Friday, February 29, 2008

self portrait

Although I am swamped with homework, fortunately I had to take some time away from it to create something for my page in this years ArtFest fatbook. This is what I ended up with. I learned part of this process in a workshop taught by Traci Bunkers. I took a picture of myself with my Quan Yin statue and enlarged it so that each quadrant was approximately 8" x 11.5". Then I collaged and painted each quadrant separately. After that I put the quadrants back together again. I planned on adding some more collage and paint to the whole thing at his stage but it went into standby mode while I got overwhelmed by textile design school. So there I was worrying about what I would do for my fatbook page and trying to think of something that I could be proud of but would not take tons of time that I didn't have. While I was looking around the studio for inspiration, I happened upon the unfinished portrait and thought it might work. I took a picture of it since it was too big to fit on my scanner then dropped it into Photoshop. I've been wanting to play around with my non-digital art in Photoshop for quite some time now but usually get stuck pretty quickly after it is scanned in. Not this time. I used the hue/saturation feature on lots of different parts of the image and messed around with the brightness/contrast some and this is what I came up with. I then croppped and scaled it down to the right size for the book and printed out 60 copies. I mailed them off to the host tonight. It will be so awesome to see what all the other participants have come up with.I'm really happy with this process and am inspired to do more of this kind of work. I think my new dog Foxy needs a portrait. She would make an awesome subject.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Final Abstract Scribble Painting

This is my final Abstract Scribble design. I'm really happy with the way it came out. I really like the refinements of the linework and having each motif include 3 colors which came out of the collaborative process. Now on to the next assignments and workshops.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

back to my textile design...

Although my new dog, Foxy, has been the most awesome distraction from school, I am getting back to it. In this post, I showed you my motif and layout in black and white. The next step was to create color comps and here is what I came up with... This last one is what the client/instructor chose. She helped me refine my motif by adding some more purposeful line work and color accents. Next I will show you my final painting and some of the motifs I am working on for 3 new assignments.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Check out this great series

From the website overview:

"AFRICAN AMERICAN LIVES 2 again journeys deep into ancestry of an all-new group of remarkable individuals, offering an in-depth look at the African-American experience and race relations throughout U.S. history. Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. returns as series host, guiding genealogical investigations down through the 20th century, Reconstruction, slavery and early U.S. history, and presenting cutting-edge genetic analysis that locates participants' ancestors in Africa, Europe and America. Joining Professor Gates in the new broadcast are poet Maya Angelou, author Bliss Broyard, actor Don Cheadle, actor Morgan Freeman, theologian Peter Gomes, publisher Linda Johnson Rice, athlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee, radio personality Tom Joyner, comedian Chris Rock, music legend Tina Turner, and college administrator Kathleen Henderson, who was selected from more than 2,000 applicants to have her family history researched and DNA tested alongside the series' well-known guests."

For me this series does an excellent job of laying out the legacy of the dehumanaizing effects of slavery on our country as a whole for all races. The effects are still being felt today although we don't always make the link. Watching this series helps make the link as well as helping me to better understand the feelings I have about race issues.

Friday, February 08, 2008