Okay so I decided that instead of directly overlapping the different views I would spread them out kinda instead, which I feel like makes it look a lot better and I think it'll be a lot less messy this way. I also like the idea that its 3 views because it feels like it kind of aligns with my original set of 3 sculptures (these sketches are from a single figure of those three from several angles though, not one from each of the 3). I'm realizing that the annoying thing about this piece is going to be that I'm going to want to stop at every stage because I love the look of unfinished architecture like work like this. I'm not sure if I want to jump straight into the paint pen, or if I want to do the paint pen on top of the plastic sheet. I feel like it'll be too intense if I do it on top though, and it'll overshadow the undersketch that I like.
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For my at home project this quarter I think I'm going to make a bigger version of my favorite hut sculpture. I think that will be a pretty nice portfolio piece to have and presentation wise it would look really cool, but I am worried I'm being kind of redundant with my work. I've sketched out some general shape ideas for the piece but they all seem to blend back into that first original smaller sculpture I did. I'm not sure if I should keep fighting this tendency to go back to my first original piece, or if I should keep trying to like reassemble the general shapes I've been working with. That's what I tried to do with the relief sculpture I did over the summer but I feel like that was kind of a bust. I'm almost scared to go as big as I want with this piece (I was thinking toddler sized) because even though it'll be big and cool it'll be boring.
Okay so I talked to Coach and decided to go in a very different direction than what I was originally thinking about. We looked at some pieces by Phyllida Barlow who makes sculptures but also draws them, and the idea of drawing something like one of my sculptures is growing on me. Coach liked a sketch I did for my maybe home project so I'm going to mess around with that, I did some sketches of what several side views could look like overlapped, and I kinda like it but I kinda don't. Since I'm going in a new direction I gotta spend some more time figuring out this composition. I want this piece to clean, but my sketches are the opposite of clean so I'm not sure what's going to happen.
I didn’t post a progress post last week because to be honest I mostly just experimented with the new materials I got (the durlar and then paint pens) and looked for reference photos. This week I worked a lot more on trying to compile a composition I like. It seems like it should be the easiest part, but I really want to be precise with the composition because I don’t think actually drawing out the forms and lining them with the paint pens will be difficult (I say that now). I looked through my travel photos as I always do before an art project and once again looked at architecture I saw in Italy- I really just can’t leave that place behind it seems like so much of my work is based on buildings I saw there. But anyways, I’ve been isolating buildings from several pictures and drawing them in what I call the “bare bones style” to get a better handle on the types of buildings I want to draw and to make a collection of shapes that I can then assemble together like a puzzle to create something with some kind of composition. I tried just trying to simplify a single reference photo, but I didn’t think it had enough dimension to it.
I finally finished the piece! To be honest, it didn't even take me that long since I already knew what steps I had to follow and didn't need to do much experimenting (unlike last summer). I kind of really like the final piece, and I feel like it'll look really cool hung up! Making this piece definitely reminded me of what I was making art about last year with the first sculpture of this type, and I feel like moving forward I have a lot more content to add in relation to the theme of familiarity and memories especially as a result of my experience with this whole pandemic. I'm okay with the composition of the piece, I think some things ended up looking a lot different than I thought they would (like the stairs) but overall I'm not mad at it. I wish the depth of the piece was better captured on camera, and my sister suggested adding light watercolor grey shadows to emphasize the depth of some areas, but I'm not sure if I want to go on top of the texture and try and add shading since it feels kinda risky to me. I also like how the piece kinda looks heavy (it is) because I feel like that almost adds something content wise. I do need to work on my artist's statement still- I feel like I know what I'm talking about more but I just have such a hard time putting it into words. Anyways, here's the final piece! It's 23"x30".
