Tuesday, March 31, 2009


Hi guys! It's me again. Well, I finally finished my woman/pixie and I am ecstatic about the results. This is one of the few color pieces I have ever done, and I am shocked at how well her hair turned out. (Kudos to Anna for the idea). I tried to fix the dimensions of the ear with her hair to appease Quinton. (You've got to get over the eye man), and I like the outcome. My main media for this artwork, was color and I wanted it to look as if her hair had a mind of its own. I am very pleased with this, and I am done. But, please tell me if anything needs to be changed, though in my defense, the real artwork looks much better in person than on the computer. Thanks guys!

Sunday, March 29, 2009

BLUE!


I dont plan on using this for anything in particular. It's just a really cool peice I did a couple of months ago. (Spray paint also)
Just wanted yall to check it out.

Soul On Board



This is my soul, on poster board. Done through canisters of sprayable paint :)

No, but I really love the cloud like effect done around the mountain tops. I decided to outline the shore line of the lake with white also just to try something new out, I really like this piece of artwork.

And I plan to use it for my W/E piece for the GT tryouts.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

3D project


I did this plaster carving last year and I’m currently working on its bigger, better counterpart. The main differences between this one and what I’m doing now is that the new one’s design is a bit different and it’s bigger. The different design comes from me making mistakes when carving since I can’t exactly erase that sort of thing (I’ve had to change the design twice already). The size difference is because the first one experienced problems from being only a few inches tall: 1) I couldn’t make the “ropes” of the knot actually separated like I wanted to, and 2) it fell apart. The new one’s coming along great and it’s been really fun to work on except for the bouts of terror when I think I’ve carved the wrong spot. I might also try painting it after it’s done. You can paint plaster, right?

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Drawings from Life


For the drawing from life project in my portfolio the subject is going to be hands (not this one). Annoying part is that things from life are rather lifelike and everyone knows what the human body looks like, making mistakes obvious. This sketch is from last year and shows off my shortcomings that can only be remedied by more shading and practice. But anyway, I like drawing hands and hands shall be what I draw.

Curiosity


My first pastel piece since kindergarden turned out just fine. I continued with my "virtue/vice" series and went with Curiosity. This cute little cat (that EVERYONE thinks is a bloody rabbit) sits perched upon a brick wall, washing his paw after...a kill perhaps? Or maybe he's settling down for a nap. I don't know. I just know that he has found some happy medium of happiness. I have a smaller backstory for this young lad.


A man lived in an old, abandoned church that was fashioned later on into a laboratory focusing on gene splicing and DNA research. The professor (we'll call him) was working on a method of combining two unlike creatures and creating a hybrid. His findings were successful with birds and rats...but he wanted more.


One night, he was working late and grew tired. He heard a strange sound in the lab. Him, being curious, walked into the lab...tired and mindless. A cat had somehow gotten into the lab through a crack in the wall. Probably chasing a rat. He picked up the cat, but he knew not of where he stood. He was standing directly in the crosshairs of his machine.


The cat's eyes fumed with strange happiness. One of the monstrous rat/birds tripped the switch of the machine and...


the man was hit.


And thus, he is who he now is. For being too curious, he became a victim of his own experiment.


So that's his story.


I like the colors and Coach Stephenson said my masonry skills were superb. I also love the dreamy feel of the piece...but it seems way too loose...even for my standards.


I really like this piece, but...yea...I don't think/know it's not my best.


Comments wanted/appreciated.

Worry


This lovely oil painting is my first of its kind. I was literally "worried" while I was painting it, so it actually has some form of correlation with the actual photo.

I love the contrast, the sadness, and all the emotion that is conveyed in so little amount of colors.

I even created a backstory for my sad, disgruntled character that exists in my mind.


There was a man who was a Broadway actor. He worried about how his performance would come off to the other actors and audience. He would cry before shows and his wife would criticize him for doing so. He was indeed a sad man.

So the man was traveling home one night, sad, sad, and sadder he was. That performance that night was poorly recieved and critics put him down ever so. He cried and cried as he drove in the night. Rain pouring down. He couldn't see with his tear-filled eyes and his windshield wipers just weren't working up to speed...and...

he hit someone.

He was crying harder now. He knew not why this would trouble him so much in a few seconds, but yet...the man was worried. He stepped out into the cool, wet air and he saw who it was.

It was his wife.

She was out in the night going to look for a certain person... his suspicions of his wife being in an affair were true. She was on her way back home when the man hit her.

The man...fled the scene.

In his car, stained with her blood, he ran off the side of a cliff.

He died that night as well.

Except, he was revived by some force of nature that brought him back as a purplish-pale zombie-like creature. The blood tear symbolizes the tears that will forever stain his face over his wife's death and his own.

All because he worried.

So yeah. That's my story. Please enjoy and comment accordingly.


Hello everyone! This piece is yet to be finished, however since we're all on a deadline, I'm giving a preview. The piece, so far, is only half of the face of a woman, and I'm proud to say it's turned out beautifully. However, I'm still debating what to do in the background, after I try Anna's inspiring idea of colorful hair. Any and all suggestions would be welcome. Thanks guys!

