"If you're not prepared to be wrong you will never come up with anything original"

Monday, February 4, 2013

It's Personal

I've never been a fan of politics. But really, what bothers me the most, is when people decide their opinions aren't opinions any more - they're facts. Sure, that's somtimes true, but more often than not they're just a point of view. I'm more than happy to listen to anyone's opinions (as long as they aren't yelling at me or each other, then no thanks) but at the end of the day, I'm going to have my own opinions. If someone can convince me, or anyone else, their opinion is true then that's great for them - they're doing a good job being politically active. I think that America needs everyones opinions in order to work - if everyone thought the same way, our country would be pretty boring. My personal views are pretty split between the republicans and democrats. But me, I don't think I'll ever have that burning desire. To me, it's personal. Whatever connection you have with the country, the government, and politics is up to you - and no one can control it. So whether you're a devout politician, or can barely remember the candidates names - as long as you're invested in your opinions I respect that. Maybe I'm too passive, maybe I always will be, but I'm happy like that. As far as I'm concerned I don't have to tell anyone how to think. 
It's about individuality.
It's about everyone's opinions
It's personal.
It's patriotic. 

The Final Product:

Good job, flag. You did well.
Thank you to my beautiful flag, Lindsey Patrick, for letting me paint her.


Friday, February 1, 2013

Challenge Prospectus - Steel Rods

So I think my phone posted the pictures in the reverse order of how I described them... sorry about that, hopefully it isn't too confusing.

Ok, so my prospectus idea is kind of complicated but I am really excited about it. I plan to use about SIX OR SEVEN STEEL RODS to hang different layers of an image from. As Smitty compared the idea to, it sort of resembles a set. Some images I thought of depicting were a forest, an ocean scene, or a garden (which is currently my favorite and shown in my previous post). Each rod would have a different layer of the image hanging from it. For instance, in the garden scene, the first rod would have hanging greenery hanging from it (the inspiration came from the greenery in Smitty's ofice over her desk). The second layer would have some shrubbery and flowers on the ground; this would obviously be suspended far lower than the hanging greenery at the top of the scneery so I would use fishing line. Progressing backwards, each layer would hold another piece of garden scenery, like a rose bush, background shrubbery, or a lattice that all fit together to create one image. From the front, the "set" would look like kind of like a 3D (that's not the best word but I'm not sure what is) image of a pretty garden. However, from the side, the viewer would be able to see the spaces in between layers. Each layer would have its basic shape cut out of probably a fairly thick cardboard, and then covered with a prettier, better material to work off of. Maybe I could paint each layer, but right now I kind of like the idea of painting a base color but creating variations in color, texture, and dimension by building details off of each layer with crumpled tissue paper (and maybe whatever other materials inspire me).

I'm pretty excited about doing a sculpture project; I haven't done one since sophomore year. My hope is to play with negative space, new materials, a hanging piece, motion, and working big! Hopefully it all works out - I think it could turn out great!!! :) 

Prospectus Sketches: Steel Rods

The first picture is what I would hope the scene to look like from the front.
The second is a little bit more of a description of my ideas. The third is a 3/4 view of my idea. The fourth is a description of how I would create the image on each layer. Sorry if the sketches aren't too helpful - the idea is a bit confusing but I think it'll be cool!