Baby's First Christmas

Hey Everyone!
This project's criteria was to portray a Christmas scene, or some portrait relating to it. However, I chose to stray a little bit from the requirements. (It's okay. I have approval from Mrs. Glenn.)

For this piece I drew my inspiration from my new, two week old cousin, Maggie Marie. My family has been waiting for her for two years, so she's definitely a big deal. She arrived on November 11 and this will be her first Christmas. The drawing will be my gift to her. Fortunately, when she gets older, she'll be able to appreciate it. (You have no idea how nervous I was trying to draw her. I wanted her to be perfect!)
The scene portrays Maggie holding my father's finger, which was copied from a picture we took while visiting her and her parents. I chose it to show the viewer how small and vulnerable a new born baby can be. She's a gift herself and just looking at her I get maternal feelings of my own! Maggie is special, and I can't wait to see the kind of person she grows up to be.
For the medium, I used charcoal pencils and set it on regular sketch paper. The picture is 13"by11".

Expressive Portrait: And Life Must Go On...

Hi everybody. I first want to apologize for my lateness, Mrs. Glenn. I'm very sorry that this project has taken me so long to post. However, I'm glad to announce that it is finally completed and I really enjoyed creating it :-)

To begin with, I had ALOT of trouble finding out what I was going to do. I believe I changed my mind at least seven times throughout this project. Every single peice I started on was almost finished but I decided I wasn't happy with them. I was so busy rummaging through old pictures that I didn't even think about just drawing it from my mind. Nevertheless, I finally sat down and just drew. One of my friends had given me this really neat wooden box filled with colored pencils, every kind of paint you could think of and this very oily based crayon which is what I made the piece you see here with. The background is just a common black poster that I got from Mrs. Glenn's room.

I really like how the colors came together. I used the white to bring out the chiseled structures of his face. I didn't want to go overboard on his eyes so I kept it simple by just outlining his pupils which made them really stand out to me. Overall, I really liked this piece and hope you do too!

Expressive Portrait: Rebel Without a Cause

Howdy everyone!

I drew my inspiration from a photograph of James Dean for my expressive portrait, because he's a really interesting person and was also a bit of an artist in photography. I wanted to convey a feeling of anger and resentment because I tend to "draw" away from showing it in my art work. I also wanted to convey James Dean's charm and his overall air.

I'm not quite finished with this piece because I plan to add color with pastels. However, I'm not sure exactly how I should go about it and what colors I should use to get the effect I want. So any suggestions and criticisms would be greatly appreciated. I'm enjoying working on this piece and this project and also the previous one has helped me tremendously on my portraits and proportions.

Thanks! Katherine :-)

Expressive Portraits: Winter Silhouette

This was the first time I had even heard of expressive portraits. The concept sounded interesting but I wasn’t sure what to do for it. Their wasn’t really any thought put into this concept, it just sort of hit me like an inspirational brick of “that could come out nice,” and I think it did.

The general plan was to take a silhouette of myself and make into a portrait of a season, obviously winter. I did a simple silhouette and attacked it with graphite and pastel. I used the light grey and blue to give the figure a very cold feel, and I tried to direct my unblended strokes into a rough, swirling/blowing movement. The result was this cold and ghostly piece that came out better than I expected. I think I may try doing it again with paint to try and capture more movement and put some more color into it. Any advice welcome.

Expressive Portrait: Billie Holiday

Hello people.

This is my expressive portrait based on a photo of Billie Holiday. She is a very inspirational person and I found she expressed a lot of emotion in this picture. I tried to translate her passion and beauty in this piece.

My materials consisted of tissue paper, glitter and glue stick. I found using these materials a big challenge because the tissue paper was hard to cut and was constantly getting stuck to my fingers. But I always like trying something new. Even more so when it involves new shades of color.

I am still working on some highlights here and there and her hair is giving me some trouble. I would love some advice. Anything would be helpful. Thank you. peace.love.adventure. <3kate.