Monday, March 23, 2009

grains of flesh


This is another photo I considered putting into my breadth. I liked the contrast of sand on skin. It is also connected to nature but i focused more on textures in this picture. I love contrast and that is what i was going for in this photo. Any suggestions would be appreciated. --kate

my nature


This is a photograph i took to place into my breadth. I changed my entire concentration to photography so i would really like some opinions on my photos. This piece is supposed to be abstract in a sense. I wanted to portray the impact our footprints have on nature. How humans can truly effect nature and its future. I like the picture as it is..but am open to suggestions about editing. thanks for reading and considering my piece. --kate

Friday, March 20, 2009

Green Honey

So once upon a time I said to myself....hey....colors. And paint. Also happiness. How could I combine them? And I set out on a mission to create something amazing containing those three elements. In three days time, I came up with this piece of wonder. There's a few things to alter and a few things to fix, but for the most part, this is finished.

I love starting and finishing things quickly. It gives me a sense of accomplishment. Like, hey, I really can make this deadline.

Plus, who doesn't think a giant space-alien bear holding an inverted world is awesome?

Credit to Anna for the title, and to Josh for the bear's name. (It's Spackle by the way.)

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Drawing from Life: Mmherry



The title of this piece is the sound of contentment I make when I sit like this, which I do very, very often.

I drew this piece last year in my last-minute run to make a portfolio for GT's tryouts, or whatever. I wasn't accepted, but I think this is a decent, realistic piece & decided to turn it in again.

My use of rough, bold lines are still evident & my rough shading is still there. I enjoy drawing realistic pieces only when I can give them a folk-arty touch. I hope this piece is good enough.

On my legs there are slight details of my scars & freckles, and I enjoy the folds & design of the skirt I was wearing the day I made this, as well.

ps. Feet and noses are probably my favorite parts of the human body, by the way. They just have so much personality. :)

Monday, March 16, 2009

The Orchids.


Hello everyone!

This is my latest piece, titled simply : The Orchids. I did it in white charcoal on black paper, something I discovered to be my favorite medium. I plan on doing many, many more pieces like this one.

I was inspired by my birthday present, orchids of course. The ones I have are white with a fushia center, and the petals have all fallen off by now...but I still wanted to draw them. I did a earlier version of this in my scetchbook, exept it was in pencil on brown paper and i didn't like it as much as this. This was a very fun peice, I love the contrast of black and white and I am currently thinking about other ideas to draw that are like this one.

~kate

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Lonely Wisdom

HEY ART GANG!!!

This piece took me forever to complete but I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I wanted to do a painting of an owl because my mom loves them (just look at our christmas tree every year...its always decked out in cute little owls made out of pinecones and what not :) ) Also, I've always wanted to incorportate nature in one of my pieces and this was the perfect opportunity to do so. I think using real bark and pine cones gave it an even more woodsy feel rather than just painting the trees would have. Although, I did paint the trees before I hot glued down the bark so as not to leave any white spots, and the owl was painted before putting on the bark. I used a 16x20 canvas and acrylic paints.

After I was all done I felt like it was lacking in the background, so i added some stars. Just let me know if they look bad....I can always paint over them. I named this piece "Lonely Wisdom" because I get a sense of loneliness when I look at it. Not a bad lonely...just an at peace lonely. Like the owl has been through alot and is thinking back on his life, and us as the viewer, we have caught him in this kind of meditative sort of intimate moment in his life. "Wisdom" of course because thats what the owl symbolizes to human beings.

Hope you all like it!!!!! Thanks for taking the time to look! And if anyone thinks I could add or take away.....I'm open for suggestions!

PEACE and LOVE

Friday, March 13, 2009

3D Piece: Monster


This is a tin box that I've painted inside & out. I have to make a 3D piece for my art portfolio, so I've decided to make a cute little monster out of found objects. I'm not near finished, but the Christmas lights twisted around on the piece of pipecleaner are going to be his intestines. I'm planning to make a rib cage/spine out of paper that's cut so that the monsters heart (probably made out of glass) can show through. The lid of the tin box is going to be the monster's face. I'm planning on the face being 2D instead of 3D. I don't think I'm just going to draw the face on, though. I'm going to use paper cut-outs of eyes & such. There's no really any message behind this piece, I just have a penchant for monsters & using recycled materials for my pieces. :)

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Red Sunglasses

Hello fellow artists and fans of art.

This piece of work was a deliberate challenge to myself, that I am glad to say I passed. I've been told that, on the portraits I draw, the eyes, of all the features, are the strongest part of the face or figure and I wanted to see how it would look if I took them away. So, I decided to cover up the eyes by using sunglasses. (Thus the title). I am pleased with the outcome of the artwork, but in all honesty, I missed drawing the eyes. I feel as though I've covered up a part of her personality. Ah, well. I'm also disappointed how the picture looks online. The actual art is much better...

For my medium, I used charcoal pencils, my favorite, and I drew the piece on 11" by 14" paper. However, the actual size is close to 13" by 18" as I glued the drawing onto a large piece of red construction paper.

Any and all feedback would be very welcome!!!!!

Thursday, March 5, 2009

The State of the Nation (of Rachel)


Right now I'm in the middle of several different pieces in a desperate rush to get it all done two months from now. I have an oil painting that's been in progress for the past two years, a big 4'x3' canvas of a scene inspired by The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Hokusai, a few other misc. acrylic paintings, and a few other illustrations here and there.

Despite my several works in progress, I've been able to turn out a few fast-paced brush pen illustrations with one or two class periods spent on each. They're fun, easy, and I love creating them. I love the way these pens work and how they blend.

On my fourth one, however, a few of my markers ran dry. I guess it's back to painting 'til I buy some more!