're pretty much beat.  I feel like you also have to outline with a pencil as well when using pastel then with paint you can just use that the whole time instead of using any other mediums. There are limited colors of pastels and infinite ways to mix paint and that is why paint is my favorite medium.