Week 5 - Ted Talk DONE.

When I was first introduced to this project, I thought: "Coolio! We get to choose whatever we want to learn and we're getting graded for completion!" 

But then I heard the words "culminating in your own TED Talk"...

First, there was a short period of denial:

Then, there was just hysterical crying (on the inside of course):

I had nightmares about the day when I would have to stand up on stage in the audion and talk about myself in front of other people, so I did what I usually did for presentations-- I procrastinated.  

But I have to say that my "procrastination" was more along the lines of "I distracted myself with oil painting", so I worked my butt off on each painting, making each one as perfect as possible until my head exploded with annoyance (mainly annoyance with myself for procrastinating).  Although putting off my TED talk until the last minute was not the smartest thing to do for a gifted project, it was through this intense process of procrastination that I was able to really do a lot more with oil painting than what I had initially expected to get out of this project.

What I mean is that I committed almost all of my energy to painting, so all those hours of painting (sometimes until 3 in the morning) allowed me to experiment with different styles and techniques, to develop my basic skills, and most importantly, to think about whatever I felt like thinking about.  If you don't know already, I am an introvert and I am extremely slow at processing some things, so the extra time I spent on oil painting allowed me to organize and ponder about things.  All that pondering ultimately helped me to come up with my oh-so-very-meaningful purpose for my TED Talk.  

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Now, to talk more about my actual presentation, I thought it was an average-Allison presentation.  I perfected my script, created a pretty awesome powerpoint (if I do say so myself), and then I practiced and practiced and practiced during the days leading up to the presentation (actually more like during those 48 hours before the presentation, but I did have a legitimate reason, I was at Deutschfest... well no that's actually just what I say to myself to make me feel better...).  

As usual, my nerves took over and I didn't trust myself to be able to present without my notecards, so I used them for the entire presentation, which is something that I need to work on for future presentations (this was some feedback that I got after my TED talk).  Someone also commented that they thought my purpose was really nice because it was different (Thanks!).

What did I think of my TED talk?

Well, I would agree that my lesson was unique, as it was mainly about what true art is and why this is important in our world today.  Like I said already, I really liked my powerpoint :D.  The only criticism I would have for myself is still that my public speaking skills need work.  I need to rely less on my notecards, enunciate and emphasize for more clarity, and move around on stage in a more natural way.  Thinking back to when I was standing on stage, I think I stood in the back corner of the stage, moved my foot around awkwardly/unconsciously, and the rest of my body was almost "stiff", which made my voice sound nervous as well.  

Overall, I am happy with the way this project ended for me.  The day that I presented was the most stressful day of school I had ever had because of several reasons:

1. I had to get to the audion on time with all four of my paintings, some of which still had not dried and I wasn't sure how I was going to transport them by myself and still get to class on time.  
2. I got blue paint on my WHITE shirt!!! (I'm not sure that it is coming off...)
3. I forgot my flashdrive (with my powerpoint) at home.
4. Let me say this again, I forgot the flashdrive, which had my powerpoint, at HOME. 

Now that it's over, I can breathe (and sleep) again.  I know now that I need to have backups saved online or directly onto my computer, so that I will never have to stress about such horrifying situations again.  I think I'm going to continue painting, maybe not at the same rate that I was painting at for this project, but maybe a little bit here and there because it really does let me take a break and think.  

I'm excited to see the remaining TED Talks for tomorrow and good luck!

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Perhaps, to help with the stress, here are some Lemon Crumb Muffins.

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P.S.

If you didn't get a chance to see my last painting, here it is: (I created it from a combination of two pictures, so it's not entirely original, but it is... kind of....)

Week 4 - Individual

It has finally come to my last painting!! And as some of you may have heard from my vlog in last week's post, I explained that I had changed my mind about what I would be doing for my last painting, that I was going to paint an image that already exists (and not make one up because I have no experience).  On his website, Simon Brushfield has listed six suggestions for creating original art.  

In short, Brushfield essentially says:

1. Be passionate and work to refine your creative skill.
2. Understand that you need to be patient, determined, and persistent to finish difficult creative projects.
3. Develop an ability to express compassion in your art.
4. Use contrasts for a dramatic and visual effect. 
5. Be able to express atmosphere, whether it's romance or a "unique untouchable mystery."
6. Express human emotion and imagination, but not so wildly that your art becomes irrational.

