Using Acrylic Paint and Charcoal

This week I had the oppertunity to dabble a bit in the subtractive properties of acrylic paint and make a value scale with charcoal.  It has been some time since I have used either medium but here is how they came out:

My 1st, 2nd and 3rd Attempt

The actual process of making the two pieces was a little nostalgic.  It brought me back to the art club I was in while in middle school and high school.  It has been a long time since I painted something other than a house wall too!

Final Outcome

I would have to say the one I enjoyed working with the best would be the acrylic paint.  I was able to control the outcome so much easier.  After a few attempts that is.  At first I was using a pure Phthalo Blue and it was not working.  I went to a Primary Cyan on the second showing and it was still too dark.  After watching the video tagged below a few more times I noticed that the creator was watering down the colors.  I tried this approach with quite a bit more success as seen in the final outcome above.  The charcoal was less forgiving.  I think that painting was easier for me as well because I have done more of it over the years.

Color Theory 2: Paint/Pigment Primary Colors, The Truth!!!

10 Step Value Scale

This video was crazy to me.  Suggesting Red, Yellow and Blue are not the primary colors! WHAT!  I had to watch it twice and sure enough the proof was in the pudding as it where.  That was the mind blower of it all, that red, yellow and blue are not able to mix a black but magenta, yellow and cyan can!  Which makes Red, Blue and Green secondary colors!  I felt like I was lied to all through school.  Yellow Magenta and Cyan are the 3 colors you see in most printer cartridges so I see the truth behind it but actually having to perform it was a shock.  So much for Orange, Purple and Green as secondary colors!

This week I was given the task to capture the different Elements and Principles of Design.  Admittedly I was starting to over think this and try to capture some "Spike Lee" type images that would blow people away!  Lets just say that became a lost cause with my Canon Powershot and I had to take it down a notch.  For those who do not know here are the Elements and Principles that I set out to capture:

Elements of Design

• Line is a mark with greater length than width. Lines can be horizontal, vertical or diagonal, straight or curved, thick or thin.

• Shape is a closed line. Shapes can be geometric, like squares and circles; or organic, like free formed shapes or natural shapes. Shapes are flat and can express length and width.

• Forms are three-dimensional shapes, expressing length, width, and depth. Balls, cylinders, boxes and triangles are forms.

• Space is the area between and around objects. The space around objects is often called negative space; negative space has shape. Space can also refer to the feeling of depth. Real space is three-dimensional; in visual art when we can create the feeling or illusion of depth we call it space.

• Color is light reflected off objects. Color has three main characteristics: hue or its name (red, green, blue, etc.), value (how light or dark it is), and intensity (how bright or dull it is).

• Texture is the surface quality that can be seen and felt. Textures can be rough or smooth, soft or hard. Textures do not always feel the way they look; for example, a drawing of a porcupine may look prickly, but if you touch the drawing, the paper is still smooth.

Principles of  Design

• Balance is the distribution of the visual weight of objects, colors, texture, and space. If the design was a scale these elements should be balanced to make a design feel stable. In symmetrical balance, the elements used on one side of the design are similar to those on the other side; in asymmetrical balance, the sides are different but still look balanced. In radial balance, the elements are arranged around a central point and may be similar.

• Emphasis is the part of the design that catches the viewer’s attention. Usually the artist will make one area stand out by contrasting it with other areas. The area will be different in size, color, texture, shape, etc.

• Movement is the path the viewer’s eye takes through the artwork, often to focal areas. Such movement can be directed along lines edges, shape and color within the artwork.

• Pattern is the repeating of an object or symbol all over the artwork.

• Repetition works with pattern to make the artwork seem active. The repetition of elements of design creates unity within the artwork.

• Proportion is the feeling of unity created when all parts (sizes, amounts, or number) relate well with each other. When drawing the human figure, proportion can refer to the size of the head compared to the rest of the body.

• Rhythm is created when one or more elements of design are used repeatedly to create a feeling of organized movement. Variety is essential to keep rhythm exciting and active, and moving the viewer around the artwork.  Rhythm creates a mood like music or dancing.

