Blog

8/2

The ideas that I have chosen for now is : Growth, Experiences and Life.

I am thinking of creating drawings in which you can see the person's experiences throughout his/her life and how it had made them wiser. They've had experienced different things and it had made them realize/learn something and in the end it had made them successful. My ideas aren't final and I may still change my ideas throughout the year. 

Here is the brainstorm that I have done about Stuff I care about

13/3

As of now, I have changed the main theme for this year. I have chosen to do a folio where I show different emotions of different people. I could do this by using different colours for different emotions such as red for anger, blue for sadness etc. I could also use different consistency such as using hard, rough for strong emotions and soft and smooth for calm emotions. 

17/4

These are the works that I have done this year so far in art. For now I am mostly just experimenting how different mediums work and trying to improve my art skills and trying to see how I can portray emotions in different drawings.


2/6
I now have a basic idea on how I want my folio to look. I am planning to start my folio with 4 pieces of A6 pieces which shows the emotions: happy, sad, calm and anger and my next pieces will connect to these main paintings of mine.

12/6

I have finished this painting today and I have chosen to do this painting because for me it shows the emotion of happy through the colour yellow and I can easily connect the flowers at the bottom to future paintings if I wanted to.

30/6

I have finished 4 pieces of A5 works that I am planning to put on my board. i think that the paintings I have done show the happy, sad, angry and calm feelings that I am trying to portray.

3/7

I have done this painting because I really like how it kinda shows how a person can have all these emotions inside of them but still choose to keep it inside. For me it gives a sense of loneliness.

This is the first piece of my board. I really like this pencil sketch of mine because it shows that a person can have different emotions within them which relates to my theme of emotions. 

This pencil sketch goes beside of my other pencil sketch. This work of mine starts to narrow down the emotions to angry, happy and sad which is the main emotions I have focused on in my board.

This is painting I have done using acrylic. I chose a fist and the colour red because it connects to the emotion of anger.

Reading Logs 4 - 6

Reading Log # 4

Title : Wild Things

Artist : Alessia Cara

Text Type : Song

Wild Things is a promotional single released by Alessia Cara. I personally like this song because it’s fast-paced and is anthemic.

I think this song is about accepting yourself and to remind those who don’t feel like they don’t have a place that we can make our own place. The song starts with

Find table spaces, say your social graces

Bow your head, they’re pious here

But you and I, we’re pioneers, we make our own rules

I think this part of the song talks about social norms that people feel like they have to follow in order to ‘fit in’ our society, but it says in the song that we’re pioneers and that we make our own rules. This tells us that we don’t have to follow in anybody’s footsteps or follow social norms to feel like we belong somewhere. I think the lyrics we make our own rules refers to the place in where we feel like we belong and a place where we can be ourself. The idea of ‘fitting in’ or being in the ‘in crowd’ relates to a lot of people in our world today including myself because we feel like if we don’t follow what’s ‘cool’ or what’s ‘in’ in our society, we will end up alone feel like they don’t belong anywhere. But this isn’t the case since we can make our own place as said in the song.

After a few lines it says

And we will leave the empty chairs to those who say we can’t sit there

We’re fine all by ourselves

So hey, we brought our drum and this is how we dance

No mistakin’, we make our breaks, if you don’t like our 808s

Then leave us alone, ‘cause we don’t need your policies

We have no apologies for being

The words we brought our drum refers to our culture, beliefs, attitudes and how we dance refers to how we are as a person. The words ‘cause we don’t need your policies refers to the idea of self-acceptance, which relates to many people especially teenagers who feel like they have to change themselves or that they are ugly, or isn’t up to standards. I relate to this because I myself felt that I needed to change myself or that I am not up to societal standards. But the lines

We will carve our place into time and space

We will find our way, or we'll make a way

Find you're great, don't you hide your face

Let it shine

Tells us that we mean something to this world and that we will soon learn to accept who we are, realise we are all awesome in our own unique way and love ourselves which I have done and is a wonderful feeling. And after you have accepted yourself you will find that you don’t have to change anything about you and that you don’t have to please everyone because what’s more important is self-love and acceptance and no matter what you turn out to be, you are loved.

Reading Log # 5

Title : Don’t beat yourself up

Author : Lucy Hone

Text Type : Article

Don’t beat yourself up is an article written by Lucy Hone which is about being nice to yourself and how to handle situations in which it gets tough.

