Image Essay #15

While I was working on my final 2D project, I wanted to look up examples of work that could show an extreme foreground and background. In Thursday's critique, I discovered that I needed to understand how to make the images in the front of my DVD cover stand out in the foreground more dynamically.

I found this work of art by Sally Gall. I think it really helped me understand how I could make the foreground appear closer to the audience. The doors that are leading to the outside in this artwork show the wall from the inside which it is built onto. This is great because it shows the the viewer is looking at the Eiffle Tower from the inside of the building looking out. This shows that the background has more depth and is further away. This is also depicted because the details of the Eiffle Tower slowly diminish as you look farther back into the background. I think it is interesting how this is portrayed.

Also, in this work I thought it was interesting how the artist chose to make the perspective. She chose to show the tower, not from a central view, but from the view where the gate was opening. It really makes me feel like I am there looking out randomly into the scene.

This truly helped me understand that in order to make the foreground more dynamic, I will need to add thicker lines and make the scenes more detailed in order for it to pop out from the background and middle ground.

Image Essay #14

This work of art is done by Nicole Etienne. It is a great example of use of secondary colors. In this example, I chose to portray what it looks like to use the color orange. Etienne used red and yellow to create the orange that is used in this painting. What I enjoy about this example is on the fruit, you can see all of the colors that make up that certain shade of orange. I think it is brilliant that she made the fruit look so shapely and did so by using variations in the color.

The example of the pears is representational of the secondary color, green. The viewer can see that the green color is made up of yellow and blue. The highlights of color on the pear is of the color yellow, in different variations and shades. There is green around the pear, but where there are shadows near the table, you can see small amounts of blue, which make up the green. I think this work is also interesting to show how the color is contrasted with the primary colors it is made of.

I think these two examples show how artists can use the primary colors that are components of the secondary colors to accentuate the color that is trying to be portrayed.

IMAGE ESSAY #13

Value is the lightness or darkness of a color. In these examples, you can see that is evident.

This work by Kenneth Garrett shows a good example of value contrast. He uses different values of the color red in the sky to show the light from the sun, which is in the process of rising or setting. You can really get a sense of the relationship between the light and dark areas. The value in this piece is minimized, which means that the range of values creates a subtle effect. You can hardly tell where the colors change because it just blends right into a different value instantly.

This photograph is by Bill Romerhaus. Unlike the work above, this is in high-contrast. The values of blue in this work are very bold and you can tell that there are many different values between the white of the water in the tide to the dark blue of the water at the deepest point of the tide. The arrangement in the amount of variation in light and dark areas is known as the value pattern. In this work, it really gives the work of art a different emotional feeling. For example, you get an intense feeling of fear in this painting, because you get a sense of the wave crashing down. This is evident because of the light value of the blue. It gives the viewer a sense of motion that the wave is crashing down at an intense speed. If the white was not quite as bright, I do not think it would create such an emotional feeling in this piece.

IMAGE ESSAY #12

This work is done by Viky Brago-Mitchell. In this print, she uses primary colors to make the artwork visually appealing.

Primary colors are unique because they cannot be separated into another color. For this reason, I think it is interesting to work with them. By adding black into the primary color scheme, the primary colors seem to be in the foreground and popping out at you.

I enjoy how Brago-Mitchell warped the color images in the way that she did. It really gives the viewer a sense of movement in this piece. By using different shades of colors, such as blue...you get a rippling effect in the overall piece. It is interesting how the colors pop out when they are next to one another.

I wanted to show this work of art, as well. It is a painting done by Nadine Rippelmeyer. She used primary colors in this work, but in a different form. She used the blue and yellow to make the green ground, which is something the other painting did not necessarily do. By mixing the two primary colors and setting that as a base to the other primary colors, it really sets off the forest floor in this work.

This is an example of two ways you can use primary colors to make this technique stand out.

IMAGE ESSAY #11

This work of art is by Steve Thoms. I think this piece is VERY appealing to the eyes and is an above average example of how use of color can be effective in a work of art.

Thoms used bold reds and yellows to portray this work "Poppies". Seeing the bright yellow-orange of the sky really gives you a sense of depth in the sky (dealing with clouds and the sun). This beautiful sky in the background is set up against the bright red poppies that are growing on the bland-green grass. This technique really makes the flowers stand out, as well. The use of color for the trees in the upper left corner of the print is effective because it is a very dark green, which sets off the bold color of the sunlit sky.

The use of intermediate colors in this artwork is very effective. The yellow-orange and the red-orange in the painting offset each other and compliment nicely. It reminds me of the DVD that was shown in class of the Japanese women fighting in the park. The colors are very bold and appealing to the eye in this piece, just as well as in the movie that was viewed in class.

Image Essay #10

Point of View

I thought that David Winston's work titled "Solitude" was a great example of point of view. I believe that certain points of view are crucial in making works of art appealing to the viewer's eye.

I learned from working with the assignment "The Story of this Place". I realized that simply painting a scene from a normal standpoint was too boring and it would not be as dynamic and effective as if I were to paint it crooked or even from looking up. I chose looking at an angle of my situation. Since my scene was from an excited car situation, I wanted it to come off as being frantic and shaky. Which really surprised me is that I could really pull that effect off by simply changing the perspective of the artwork.

In the artwork I chose in this blog, I think he chose a great perspective for this artwork. It is evident that he wanted to show the tree in wintertime. However, instead of portraying a shot of the tree from the frontal view, he chose to get the fence in the way, too. The effect of the bending fence makes the tree seem farther away. The viewer gets a serene feeling of comfort in this piece. You can also get a sense of depth from the background because the details fade away.

Artist Blog: Gabhan O'Keeffe

Gabhan O'Keeffe is an architect. His completed projects include: Residences for Princess Gloria von Thurn und Taxis, Isabel Goldsmith, the Marquess of Cholmondeley, Bryan Ferry, William Hurt, and Nan Kempner. He is working on residences in the U.K. as of present.

His own designs are the major influence in his work as a decorator. In fact, O'Keeffe used his Knightsbridge home as a sort of fabric laboratory, trying out new patterns, color combinations and textures. Gabhan stated, "The one wonderful thing about textiles, particularly for people really interested in the past," he says, "is it really is possible to weave something today and see it the way an 18th century pair of eyes would see it."

I particularly enjoy his work for many reasons. I like how he expresses his interiors. I have noticed that he tends to work on interiors for homes, particularly in Europe. He uses contrasting colors and vibrant tones to accentuate certain aspects of a space. Although I think his work is very appealing, it does not look comfortable to me. I do not feel as though the rooms that he decorates are made to be comfortable. For the most part, I see them as being works of art and more luxurious, than anything.

(Some examples of his work)

IMAGE ESSAY #9

In Barbara Kruger's work titled, "You are a Captive Audience" (1963), she shows a great example of what we are working on in class, currently. Kruger creates artwork that used black, great, and white tones in a way that makes the audience feel a sense of depth and dramatics.

In order to have something stand out, I learned that you need to have higher contrasted colors to make it appear to be popping out. Therefore, I found that this piece of work demonstrated this technique in a beyond average way. The artist used text in her work (which I find to be a challenging concept because it makes the viewer believe a certain thought. I believe that artwork is something that can be perceived many ways; the viewer's aspect, and many other different opinions, the determinate being how they view life, what they see, etc. Therefore, I think she did a great job picking what type of text to use and how to arrange it in a way to overall set the mood of the piece of work, which I feel is hurtful, jagged, and shameful.

By using black in the background, Kruger made the objects that were highly contrasted stand out more to the viewer. This was a great technique. This work of art inspires how I could go about working on my project.