• Variety is the use of several elements of design to hold the viewer’s attention and to guide the viewer’s eye through the artwork.

• Unity is the feeling of harmony between all parts of the artwork creating a sense of completeness.

This is a link to my Photo Bucket that will show you each:  AED200 - Module 3 Project 1

These are the images:

Now for each one of these I tried to capture the essence of the design quality.  It will be hard to follow with the slides above because they do not go in the order I was hoping.  But following along from the layout I listed above here is how I worked out each one of the elements and principles.

Line was easy to be honest, I looked for a while to find something interesting but this ended up being the one I liked most.  The lines repeat and slowly compress closer together and all stop along a subtle curve that holds them all down.
Shape without saying is in nearly every photo I have but this picture really emphasis the actual shapes.  The 2 circles and rectangle are easily picked out.
Forms here I wanted to show something that really would give the feeling of 3 dimensions.  I took the picture to give the view of 3 side of the piece and really show the shadows of all the nooks in the wooden frame.
Space took me some time to commit to.  I was not sure what I really wanted to showcase here but I ended up with a photo that committed to the negative space around the object.  The open space forces you to focus on the black and crystal in the center of the frame.
Color was a quick sell for me.  My wife picked up a plant that I have never seen before and it had a vibrant color and interesting direction of growth on the flower.
Texture took some experimenting.  I tried to get my dogs involved and based on the photo your seeing, clearly the dog thing did not work out.  Instead I made use of a pillow we have that really shows the short fur with the quick contrast of the flat black I added to make the picture have some extra quality.
Balance was another one I was not happy with when I went through all the photos I took.  I had an idea of capturing an abstract scene with a clear balanced quality but in the end we get something a little more everyday.  These 2 St. Patrick's Day bears balance the main focus of this picture.  Though they are different they still have a similarity that almost makes you overlook the fact that they are different and because they are on either side of the glass you do not notice their differences at first.
Movement was one that I wanted to really work.  This was another photo I took a lot of time making really complex and in the end the most simple solution really captured the principle.  The single diagonal line forces you to look at the circle that it points to.  You can not help but follow it at least once.
Emphasis came with the help of HGTV.  A throw pillow on a chair really takes the focus off the chair and brings you eye to the pillow or accent.  The little blip of orange is courtesy of my 10 month old and the little pop of color just added one more distraction that illustrated the emphasis a random color can add.
Pattern seemed to show up in alot of my pictures as well.  I just really liked how the like behind this glass forced the pattern to almost distort from the center out.
Repetition was so close to pattern for me that my natural reaction was to stick with finding a "busy" pattern.  These colored tiles have a clear pattern with 4 different colors that have yet another pattern within them.  If you look closely you can see the repetition in the tiles and color but the center circles to not follow the same repetition.
Proportion only seems to work for me when it was even.  I could not get the feel to translate to a picture unless the proportions were balanced.  The candle fixture I ended up using shows and even proportion that flows left to right and top to bottom
Rhythm worked really well on this wall art piece.  The circles with multicolored flowers incorporate well together and have a active pattern that moves through the piece.
Variety is what I see every time I pick up the kids toys.  They all make their way into one bin or another and when I saw it in this bin variety is the first thing that jumped to my mind.  The definition says that the elements are suppose to guide you through the work but I imagined it different.
Unity was my last big dream of really wowing someone with a cool picture.  I just was not able to really capture the principle the way I wanted.  These squares that show different sizes and colors all are complete in their own way and the way the surrounded each other gave me the closest feeling of unity I could accept.

Hopefully I was able to really show some good examples for everyone and I hope you were able to see my images as I saw them with relation to the Elements and Principles of Design.