This article made me understand that feeling stressed, having a rough time or suffering isn’t wrong because we are humans and every human has their own problems and go through rough times.What matters is what you do in those situations, like showing yourself compassion. The author says in the article “The easiest way to understand self-compassion is to think about the compassion we extend to others”. This means that when things get rough, we should think of us helping other people. How we talk to them, how we comfort them like giving them hugs or simply just hugging them could help someone going through something rough feel better even in the slightest way. I think this relates to us in Hornby High School and around the world because some students are going through rough times which can be caused by family problems, academic problems or even life in general, people need to know what to do in those situations because eventually things will get better.

Reading Log #6

Title: Seven Ways We Lie

Author: Riley Redgate

Text Type: Novel

Seven Ways We Lie isn’t an in-depth study on why we lie; it’s a study on how our secrets make us human. Riley Redgate’s deft prose twines and twists between graceful and gritty, weaving seven unique characters into a story with threads so universal yet variegated, it could belong to any one of us. Don’t expect a fairy tale. This is reality at its most raw, most poignant, and most relatable. Art imitating life. Fiction perfected.

This novel was interesting because it’s relatable to many people especially teenagers around the world including myself. An example was when Claire Lombardi - one of the seven main characters in the story - talked about her problems in her life. These included her feeling that she wasn’t enough and that she needed to change herself in order to be liked by people around her. Another problem she had was that she felt like no one really cared about her including her two best friends, This made me think about the people around the world especially teenagers who may be feeling the same as Claire. We should remember that even though others don’t constantly say that they care about us doesn’t mean that they don’t. This relates to me because I have also felt this way.

Another character in the book that was interesting for me was Katrina “Kat” Scott. I found her interesting because she pushes anyone who tries to get close to her away but it was explained that she became this way because their mother left them. This made me sad because she didn’t want to become this way but she did. This relates to sons/daughters around the world who changed because of their families being broken.                                                                   

Folio Layout

28/7

This is the layout that I have chosen for my first board for now.

I have chosen this layout because you can clearly see the connection between the different works and I also like how it looks. I now have to think of what I will place beside the girl with the yellow background that can connect with the other works. I also need to think of what would go on the bottom right of the board that can sort of summarise the works on the first board and that will also connect with the works that I will make in the second board.

Reading Log #3

Reading Log # 3

Title : Noughts & Crosses

Author : Malorie Blackman

Text Type : Novel

Date Finished : 29/6

Callum is a nought - a second-class citizen in a world run by ruling Crosses. Sephy is a Cross - and the daughter of one of the most powerful, ruthless men in the country In their hostile, violent world, noughts and Crosses simply don’t mix, But when Sephy and Callum’s childhood friendship grows into passionate love, they’re determined to find a way to be together.

The book Noughts and Crosses is a very good book which talks about many themes that are relatable in our world now. One of these themes that was tackled about in the book is the theme of racism which made me feel sad about Callum, his family and other noughts iin the book. Racism was clearly shown when Callum - a nought, second class citizen - goes to the Heathcroft, a rich school, which for most of its years established, had close to none noughts. Right from Callum’s first day in Heathcroft, him and other noughts already experienced hate, disgust and almost no acceptance from crosses - people regarded as higher than noughts. This is shown in the book by people - crosses to be specific - chanting “NO BLANKERS (NOUGHTS) IN OUR SCHOOL! NO BLANKERS IN OUR SCHOOL!” when noughts like Callum went to Heathcroft school. And when one nought was hurt people cheered “HOORAY!!”.This is relatable to us and how our world is right now because some people are hurt and/or treated unfairly because of their ethnicity, colour appearance or beliefs.This text made me feel angry to anyone who is racist and is treating someone unfairly or unjust just because they may be different or is not regarded as “normal” because it affects a person’s future In Callum’s case, because his dad was treated unfairly because of racism, it caused him to have such a huge hatred towards crosses and made him do things that he might not have done if only his dad received fair treatment such as turning into the Liberation Militia and have done crimes which was shown he would never do.

I have finished 4 pieces of A5 works that I am planning to put on my board

Reading Log 2

Reading Log # 2

Title : Car Radio

Artist : Twenty One Pilots

Text Type : Song

I personally like this song because it has a steady and calm rhythm and it doesn’t sound boring, or for me atleast. Its lyrics also has a deep meaning to it which can easily be understood if you listen to the lyrics. I also like it because its special, it’s special because the song doesn’t have a chorus.

