Norval Morriseau

The PowerPoint we watched about the aboriginal painter, Norval Morriseau, was very informational. It mainly talked about Norval's life and his woodland art. I thought it was cool when he was referred to as the Picasso of the north. His paintings were very unique because he used a variety of different types of lines, colours, and shapes. Also, Norval's paintings had spiritual meanings. The PowerPoint also talked about his association to the group of seven and how he influenced them. It also talked about norvels life and his art, and it showed differnt styles of woodland art. It showed how lines and color were important to woodland art, and the pantings were based after spiritual meanings. He faced the struggle of rejection because people didn't understand the spiritual meaning behind his paintings. Morriseau was so important because he was the first traditional aboriginal artist. 

http://youtu.be/pcznBdkZMEs

My mosaic project

For my mosaic art project, I chose to do a beach scene. I got this idea by looking at different mosaics on Google and this particular picture caught my eye:

When it came time to choose my materials for this project, I remembered that my grandma had a lot of different colored glass marbles, so I took the colors that I needed which were, light brown, dark brown, and black for the sand, white for the foam in the water, and different colors of blue for the water. I used grout to glue the marbles on a piece of wood. A challenge that I faced while creating this scene was that some of the marbles wouldn't properly fit where I wanted them to go and either they would hang over the edge or fall off, so I had to go through the marbles to find a perfect match to fit the space. This was one of my favourite projects to do! 

Here is the finished look:

Dot Day Project

For my dot day project, I chose to do a square on the class mural. I started by painting my square white so that my colors would look vibrant. Once the paint dried, I started to draw my pattern which are circles that over lap each other, I drew the circles in rings that resemble a target.

Here is a picture similar to what I did:

After I finished drawing my circles, I lightly erased my pencil marks just enough so I can still see the outlines. I then got multiple colors of paint and mixed a certain color to get a variety of different shades. For example I would use blue, and mix it with white, black, or purple, then I would paint the rings. One obstacle that I faced while painting was that there would be a few of us students working on the mural at once so there would constantly be someone erasing which caused the mural to shake and potentially mess up another student. Other than that, I really enjoyed doing this project!

Here is my painting so far:

 

Mosaic Q&A

What is a mosaic?

A mosaic is a type of art, creating a picture using small pieces of coloured glass, stones, tiles, and other materials.

When were mosaics used in history?

The history of the mosaic art goes back 4000 years or more. In the fourth century B.C, the Greeks started the pebble technique, using different coloured stones to create patterns. They would use precise geometric shapes and detailed scenes of animals and people.

 http://www.thejoyofshards.co.uk/history/

How were mosaics used?

The Greeks used the mosaics mostly as coverings for their floors, walls, and ceilings. Also, they would create mosaics of their gods or of their family. 

What kinds of art were created?

    Pictures from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaic

Art Q&A

What do you think of art? Are you excited about this class, or does it make you freak-out a bit? 

I really do enjoy art, so I'm excited for the class! Not one project is ever the same and it's fun watching everyone take a generic idea and produce so many different pieces. I'm not one for drawing personally and I'm not the greatest but sometimes people let that hold them back in art. There are so many different types and so many different forms of art that everyone is capable of being an artist if they would only push themselves and try. 

What is art?

"The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power." ~ http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/art 

To add to this definition, I would say art is quite hard to define. Art is everywhere you look and there is no right or wrong ways of art. Half of the time you don't realize what your looking at is art. People can be very closed minded and think of art as the basic drawing, colouring and painting, yet there is so many different types of art. Sure paintings and drawings are beautiful but when you open your eyes you really see how much art is around you. Right down to the way girls do their make up. What about your bedroom? You design that right down from the colour of your room to what is going on your walls. People's gardens, spray painted alleys, the inside of lockers. True art is creating something and not even realizing you are doing it. Without art this entire planet would be so dull and boring. Basically, art is WHATEVER you want it to be.

What is your favourite thing about school?

My favourite thing about school would have to be going to all my classes and learning something new, I am very keen for learning.

What is your least favourite thing about school?

I honestly don't mind high school and have very few things I dislike about it, but if I had to pick something I would say the only thing I don't like about this high school in general is that there is very little elective choices compared to other high schools. I feel like other school such as Thunder Bay high schools offer more classes I am interested in and it's sometimes frustrating because I feel like there is lots I'm missing out on and wish I had the chance to do. 

What kinds of activities do you hate doing in school?

The most activity that I hate doing in school is public speaking. I really don't like having to speak in front of a group of people because  I am really shy and it's out of my comfort zone.

If your learning experience in the class could be anything you wanted it to be, how would you change/design it?

If I could shape my own learning experience in this class I would like to try and challenge myself to do new things and work with others. I want to break out of my comfort zone this year and do everything I was to scared to do in my previous year. Attitude is a big challenge this year, I want to be way more positive and less negative and constantly tell myself I can do this instead of I can't do this. 

Are there any techniques you'd like to learn or develop? 

If I could pick any technique, I'd like to learn how to do shading. I find it very interesting and it makes such a impact on a simple drawing / sketch that really catches my eye so to be able to do that to my own work is a goal of mine. 

Sketch book

Now

I made my cover of the sketch book with buttons and a bow, because I thought it looked cute and girly.

For my second page, I made a college using words and pictures from a magazine, because those words represent who I am and the pictures are of some of my favourite people.

For my third page, I made the 1D logo, using the Aztec design, and wrote One Direction behind it, I did this because I really love One Direction

For my fourth page, I drew a skyline picture of a city & made a sunset, because I saw this picture before on google and I thought it looked awesome, so I decided to add it to my sketch book.

For my fifth picture, I drew the Shaka hand symbol because I absolutely love Emblem3 and they are always doing that hand gesture.

For my sixth picture, I had asked my friend to surprise me and draw anything she'd like, so she drew a fish, jellyfish, and crab in the sea.

For my seventh picture, I coloured my whole page the colours of the rainbow and did a heart in the middle because I love the colours of the rainbow

For my last page, I drew flowers because I think flowers are so pretty.