Forest Among the Mist - Independent Studies Project 1

I took a trip to nearby Lake Pine to take some photographs, and came upon this particular spot. It was foggy this day so looking at the lake through the trees made for some really cool shots. I loved this particular one because you feel like you're in your own little world surrounded by the canopy of dead trees waiting to come back to life in the spring, and you can see the calm serenity of the foggy lake in the background. I also love the little concrete island with the weather monitor on it in you can see peeking through the branches because it's lined with ducks resting on it while they watch over the water. 

One of my favorite hobbies has always been photography. I grew up with my mom constantly taking pictures and getting fancy new cameras every few years and spending probably twice as long taking family photos as other families because she wanted to take them herself and they HAD to be perfect. I get my perfectionist habits from her when it comes to testing different angles for photos. I would like to work on learning the different settings on my camera so I can manipulate things like the lighting and white balance in my photos. I'm hoping to do more with photography in the future and learn gain skill throughout this school year. 

Casa Sopeña - AP Art 7

The last project I did was with the same medium I used for this one. I was so excited with how it turned out that I decided to do another piece similar to it. This photograph the project was based off of was taken on a property called Casa Sopeña, located in mexico.  I almost used this photo to create a project using chalk pastels, but I loved how the metal framework in my last project like this worked out so I thought I'd give it another chance.

I decided to add a bit more detailing to this piece and put some grass next to the pathway leading to the door, as well as the bricks you see on the wall in the photograph.  Even though there's obviously not as much detailing in this piece compared to other projects I've done, I wanted to keep it simple because I love how the shadow looks when you cast a light through the piece.  Doing a project like this may seem easy to complete, but the truth is you  have to have a very steady hand in order to prevent any mess ups and be able to go turn out his. I'm not always good at making clean lines, but I was able to commit to the project and make the final product of the shadow look more realistic I love how everything turned out in this and I definitely plan on using it for future projects.

Shadow Daze - AP Project 6

I bought two wooden picture frames for two of my recent projects I did this year, but because they were on canvases, there was no room in the frames to put the glass back in. Because of that, I was left with two spare pieces of glass, and decided to have a little fun with them. Growing up, my grandma always loved doing little art activities with me when I came to visit, and one time bought me a little "stained glass window" kit where you could paint on this plastic ornament and hang it up in front of your window. I remembered how much fun I had doing that activity with her, and thought I'd do something similar with this piece of glass. 

I drove around a nearby neighborhood where a lot of fancy houses are located, and spotted a grand french doorway with two giant wooden doors and swirly metal working decorated over the windows of the doors. For this piece, I decided to recreate my own version of the doors by painting black acrylic paint all over the glass, and scraping it off in certain areas so it looked like two doors with fancy windows. This project can be 2D as well as 3D because when you stand the glass up with a light shining behind it, it casts a shadow that looks like the doors. I haven't seen anyone else in my class try something like this, so I was excited to try something different and I was so excited about how the final product turned out.

Zen House - AP Projet 5

I've been walking past this house in downtown apex for years and always loved how simple yet classic the architecture was. It seems so welcoming with its giant pillars up front and the grand doorway front and center.  I managed to get a good centered shot of the home, and thought it'd be fun to do a piece based off it. Originally I was planning to draw this with charcoal, but thought I'd give pen and ink a try.

The last time I used pen and ink was back in art 1 about 3 years ago, and one of my favorite projects we did was creating zentangles. Because the house is so simple, I decided to draw different patterns and make a zentangle rather than just draw the regular siding. Since the piece was so busy I kept the pillars, the doorway, the window on top, and the shutters simple like the original photograph. I was nervous I would mess up the lines and not be able to erase anything since I was using pen, so I started it in pencil and went over with pen. I was slow to starting the piece because I wanted everything to be lined up well and spaced out evenly, but once I finished the pillars and the doors, I was able to decorate it any way I liked. I forgot how much I enjoyed using this medium, so I'm glad I used it for this project and I'm definitely considering using it for another project soon.

Hanging Treasure - AP Project 4

I said in one of my other posts how I love making photo transfers then painting over certain details in them to make them stand out more. I still love doing so, but there are some days where the photo transfers just don't work out well and they start falling apart. This particular photo worked out very well in the center and I was able to make the image look clean and clear where I most needed it, but the surrounding areas of the picture started coming off. It was hard to clear up the image in certain areas so a lot of the details in the white window frame were difficult to make out.  

I painted over the door in the background as well as part of the wind chime so they would stand out, and I love how they turned out but it still seemed like something was missing. I added detailing and shadows to part of the window frame to make the piece seem more complete and had a bit of trouble making sure the colors didn't look muddy, but once I cleaned it up I think it complimented the piece very well. I would like to maybe add even more detail to the top of the frame at some point in the future, but I still love how this piece looks and I found a nice wooden frame for it as well.