Color and its Effects on Emotion

Color has been used in art to manipulate our feelings and push forth an emotional response from works of art for centuries.  Whether we are speaking of the old cave paintings of our ancestor or the beautiful works of art that line famous buildings though out the world.  Our assignment this week was to explore this phenomenon of color and its effects on how a painting is perceived and what emotions are almost implied.  There are two videos that I observed and a website that really shows the way colors are mixed in both additive and subtractive qualities.  The links for the videos and color tool are as follows:

•  Elements of Art
• Color
• Feelings: Emotion and Art

The Elements of Art site has some really neat visual aids for showing the user how color changes based on how it is mixed and contrasted.  There are a plethora of tools on the side bar that can really show you the way mixing paints or pigments varies by comparison to light.  You will at least gain some perspective from this site if you are not well versed in the art of color mixing.

Emotions tie into the color of art in so many ways.  The intensity or saturation of a contrasting color can add a warm feeling to a painting but it also holds the ability to add a darkness to a piece.  The color harmonies or color schemes used on pieces can give you a bold and aggressive feeling with the use of warm colors used in analogous pieces with a consistent yellow to yellow-orange to orange and touching on red.  That same work redone on the opposite side of the color wheel would have a completely different emotional presence; you would no longer feel warm and bold at the very least.

I think what is most interesting on the theory of color is how there is actually more than one!  This was unknown to me.  I was under the impression that there was one law that explained the hows and the whys of all things color.  Our text book says "Different theorists have constructed different color wheels, but the once shown here is fairly standard." (Getlein, Living With Art, pg.89)  Honestly I thought the only variations where how many wedges you wished to include to show the colors mix into different hues.

In the Color video I was surprised on how many times the artist changed her mind on the color scheme.  She had kept the general concept though out the pieces conception but her idea of cool and warm colors was really personal to her.  I thought her final work was a little dark for the actual scene that she was painting.  I had to go back 2 times to see her work in the original site to get a feel for the colors she was trying to incorporate.  Her emotional tie to the work displayed in the church and her need to keep those colors integrated I think really forced her to rework that painting so many times because she was not getting the emotional connection herself.  If I were to not know what her color inspiration was, I would have guessed she saw this scene at dusk when the sun was very low and she wanted capture that moment.

The Feelings video developed more around the history of the times of art and how the pieces of their time used color to emphasis the emotion of the scene.  They showed us how the pre Renaissance era used bright colors and life like paintings to show the growth of knowledge.  Moving into the Enlightenment era when these same principles where used to depict the righteousness of God.  The use of color here was shown on two sides.  Where you saw brightly colored handsome people you were assured of nobility or perceived a divine quality.  On the other side where the colors were dark and kept to the earth tones we could feel the lower class being portrayed and the sinners being judged.  The use of color to divide good and evil was as common theme and even the use of bright detail and hazy dark backgrounds where used to show and emanate the feeling of depth.

Aesthetics and Art

I had a chance to watch a few videos and an article on the aesthetics of art and came away with quite a few interesting views.  I would say the largest impact would be with regards to the angle in which these philosophers and scientists approach the meaning of art.

Here are links to the 2 videos I had the pleasure of watching:

• Aesthetics: Philosophy of the Arts
• CARTA: Neurobiology, Neurology and Art - Aesthetics 

 This is the article:

• What the brain draws from: Art and neuroscience

Now be prepared the 2 videos are about an hour each so do not dive in unless you have some time, but rest assured you will come out with some interesting ideas on the idea of aesthetics.

Lets hop into the videos and see what we learn! 

Aesthetics: Philosophy of the Arts

In our first video we are given the conceptual background of aesthetics.  This philosophical definition of art and why we humans are drawn to it.  The narration starts us off with the thoughts of a well known philosopher, Plato.  Now his views on art are not the typical forms of beauty and expression but he sees them in a very different light and this debate brings forth our topic, aesthetics.  The video is laid out nicely, however the resolution we have access to is of low quality unfortunately.  They progress nicely through the century marks and take care to note prominent philosophers views in this category.  What we take away is the debate that still exists today.  What is it about art that makes us fall in love with it, and what secret recipe is needed to ensure a piece is art?