Expressive Portraits: The newest version of 'Stars and Stripes'

Hello my fellow bloggers and artists! This time we were commensed by Mrs. Glenn to draw, paint, etc. a portrait that conveyed a meaning personal to us or someone else. Possibly the public in general. At first, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I had the outline of this painting in my sketchbook and decided to embellish on it. Originally, the painting was going to be the three primary colors red, blue, and yellow. But, with the political elections still going on, everyone I talked to told me it should be red, white, and blue, thus the three figures in the portrait. The stars I used aren't traditional, but they embody the actual night sky. In the foreground, I have the words "In God we Trust" written, which is the personal note for me. I don't know how your views stand, but several weeks ago I discovered that the new gold coin would not have those words on the coin, but on the ridge of the coin where no one can see it. This painting is just a reminder to myself that they may try to take God out of the nation bit by bit, but they can't take him out of my artwork.

For the medium I used black, red, white, and blue acrylic paint on a 13" by 18" board, and I found that working with paint was much easier than I anticipated. This was a lot of fun and I enjoyed myself immensely. Particularly the part where I just flung paint all over the board to create the stars in the background!

Expressive Portraits

Students have begun working on their expressive portraits. Portraits do not have to be realistic, but should convey meaning or provoke thought by the viewer. Students are to post their work in progress by 7 pm this Friday, November 21.

Please take a minute and give these students your feedback. We really appreciate it.

Hello America,

Just to let you know, this is my completed expressive portrait project. Eyes are definitely not part of it. So, what I'm getting at is that my emotion/expression in this picture is blank/emotionless. Usually I use paper & such in my projects, & I've done the same on this canvas. Some beads are glued in the background to portray my dreams while my calm faces are chillin'. For each face, my hair is made out of foil in different styles, so I guess each face w/its differences resemble different moods I can be in, even though all of them are calm. I had no thought process when I made this. I'm random/unplanned/haphazard with my art. I just love lime green & turquoise.

Expressive Portrait: Lynda Pontzer

For my portrait artist I chose Lynda Pontzer. From teen years Pontzer has created oil and pastel portraits which are one of my most favorite mediums to work with. She has attended Penn State University, Mercyhurst College, Cleveland Institue of Art and the University of Arizona. She has obtained a Masters degree in Art as well as History. Before leaving to explore Europe and the Far East, Lynda worked as an enviromental arts teacher just outside of New York. During her time perod in Europe she taught portraiture at the University of Roskilde, Denmark.

Lynda now lives in North Westeren PA. She paints landscapes around her home but still pursues her passion of portraiture. She has her own studio in which her students can paint landscapes and portraits as well.

I chose this particular artist because I love the reality of the people she paints. Pontzer has a way of making them colorful even if she only paints with black, gray and brown. Her colors are very vibrant and compelling but also authentic. Her technique of shading really makes her subjects appear dynamic. She can also capture the expressions of the individuals she paints very nicely. Without making each portrait repetitive, each one seems to hold its own mood. I hope to one day master oil and pastel portraits just as she has.

Expressive Portrait Artist: Alice Neel

For my expressive portrait artist I chose Alice Neel. Alice Neel was born in 1900 in Merion Square, Pennsylvania then moved to Colwyn, Pennsylvania. She attended the Philadelphia School of Design for Women. She married a Cuban painter named Carlos Enriquez in 1925 and moved to Havana where she bore her first daughter, Santillana (who died of diqhtheria) and when they moved to New York she bore her second daughter, Isabetta. She suffered a nervous breakdown when her husband left her taking their daughter with him, and was hospitalized for a year after attempted suicide. The loss of her first born and grief over losing her family reflects deeply in a lot of her artwork, which show the state of motherhood. In 1939 she gave birth to Richard and in 1941 had Hartley both of which were by two different fathers. I was captivated by Alice Neel’s story and found her to be a very interesting if not sad woman; however, I was even more captivated by her artwork. Her paintings are noted for their use of line and color and are filled with emotion. This particular painting is a portrait of her son,Hartley, in 1965 and caught my attention the most. Alice Neel died in 1984.