And just as a final suggestion, Brushfield writes that artists must live a life full of different experiences and interesting projects, which will contribute to an original painting's richness and character. 

Even if any of you do not know me personally, do you really think that I, a high school girl, has experienced anything worth painting about so far in my life? Well, I haven't, and I do not have enough experience with painting either, Say for example, I want to paint an apple and make it up in my mind.  I would have to look off of either a real apple sitting in front of me or an image of an apple, in order to paint the apple, because I wouldn't know how to make the apple look naturally realistic, which is why I changed my mind about creating my own painting from my own mind. 

However, I was dabbling in doodling one day (and having oodles of fun not worrying about my TED talk) and I changed my mind again, kind of… 

Instead of painting a scene from a single image, Stephanie suggested that I create an image by splicing together several pictures.  This way, I would not have to worry about my lack of experience with painting, and I could still reach my original goal of creating my own art (sort of). 

So I doodled some more and brainstormed to sketch out what I wanted to paint:

Many of you are probably scrolling down my blog, expecting an image of my last oil painting to show up, well it's not going to pop up any time soon (sorry!).  I have finished the painting, but I'm going to wait until my TED talk to reveal it.  For now, I need to finish memorizing my TED Talk script… while I'm happy with the way my paintings have turned out, I am not having any positive thoughts about my TED Talk.  To be honest, I think I'm screwed... Wish me luck.

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For my friend, who I call: 

I hope you'll enjoy these really yummy (and cute) mini Monkey Muffins!

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Week 3 - Texture and Vlog

This week's lesson was on applying texture in oil painting and I decided to paint an ewok... because it's so fluffy! I kept looking at this picture and I just couldn't stop smiling, which was basically my motivation for painting this, so that I will forever have an ewok's fluffy-ness to look at!

Although, I have to admit, I was also inspired by someone's little Yoda ;) and my childhood memories of watching Star Wars over and over and over and over with my brother.

Please excuse my camera for recording fuzzy videos, and my blabbering (that's not actually a word, is it...) and my horrendous grammar, as well as all the and's, because's, and so's... 

Here is my final painting if you missed it in the video (which was literally around 10 hours, so I had to sit there and sift through TEN HOURS of me painting and cut it down to five minutes.  I think my eyes died a little that day):

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Try these delectable Cappuccino Muffins! I think I might make them for my brother this week, he's a bit of a coffee addict.. :) Hope you have a great day!

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Week 2 - Shadows

The second lesson I'm focusing on is shadowing.  I have always had trouble with shadows because I just don't have that ability to see tints of color in dark areas.  For example: that little shadow behind the door.  All I see is "dark", whereas an artist might describe it as "some white, some orange-ish yellow (from the light), a tiny smidge of pink (from the wall-- yes my room is pink, don't judge), and maybe throw in a little blue as well."  As you can see, "dark" won't help me paint. 

Since it was just after Valentine's Day, I stuck a flower in a vase, threw a red table cloth (in the spirit of Chinese New Year) behind the flower, and decided to paint it.  I took a picture of the still life thinking: "I'll need to show my readers what I'm painting, so I should probably take a picture of it." 

Good thing I did because my mind wasn't really working when I chose to paint a flower as a "still life" because you know, cut flowers wilt quickly since air bubbles block water molecules from going up their xylems (learning biology! Yay…) 

Monet once said: 

"I'm chasing the merest sliver of color. It's my own fault, I want to grasp the intangible. It's terrible how the light runs out, taking color with it."

While the light stole Monet's color, nature stole my flower… so yea… this happened:

Anyway, I had already painted these so far:

Since my flower had died, I had to paint the rest of the still life based on the first picture I took, and since my camera's perspective didn't match my sitting-down-on-a-stool-and-looking-down-at-the-flower perspective, I had to change the shape and colors of what I had already painted….

Also, Stephanie accused me of hoarding paint.. because I wasn't sharing with the canvas??… whut?

(This week was obviously not a great week of painting for me.)

Anyway, I used more paint, as Stephanie instructed, and the painting looked rougher, but the flower itself turned out a little brighter, and I finished the rest of the painting in less time, so I guess now I understand what you were trying to say, Stephanie, thank you for all your help. 