I have (finally) started my project! I got the supplies with shreya a while back and she also got me some supplies I needed from school, and now I’m ready to buckle down and grind it out. I’m honestly pretty excited! I’ve been doing a bunch of sketches at work in my down time on slips of paper, so i know what the mayor is going to be generally. It’s been so long since I’ve made these shapes, but i feel like they look pretty similar to what I did last year. I want there to be a lot of difference in height and texture, so I’m using the wire to do that. I really hope when I lay the plaster over the wire pieces they don’t fall off when I hold the piece right side up, since I’m assembling the piece while it’s flat on the ground. I feel like I’m being a lot more efficient with this piece, since I know how I have to make some pieces, coat half of them in plaster, make other stuff, and then come back to finish the plaster since I have to let the other side dry. It feels nice to be sculpting again! And since I’m just going to cover everything in plaster anyways, I’m using this atrocious red duck tape to tape parts down to make it as secure as possible (the hot glue wasn’t as secure). I also used some old paper that my dad had instead of the newspaper that I would have normally used since I didn't have any on hand, and it honestly wasn't that bad. I have no idea what to do for my art project. It's not even that; it's more that I really don't want to do anything. I know that sounds horrible that I'm literally writing this on my art blog (actually in the notes app on my phone) but with everything that's going on in the world it just doesn't feel like I have anything meaningful to say! My last piece in Q4 was about emotional distance vs. physical distance but that topic just feels so jaded after months of quarantine. And then going back to my sculptures feels like I'm just redoing something I already did, and to be honest, right now I'm kind of forgetting what those were about in the first place. I just don't know where to start!!! I'm probably going to email coach soon just to ask for his advice and to see if he has any ideas for me to springboard off of. This feels so silly to post about but I think it's kind of important to document this prolonged "stuck" I've been feeling. I will say, I have been doing little sketches on slips of paper at work but they're all super abstract, so I'm not sure if I can pull any inspo from that.
I have had such a hard time getting back into the groove of art. It's been kind of in the back of my mind that I really should start my summer piece, but I haven't really worked on anything. I'm thinking of doing a sculpture, but at the same time I don't know how I'm going to make a piece that isn't literally exactly like my sculptures from the beginning of the year. I really really loved the process of making those though, from the armature making to the plaster- I love working with my hands in that way so much more than painting like my last Q3 project. Maybe I'll make a singular big version of the 3 smaller sculptures I made at the beginning of the year. That feels like cheating almost though, because it's nothing new. Also that would be a pain to transport, which I learned my lesson with the big sculpture I made at the end of sophomore year. But then again, it would look kinda nice in a portfolio- a little kingdom with a big castle.
I could also go a totally different direction and go the blueprint/ architecture direction. I really liked the idea I had with the last piece I made, but I don't think I really executed it well due to the not so planned out materials I used. I would love to draw something digitally and then get it printed out to make it look super clean and official. I'm definitely not in the mood to do another story piece like my Dolly the Sheep piece; I loved making it but funny story writing isn't really my cup of tea. I do love the aesthetics of the piece though, and how it unfolds. Maybe I could design a blueprint that folds like that as opposed to being one big poster. I'm really not sure yet! I'll try to brainstorm some more soon. I haven't posted my progress posts yet because I still need to add photos to the drafts, but here's the final piece! I'm not mad at how it turned out. The piece is 16" x 20" so it's kind of big, and I wish I had been able to add more detail into it but honestly mixing the colors took so long, especially since most of it was rock or cobblestone with a ton of colors. This is my first painting on a thick canvas so I'm not sure how to resolve the sides yet, so please let me know if you have any suggestions! I'm also wondering if I should go back in and add more details to the people's faces, but I feel like the detail may seem out of place. The sky looks a little funky from close up, but from far away it looks accurate so I'm not sure if I should blend it out more.
Doing the grid for this was SO HARD. To be fair the picture I used was not the right size for this canvas so my plan was to just paint it to scale and then add extra sky up top where my reference photo ended. I don't know why it ended up being such a hot mess (spoiler alert: it's because I can't do math for the life of me) but I somehow ended up fitting the whole image on the canvas, meaning I must have stretched it one way or another. I only realized after sketching the whole thing out, but by then it kind of looked pretty okay so I just went with it. I picked this project bc I knew it was going to be a challenge bc I haven't worked with paint in so long, but I'm already over it whenever I paint I feel like I revert back into my 6th grade self and all my forms and colors look like they're out of a crayola box. I hope adding detail will make it look more on the realistic side. |
Ria BakshiCheck out what I'm currently working on by clicking the PROCESS button! Archives
December 2020
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