Car Radio is the 5th song of 14 on twenty one pilots’ album “Vessel”. Car Radio was originally released in 2011 but was re released in 2014. I think the song Car Radio revolves around anxiety and dealing with someone’s thoughts and emotions. I think “car radio” doesn’t literally mean the radio in a car but rather distractions or entertainment. According to the song somebody stole his car radio which causes him to sit in silence. He doesn’t like this silence and this is said in the lines :

Sometimes quiet is violent,

I find it hard to hide it

I think that this means that he is trying to hide the silence which probably refers to his thoughts, thoughts which he is trying to escape using the car radio - distractions or entertainments. The song then continues and says

I’m forced to deal with what I feel

There is no distraction to mask what is real

I can pull the steering wheel

This means that since he is without his car radio he has to deal with his own thoughts which he doesn’t want to. I relate to this because there are thoughts, situations and past that I would rather not encounter again. I do this by having my own car radio, which means I use distractions in order for me to escape these thoughts in which I do not like. I do this by sometimes listening to music and doing things that I enjoy such as drawing, talking to other people, drawing and many more. The last line “I can pull the steering wheel” I don’t really know what they meant by this but an idea I had is that this could be talking about suicide. Since he doesn’t want to deal with his thoughts, emotions or his past, he might be thinking about ending it all. This issue relates to many teenagers because some people experience nasty things that they would rather avoid than face and when they are pushed to their limits they just try and end it all. When I think of this I feel sad. I feel sad to all those who have suffered things which are inhumane and evil. No one should ever suffer things which are not nice and is inhumane. The song then continues and says

I ponder of something terrifying

Cause this time there’s no sound to hide behind

I find over the course of our human existence

One thing consists of consistence

And it’s that we’re all battling fear

I think the lyrics of this song are amazing because it even connects it to the entire human race. It states that “we’re all battling fear” this means that everyone has their own battles. I relate to this and I think so does the entire human race because everyone faces their own battles or problems but not everyone knows about it. And then a thought crossed my mind, What if everyone knows and understands that everyone has their own battles? This made me think that if people could and would understand this, we would have a better world. With this in mind, people would start to treat each other better and would start to look out for one another. If this happens we would have a more joyous and wonderful world without some of the problems that we currently have in our world such as suicide, violence and other more.

Reading Logs

Reading Log # 1

Title : Meet Facebook’s Mr. Nice

Author : Nick Bilton

Text Type : Article

Date Finished : 24/3

Arturo Bejar may have the most difficult job. He is not responsible for increasing advertising revenue or keeping the website alive 24 hours a day. Mr. Bejar has a much more inscrutable task: teaching the site’s 1.3 billion users, especially its tens of millions of teenagers, how to be nice and respectful to one another.

This article gave me information about how facebook is trying to teach empathy to its users. According to the article “we have evolved to understand each other by by tone of voice or seeing facial expressions, but that gets lost through the services we use to communicate” I relate to this because I can tell how someone is feeling through their facial expression and their tone of voice. According also to the article, “When kids let someone know they’ve hurt their feelings in a personal way, there’s a strong likelihood that the other kid will take that own” I also relate to this because when I post things on social media, I don’t post it to hurt someone’s feelings but mostly because I think my friends would find it funny. I think that this is mostly how most teenagers feel across the world because most of them also don’t post things online in order to hurt someone but to share what they think is funny.

This text gave me an insight into how Facebook’s team is trying to teach people empathy and how they are trying to make facebook a better place for people. This is shown by them creating means of reporting a post. With users reporting the post they allow them to inform the owner of the post how they have made them feel.

Artist Model Questions

Visual arts - prompt questions - Research - all levels

Drip me some inspiration and let it heal me.

