Saturday, February 20, 2010

New Art Collection

First off, here is a bunch of doodles I did with my brother Adam. His are on the left, mine are on the right.

Added background info: Notice the heads of the cartoon mice Pinky & The Brain? We borrowed a DVD from the library and copied them from the cover.
Notice the tiny Phineas & Ferb heads? Those were from memory. I like to keep in practice drawing those 2.
Notice the lightening bug looking up at the stars and the cute little frog? On the 16th we went to the theater and saw the movie "The Princess and the Frog". If you've watched it, you'll know how special that lightening bug is. I just drew the frog from my imagination.

Now, here are a couple of drawing exercises I did myself yesterday. The whole homeschooling group first had to draw lines with different tools and name every tool they used. There were the conventional tools like crayons, pencils, pens, brushes, and pastels, but we also had access to napkins, toothbrushes, sticks, knifes, and our own fingers. This is the result of my experimentation.

Next, everybody had to draw self-portraits of themselves using mirrors and with the one rule not to erase anything. There weren't quite enough mirrors to go around, so Bettina and I had an idea: being twins, we were perfectly suited to draw each other, seeing as we look almost exactly alike. I drew this portrait of Bettina using crayons, so I would be sure not to erase anything.
Please leave a comment after reading this post. Any feedback is much appreciated. Thanks!

Monday, February 15, 2010

Beach Landscapes

Today my family went to the beach for President's Day. It was the first perfect day in weeks! Above 70 degrees Fahrenheit. My family hasn't gone to the beach together in over a month, and it was so nice to get back to the sun, the sand, and the surf. Not that we actually swam in the ocean; it was too windy. It was also too windy to play a good game of Frisbee, but we played for a good 15 minutes anyway and had lots of fun.
Sometime during the day, I just took a look at the wide open sea, how the sky turns from dark blue to light blue when it touches the horizon, and how the water looks greener the further away it is. I decided right there, "When I get home, I'm going to paint that!" And I did!
Believe it or not, I only used 4 colors to achieve these 2 paintings: Cobalt Blue for the sky, Green Deep for the ocean and shrubbery in the foreground, Burnt Sienna for the sand, and Burnt Umber for the palm trees.
Luckily I had the foresight to snap photos of my painting before and after I added in the palm trees, because both pictures are masterpieces in their own right. The first one is basic, creates a sort of isolated atmosphere, and is easy for anyone to copy. Before I could call it finished, I knew it needed something to make it stand out, so I would know that I put some creativity into my work.
The second one is the final product, and I'm very proud of how it turned out. When I showed my family, everyone loved it and said it was my best painting yet. Bettina said that the figure in the foreground looks less like a person and more like a trash can. I don't take it personally though. If I intend for the figure to be a person, than that's a person, but anybody can interpret it differently.
Please leave a comment and tell me what you think about my art, how it makes you feel and what it makes you think. Thanks!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Happy Valentine's Day!

In honor of Valentines Day, I started painting again! This painting is mostly an experimentation of blending reds and blues, and I also tested out my jar of masking fluid for the first time.
To make the picture much bigger, just click it!
I hope everyone had a good day today celebrating with the people they cared about and loved most, I know I sure did.
"All you need is Love"
~John Lennon