The Art Institute

Adventures in Art Classes

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Drawing & Perspective

My least favorite class is Drawing & Perspective.  I am just not thrilled with graphite as a medium, but I do understand the need to grasp the concepts of perspective, shading, light sources, value, etc.  And I am re-learning how to use multiple pencils.

And smudging pencil lead makes me nauseous.  Bet you did not know that!  What is funny, I was working on a drawing at my Mom’s house today and using the smudging tool.  She commented that she did not know how I could even stand to do that…it made her sick just watching me.  That made me laugh.  Guess the apple doesn’t fall so far from the tree, eh?

Still Life - Ancient Pottery Restoration

Still Life - Ancient Pottery Restoration

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Design Week 3 – Billboard

Assignment: Design a billboard for a new product

Constraints:

  • Proper scale
  • No text but space for it
  • Follow billboard design concepts
  • Geometric shapes in the background
  • Non-geometric product that you create

My response:

  • Product: Agility training facility
  • Media: airbrushed background/ photo of Bailey
  • Grid and ovals in the background

Critique suggestions:

  • Break up the straight lines of the green grass to create a more jagged, broken up line

2009_July_DesignBilboard2_web1

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Photography Class – 1st Assignment

My expensive Canon G6 that has given me so many wonderful photos for the past 5 years did not pass with the instructor, so Lainey took me over to Roberts and we got a whole new setup.  I had always said if I learned how to used digital, I was going to buy a Rebel.  I am now the thrilled owner of a Canon Rebel T1i.  It was scary at first, but in no time it was feeling like my old Canon film SLR that was like an extension of my arm for so many years.

1st Assignment – 10 specific shots and angles – it was such fun!  Here are a few examples… (and the flower is an extreme closeup of the flower with an ant inside it, if you look close.  I had to keep squeezing the stem of the flower to get the ant to come out as it kept disappearing deep inside.)

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All things new…all at once…

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The same week I started school, Charlotte decided to foster a rescue pup, so Toby (Tobiyas – Hebrew for the Lord is Good) joined us. 

He captured our hearts, so we have plans to keep him.

In addition to Toby, we also welcomed into the family another niece! Number 17 of my nieces and nephews, Abigail is a sweet little baby and I was so frustrated at not being able to get over to see her immediately.  Plus…I was not sure if I had the flu or just a messed up gall bladder.  I felt nauseous all week.  Come to find out, I think it was just stress, so I got to hold her briefly on Sunday. 

All around…it was one wild week with a lot of “new” happening!

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Over the Top

The first big assignment of my college journey was in my Fundamentals of Design class.  The class I thought would be the most boring showed a thrilling promise from the get-go. This project took a long time (it was my FIRST, remember), but it was a lot of fun!

Constraints:

  • 1 image transferred onto a sketchbook page (I used a photo I took in our back yard)
  • Divide into 9 panels
  • Use different specified mediums/techniques to complete each panel
  • Bottom center had to be a texture (I used minky fabric with a tinting of grey marker)
Garden Lillies in 9 Squares

Garden Lillies in 9 Squares

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Disclaimer

This is my first personal blog…so please feel free to give me feedback, but be gentle. I am the sensitive, artistic type! Ok…so I am not really sensitive, but I will admit to not knowing what exactly I am doing.

Here is the initial intent:  to photo journal about my adventures at The Indianapolis Art Institute, with small diversions into other aspects of my life as they offer themselves.

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Getting Started – July 2009

I am writing 5 weeks of this in retrospect, but I will say that the weeks prior to and the first week of school had my nerves all over the map.  While I am not sure why (since I go into businesses and have stood in front of classrooms for years) for some reason I was a mess and it was rough.  After that first week, things began to settle down.

Classes this quarter looked to be pretty light.  It did not take me long to realize that “light” was a totally incorrect adjective!

  1. Mon: Drawing and Perspective
  2. Wed AM: Photography
  3. Wed PM: Digital Imaging (Adobe Photoshop)
  4. Thu: Fundamentals of Design