Artist - Qinni

Date created : 2015

Medium : Pencils and watercolour

Composition	What is the main point of focus? Which part of the work draws your eye the most? The fish in the picture because it is vibrant and is around the picture. Is the image complex or simple? Simple because it just uses repetition of objects Asymmetrical or symmetrical? Asymmetrical because it’s doesn’t have a centre line in which one side is a reflection of the other How is it arranged? Vertical/horizontal, vertical/diagonal, or does it use a grid? Horizontal and it seems like she used the 3 by 3 grid Is it balanced? Has the artist used the Golden Section? Are there mathematical relationships?
Colour	Describe the colours - primary, monochrome, hot, cold, contrasting, realistic? The light colours are cool. The colours are contrasting  because blue and orange are sortof on the opposite sides of the colour wheel What colours are dominant? The colours blue on the IV lines and the orange of the fish Do the colours create an emotional response? For me yes because it made me feel sympathetic to him. Do the colours flatten the picture space, or do they establish depth? It establishes depth because it makes it as if the iv line bags are at the back of the room or the place where he is in Could there be a cultural or symbolic reason for the choice of colours? It could be Qinni’s main choice of colour for all of her work that’s why she used blue and orange
Paint Application	How has the paint been applied? Smooth/rough, thin/thick, gestural/mechanical? Smooth because it doesn’t seem to have any rough points on it Is there evidence of the layer of media? I think there aren’t any What techniques are used - glazing, blending, scumbling? Qinni used blending on the hair of the person on the artwork What media is used - oil, acrylic, enamel, watercolour, mixed? I think she used watercolour to add colours on the artwork How has the paint been applied - brush, stick, roller, rags, palette knife? It seems that she used a brush to apply the paint Has the artist used the application of media to reinforce the meaning of the artwork? How?
Tone	Describe the tonal values of the work - light, dark, contrasting? The work has a light tonal value because it doesn’t have any dark portions on it Is there a full range of tone? No, There is only light tone Is tone use to guide the viewer to any parts of the painting? It guides the viewer to the IV lines Is tone used to create an emotional effect - dark, dramatic, gentle, peaceful, mysterious? Peaceful and it shows that he’s like isolated Describe the quality of light - shadow, soft, dark, non-existent, dramatic, atmospheric, musty, diffused, dull, chiaroscuro, contrasting, strong, harsh, or subtle. Where is the light coming from? Is it consistent? Is it a single light source? What effect does this have? I think it shows that the light is coming from the eyes of the viewer of the work
Form	Describe figures and forms. Are the forms/objects naturalistic, distorted, simplified, exaggerated, proportional, graceful, monumental, formal dramatic, idealised? The forms are naturalistic and it looks like something you would see in your life Do the forms look solid and show volume, or are they flattened? How is this achieved? The form shows volume it is showed by the shading on the shirt of the person in the work Are the forms geometric, organic, mechanical, simple, complex, and/or imaginary? Has perspective, and/or foreshortening been used to create realistic forms? Yes, I think it used a first person perspective who have came to see the person Do the forms have solidity, mass, transparency? How is this created? Are the forms static or do they convey movement? How? Do the forms convey an emotional content - anger, sadness, excitement, calm etc? Calm, and as if he can’t do anything about his current situation.
Shape	What is the relationship between the object (positive shapes) and surrounding spaces (negative shapes)? How do the shapes relate to the edge of the picture and the shape of the picture plane? Do the shapes create repetition, rhythm, movement, patterns etc? How is this created? What natures are the shapes - geometric, organic, simple, complex, fragile, solid, etc? Simple and fragile Do the shapes have symbolic connotations - cross, circle, dove etc?
Space	Is the picture space deep or shallow? How has this been created? Shallow, it doesn’t use much of shadows Are perspective devices used - linear perspective, aerial perspective, overlapping, placement? Yes, she used overlapping objects. Is there a vanishing point? Where is it placed? Why is it placed there? What effect does the depth of the picture have on the viewers' response?
Line	Describe the quality of line (the edges of shapes and forms) in this work - long/short, hard/soft, jagged/smooth, continuous/broken, straight/curved etc. Continuous What effect does the use of line create - diagonals/curves for movement, horizontals for calm, opposing lines for tension/violence? What emotional effect do the lines create? Vigorous and animated or controlled and technical? Are the lines used to guide the viewer to particular parts of the picture?
Surface	How are the surfaces of objects treated - generalised or very specific detail? How naturalistic are the surface textures like fur, glass, stone, wood? How have these effects been created? Has attention been given to creating patterns and/or textures? How? Why? Is detail used to guide the viewer (more detail on the important parts of the picture)? Are the textures differentiated (to separate parts of the picture) or mostly the same (to unify the picture)? Mostly the same
Pictorial Proposition	What is the intention of the artist? What is he/she trying to communicate? What people might feel like when they’re in the hospital and is connected to IV lines Why have they chosen a particular theme, subject? Cause she’s going through the same thing for herself Why have the chosen to include particular objects? What do these objects mean? Is there a social message they artist is trying to communicate? What?
A wider context	How has this work been affected by the artist's personal background, beliefs, experience? Has the age, gender, ethnicity, or religious beliefs of the artist influenced this work? How has the artist been influenced by social/cultural/historical/political/environmental events? How does this work relate to other work by the same artist? What is similar and/or different? It uses similar colours How does this work relate to the work of other artists? What is similar and/or different? Where/who did this artist get his/her ideas from? I think qinni got this idea from herself as she was in the hospital for her heart surgery Has this work influenced the work of later artists? Who and how?
Symbolism	What do the objects in this picture mean? Where do the objects come from (appropriated)? Which culture, time period, location? Are the symbols personal, culturally specific or universal? What are the relationships between symbols - clashing, harmonious, sympathetic, contrasting? Harmonious
Personal Response	How do you respond to this picture? Do you like it? How does it make you feel? It makes me feel sympathetic to him What do other people you know think about this picture? Does society think this is an important art work? How do you know this? What aspects of this work would you like to use in your own work? The way his face shows emotions