 I particularly like the progression of how art is perceived and interpreted as it follows the line of history.  Plato of 4^th Century BC philosophy had a view that everything we make and create is nothing more than our interpretation on the perfect idea of what we are trying to convey.  He believed that art is nothing more than a distortion of some things true form and thus a fake.  His strict views on how objects only exist in their current form as a representation of our idea of perfection really holds true to deep philosophical thinking.  I also like the portrayal that Morris Weitz gives from the 20^th Century.  His thoughts are that, due to the ever changing aspects of that logically you are unable to set a formal property on its definition.  Due to art developing as the world around us develops and changes and as our tastes evolve and twist there is no way to predict what the future may bring us.  If you cannot see the future then you cannot develop a set of rules that define art, logically thinking.  I think his use of logic to defend his case is what really makes it interesting for me.  Combining the simple rules of logic to basically cast away the need to define art and focus on the what art represents and the roles it plays in our lives.
 

CARTA: Neurobiology, Neurology and Art - Aesthetics

Moving on to the scientific side of Aesthetics, we are exposed to two well developed lectures on aesthetics.  Our first speaker, Changeux, has a theory to explain our natural development into visual arts.  He is careful to point out that he is strictly basing his approach on visual arts.  He lays out a set of general rules that would help classify what makes a piece art worthy and he goes into great lengths on the development of the size of the human brain and its connections to symmetry.  Our second speaker, Ramachandran, dives into what he calls visual esthetics.  He covers a few different aspects of visual distortion to captivate and draw in the art audience.  He also covers his rule set that he lays out originally as the "8 Laws of Art" but he moves on later to say, "cross out art" and points out he is referring to esthetics in general.

The science angle taken here is very interesting.  To approach this topic from a non divine science approach and try to tie specific natural scientific proof to what a human perceives as art almost feel mechanical.  To say the development of the size of our brains naturally led us to be able to identify pleasing objects and then to create them seems natural but the question as to why seems to elude everyone.  I do not personally think they will be able to set a rule or a set of rules that will define all art.  They may be able to measure the brain activity of the whole human race and still fall short in their theory the next decade.  The ideas behind their work is viable and both sets of rules have the same open ended-ness to be used as an outline for their definition.  Changeux biological approach on the whole is interesting to me.  I think that even though we may be able to map a path of a brain pattern that we are still missing more connections that are not being measured.  With studies you may be able to show how a brain reacts when any number of situations occur but then you have to account for the occasions when your theory fails thus losing some weight on a scientific base.  If gravity suddenly did not work in one random area and we could not explain the anomaly we would have to revisit that scientific model as well.  Ramachandran touched on a point that I like with regard to the complexity of the optic path way.  His take on the complexity of the 30 plus inputs the eye perceives offers a great way to see how many paths and different takes people can have on the same art piece.

What the brain draws from: Art and Neuroscience

Here we explore the neuroscience behind art again.  This article depicts the use of optical tricks to grab a viewers attention and provoke thought.  The elements covered are a very good starting point in understanding the concepts behind great pieces of art and the illusions they present.  I am particually fond of this piece by professor Semir Zeki:

Squaring the Circle

This piece is has clean lines and the color pop that is optically mind blowing.  The fact that it is a free standing unit and not a painting is what I like the most about it.  They fact that every angle has a different perspective and that to me is a well developed piece of art made my a neuroscience professor, not a typical artist.




Now this blog is centralized around a class I am taking at Buffalo State College and our course text covers some ideas that are touched on in the above mentioned pieces.  I would say the best relation our text has to the pieces we covered here are with regards to the many layers of what makes art.  Culture, life experiences and exposure all pay a role on how art is made as well as perceived.  Even the touch on the normal every day items that transform into art, Soup cans and cereal boxes and the likes.

After reviewing the films and reading through the article and our textbook I have been exposed to a much more scientific view of aesthetics.  For me art has always been a personal connection that would be both easy to discribe and yet hard to explain.  A physiologist could probably analyze my views and attribute it to something in my past but I still think that would only lead to the tip of the iceburg.  I enjoyed the insight and especially the overview of aesthetics in art and hope the next time I see a piece of art that I can think more critically about why I find it intriguing or not.