From this lesson, I learned four things:

Lektion 1:

Obviously, I learned about shadowing.  First of all, shadows are not black.  Instead, shadows are all about that light! Because light can bounce off all different surfaces, light can diffuse throughout the room, tinting shadows with a little blue, maybe some green, maybe some brown, but regardless of what color, shadows are definitely not black! Many artists suggest using dark complementary colors to paint more realistic shadows, instead of painting shadows that literally suck the life out of the painting like giant black holes..

There are three types of shadows: cast, form, and proximity shadows. 

1. Cast shadows are formed from an object blocking a light source, so they are typically sharper, darker, and more defined. 
• Ex: your shadow when you walk, the shadow on the grass from a tree
2. Form shadows are a part of the object that is not directly under a light source, so they are typically softer and lighter to help give the object texture and shape.
• Ex: side of a cup, side of an orange
3. Proximity shadows are where two objects meet and are usually not affected by light, so they are typically the darkest areas of the painting.
• Ex: the dark lines around a closed door, between your fisted fingers, between two books

Today, many artists use a technique known as "broken color," which was developed by the impressionists.  Broken color is literally broken up color on the canvas, so artists use short brush strokes to make a sort of "patchwork" of colors.  A lot of Monet's paintings utilized this technique, which looks interesting and a little exciting to try out.  The end results are definitely intriguing because you can see the broken up colors, but somehow they fit together like a oddly shaped puzzle pieces. 

Lektion 2:

I told you above that I've always had trouble observing color, so I did some research and found this really awesome quote by Monet:

"When you go out to paint, try to forget what objects you have before you, a tree, a house, a field or whatever. Merely think here is a little square of blue, here an oblong of pink, here a streak of yellow, and paint it just as it looks to you, the exact color and shape, until it gives your own naïve impression of the scene before you."

If you don't already know, Claude Monet was a famous painter who lived during the Impressionist movement.  He loved to paint outside, where he could observe the scenery for himself, and with his canvas, he could convey what he was thinking and how he felt at that time.  Usually, Monet would paint many paintings of the same scene at different times of the day to explore the effects of light on shadows and color.  As Monet would paint, he would basically look at the scene before him in splotches of color.  Then he would mix those colors, add them to the canvas, and voila! Look at the painting and instead of seeing random shapes of color, you see a picture of a moment in time, and you might even feel whatever Monet wants you to feel. 

Sounds so easy right?

Well I'm not Monet, and I can't simplify what I see to that extent.  I always see an object for what it is.  For example: Monet looking at a tree might see dots of green for leaves; dark blue, purple, and brown sharp lines for the trunk; and maybe a few smoother brown lines here and there for branches.  I would just see the individual green leaves, a brown trunk and branches. 

However, I think that with time and more practice, I can become more comfortable with seeing colors instead of objects.  I've noticed that when I look at apples now, I don't just see shades of red, I can also see tiny lines of purple on top of the red, and yellow dots and greens and browns as well.  Oil painting has really opened my eyes to how complex and beautiful some of the most simple objects in life are. 

Lektion 3:

With this lesson, I got more practice with painting on wet paint, and I understand now why so many people love oil painting because painting on wet paint is literally amazing! I can "erase" what I've painted because it hasn't dried, and I can also mix new colors directly on the canvas!

Lektion 4:

I thought about why I don’t like to use a lot of paint (as Stephanie pointed out), and I realize that I am the type of person who wants to make her painting perfect and does not want to make a mistake because she feels that it is too much work to fix that mistake (which to be honest, really is a lot of work, at least for me because even though I like working with wet paint, it can still be frustrating).  So basically, I am a lazy perfectionist.  I'm not proud of being lazy, but it's true and I just have to accept that.  I am certainly hardworking in many cases (because I want something to be perfect), but I am also lazy.  Guess I gotta work on that.

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My friend really likes nutella, so I was thinking about trying to make these Banana Nutella Swirl Muffins.  Enjoy!

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Resources: 

- http://guidetooilpainting.com/shadows.html

- http://www.oil-painting-techniques.com/traditional-oil-painting-techniques.html

- https://impressioniststech.wordpress.com/the-technique/