Final Thoughts

There were many highlights I experienced from this semester. I think the most memorable of all was the self-portrait. I had many complications with that unit and I got very frustrated with it because of how detail oriented I am with everything. In the end though, I think that it was a positive experience because I learned how to effectively show different values just depending on how hard I pressed on the charcoal pencil. The unit also taught me a little about self-acceptance. Another highlight from this semester I think was the watercolor unit. Before I did this unit, I didn't realize how many different techniques you could do using watercolor. I thought it was really interesting how there were many different aspects and ways a watercolor painting could be created. I think after experiencing drawing and painting this semester, I have learned to not give up when tasks get too difficult which I think in turn made me a better artist.

Work of Art that I am the most proud of

The work of art that I am the most proud of is the watercolor landscape. I thought that this unit was really fun to do because I have always really liked watercolor paintings. I'm proud of this painting because it came out so much better than I thought it would. It is a close resemblance to the photograph that I was working from which I'm really happy with because I loved the photograph that I used. Doing this painting impacted my learning in a great way because I never really worked that in-depth with watercolor before, and this unit showed me how to paint well with them. Also, I thought it was very interesting to learn about the history of water color and how it originated before we started working on our painting.

Final Watercolor Landscape

Purpose: To use an demonstrate what you learned from the watercolor exercises you did in class to create your own landscape painting.

In my final painting, the techniques I used were gradient, watercolor pencil, salt over paint, and sponging. The watercolor pencil and the sponging techniques did not work out very well because their effect on the painting is not very visible. I tried to add the color pencil into the grass and the more-detailed trees but the colors did not show up very well. Also, using the sponge, I tried to make the land to the right of the river below the trees look more textured but the sponge did not create the effect that I wanted it to. Despite the two techniques that did not work out as well, there were two other ones that did. I used the gradient technique in the sky and I think that it worked out really well. It gave the painting a misty, cloudy effect which I really liked. The other technique I used that worked out well was the salt method. I used this in the bottom right corner on the end of the river and on a little bit of the land above it. The salt gave a good texture to that part of the painting which is what I wanted because in the picture I was working from, the water looked a little rocky and textured.
There are a few important concepts that I learned from this watercolor unit. When I first started this painting, I thought that it was difficult that we were only allowed to use two colors. As my painting started to progress, I started realizing that I could get many different shades of color from only mixing blue and yellow together. Another concept that I learned from doing this unit was to not add too much water into the paint or else the paint will run and the paper will curve. This lead to having to be extremely careful about not making any mistakes. With water color, it's almost impossible to cover something over once it's already been painted.

Watercolor Exercises and Techniques

Purpose:

To experiment with a variety of watercolor techniques;

To make connections between experimenting with watercolor techniques learned to creating your own landscape watercolor.

      

 After doing many different techniques experimenting with watercolor, I learned many different ways to create an interesting effect on how watercolor paint can show up on paper. Also, while doing the watercolor book, I was careful not to mix in too much water into my paints, which was my problem with the first watercolor technique collage (top picture) because the paints were just blending together and weren't very clear. I realized in order to get bold, visible colors (which is what I wanted), there has to be an equal balance between paint and water, and not more water than there is paint. With these thoughts in mind, I was able to create the techniques that I wanted without any complications.

Perspective Strategy Drawing

Purpose:

To review the perspective strategies that you learned;

To make connections between what you learned and demonstrating your understanding by creating a drawing using one of the perspective strategies.

For this drawing, I used the atmospheric perspective strategy. In a picture like this, things in the foreground would be clear and definite. In the distance, objects would get less clear and more hazy and cloudy. Coloring a picture like this one was a challenge to stick to those characteristics because it was hard to keep the mountains in the background light and foggy. In the end, I think I did a decent job showing the definitions of the atmospheric perspective.

Perspective Homework

Definitions:

Linear perspective- the organization of shapes in a space.
The horizon line- an eye level line that runs across the image. It is where the sky meets the ground.
Vanishing point- located on the horizon line where all parallel lines run and come together eventually.
Orthogonal lines- help the viewer see where to connect the points around the edge of the image into the vanishing point.
Transversal lines- always at a right angle to the orthogonal lines. They help establish a fixed height or width between orthogonal lines. They are always parallel to one another.

One point perspective- uses only one vanishing point. 

Two point perspective- uses two sets of orthogonal lines and two vanishing points in an image.

Practice drawings:

One Point Perspective

Ellipse Perspective

Depth Perspective: Vanishing Point

Depth Perspective: Atmospheric

Two point perspective

Watercolor History

Purpose:

• To become familiar with the history of watercolor;
• To become familiar with various watercolor artists throughout time;
• To make connections between watercolor purposes and techniques from long ago to its uses today.

The first watercolor paintings were done in a cave in prehistoric times. Centuries ago in Ancient China they used water based inks and dyes to create paintings on silk. Ancient Egyptians painted on tombs and temples with water based paints as well. Albrecht Dürer was considered to be one of the first “watercolor masters” and he mastered the sophisticated techniques of watercolor painting. Dürer’s works came directly from nature and showed his love of animals and the outdoors through his paintings. Occasionally, in some of his work, Dürer sometimes mixed in some opaque gouache for highlights in specific details.

Pond in the Woods

1496

Albrecht Dürer

Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin were two also noteworthy artists. Lorrain painted many watercolor landscapes in Rome which were commissioned by kings and clergy. People claimed he was the best landscape artist in the world. Nicolas Poussin worked from nature and most of his paintings were only in two colors. Poussin is known to have invented French Classicism by creating classic landscapes to coexist with nature’s mysteries.

View of the Acqua Acetosa 1645 Claude Lorrain

Landscape with Trees and Tower
No Date Nicolas Poussin

Watercolor started to gain popularity in the 1700s and by the mid 1800s it became a high demand and exhibitions of the Royal Watercolor Society was as high up as those of the Royal academy. In the early 1800s, upper-class women started to take up watercolor as it was becoming part of a tutor-based education.Watercolor started to be classified with many different types of art and in the 1970s and 1980s, people started to become interested in watercolor again. Now in modern day art, environmentally friendly watercolor is the common medium used. Also, modern technology created a paint that is fade-resistant. Gels, other colorings, and high quality watercolor paper are now available to be used to create watercolor paintings.

"HISTORY OF WATERCOLOUR." CSPWC English History of the Medium. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 May 2014.

"History-Overview." Watercolor Watercolor Painting Watermedia History Contemporary Exhibitions. Watercolor.net, 2012. Web. 15 May 2014.