Pictures. Pictures? PICTURES?!!?!!?!?!!?!

Welp my little followers, the title says it all. PICTURES. TONS AND TONS OF PICTURES. (A side note for Stamper. I took the ACT with Alec today and we discussed arts beforehand. Be proud!!) Anyhow. I'm not entirely sure about this whole media exploration blog thing. But I'm pretty sure I've already been doing that in my sketches. First offff. Let me note that my concentration is based off Mauri Islanders (New Zealand) so I'm trying to incorporate that into everything as much as possible. My first pictures doesn't really have much to do with media exploration, but I'm interested in seeing how it turns out once we actually start to work with clay.

If you look really close, you can notice all these weird little men-looking creatures. They're called hei tikis, and are given to Mauri children by their parents as... Let's say... A 16th, 18th, or 21st birthday gift. It's a sign they're growing up, basically. I have all these different designs/looks for it, and it's going to have a green glaze, as most actually hei tikis are made from a substance called taonga (greenstone).






My second "media exploration" was the watercoloring. I'm sure you've already seen it, but I'm going to put another picture up to jog your memory. :P

I'm not sure exactly what project I'm going to incorporate these watercolored faces into, but I'm going to do it in something we do. We're kindof transitioning into 3d elements in the second semester, or at least right now, so I'm just waiting to be able to use it. I've really taken a fancy to watercolor this past year; and I really will enjoy watercoloring faces. It will seriously help me with my issues with human anatomy since I'm having to draw a different ethnicity and make the features shape accordingly. Overall, I feel successful with this medium. :)



Then there's the last one, and the first project we really did. The whole carving out lithography stuff. And that woman.

These four are in order of how I practiced printing. The pencil (design), checking to make sure everything was carved out correctly and exploring rainbow rolls, checking once again that I carved correctly, and then an actual print I was trying to make.
I really wanted to find some project to incorporate this into, but when I tried it with the mixed media project, it turned out horribly. I attempted to print ontop of what I had already made (it seemed awesome in my head) but it just didn't work out at all. It smudged and was horrible. HORRIBLE. But... That doesn't mean I can't keep on using it for printmaking by itself.


Well.... THAT'S ALL FOR RIGHT NOW....
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Here are some random pictures.

Berea College

Ever since I talked with Mr.Whitley about it, and how much he seemed to enjoy it (given that was... more than a few years ago), I started researching it. And the prospect of not paying for ANYTHING except room and board when I go to college seems so amazing. I could end up going to grad school and having half the debt I would if I went to, let's say, Murray State, UK, or anywhere else. Of course, since the college is free, the admissions rate is very low. One of the most difficult colleges in Kentucky to apply to. The acceptance rate is around 19%. However, the requirements for acceptance are very limited, and luckily for me, I believe I have all of those requirements. Here they are:
http://www.berea.edu/admissions/admissioninformation/admission-requirements.asp
I find it interesting that 2 years of laboratory science is required by this college. That makes me feel extremely confident, because as of right now, I know about only about 20 students at Lone Oak High School of the 1,200 that go here that have 2 years of actual laboratory science. Berea is one of the top liberal arts colleges in the United States. I find it amazing the diversity in classes, people, ethnicity, and majors that keeps on popping up in reviews I've read. Another thing I find interesting is that the deadline for applications is on April 30th, a lot later than other colleges or universities.
The arts department is very well-focused and formed at Berea because of the fact it is a liberal arts college. It doesn't say exactly what the portfolio requirements are, but it does recommend an AP studio course, and a recent portfolio from that. The portfolio will be judged by the ENTIRE art faculty, which is kind of nerve-wracking, and they will determine whether your concentration best be fit in Studio, General, or Art History. It seems like they take their "arting" seriously, and I'm glad they do. :)
Here's the link to the art department.
http://www.berea.edu/cataloghandbook/dpc/art-prg.asp
Here's the link to the general website.
http://www.berea.edu/

"Lady with an Ermine" ? ? ?

This is an odd painting by Leonardo da Vinci, circa. 1490. It's entitled "Lady with an Ermine". I don't know what attracted me to feature this as one of my own "oh so elaborate, in-depth, life-changing elaborate art evaluations". Perhaps it's that I feel as if Leonardo had a sense of a humor whilst commissioning this piece. I like to imagine him painting this and thinking "Maiiiinnnn. This woman be crazy, holdin a ermine and makin me paint her and dat nasty thang."----- What even is an ermine? Google time. Oh. It's a weasel. Why is she holding a weasel? 15th century women are crazy. Oh. Now to get to the elements and principles of art hidden within this exhilarating portrait. Oh, they're in there, hiding in the ermine's eyes, no doubt.. Just look in those eyes... Gaze deep... Deeper... Deeper. Ah. There's that life-changing experience. Now you can go around and tell people you've stared into the eyes of an ermine.... Let's study little leo's painting now! Okay, here's the analysis of the principles and elements. So one thing that I've noticed and am surprised immensely by... is Leonardo's use of line, shape/form, space/perspective, or rather, lack thereof. He seems to do quite well, no surprise there, on the colors and values of the woman's clothes. He follows the contours and records them very well... Every shadow, every crevice of them, recorded with the need of a shadow or highlight. He clearly understands how to paint a value scale. Notice how he paints her skin, and how he also tries to apply this process to it as well. It's not as detailed and precise as the clothing, though. Now notice how he applies this detail on the ermine as well.  However... Look at the woman again. There are some trivial details that I deem... Unexpected... from Da Vinci. First, look at her headband. There is no use of perspective there. It is simply a straight line across her forehead and her hair. It doesn't follow her head, or curve to imply that her head is round. IT ISN'T FLAT, LEO! While you're near her head, also, notice the unibrow looking thing. (What?) Second, notice her hair. He uses the correct value on it, yes, but THERE'S NO LINE. It simply looks like a giant blob to me. If he had used line on her hair with that use of value, it would have created a wonderful example of implied texture. Another thing I noticed... He didn't use perspective or form/shape on her necklace correctly, either. It looks like he simply painted circles on her neck. There isn't enough emphasis on the value to manipulate it to look like a sphere. While we're at it, look at the background. Black? Feeling depressed today, Da Vinci?
All in all, I think leo coulda stepped up his game on this a bit. Come on leo. Get serious, bruh. I don't care if she's holding an ermine and you can't help from laughing.

Bucknell University ( and maybe a few others :3 )

Let me introduce you to the private, non-profit Bucknell University, of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. You may be like "Clayton. You is crazy. Why PA, bruh?" I don't know. Shut up and listen to me talk about it. Get out of my life if you don't want to listen. :) I really have no idea why I'm so intensely drawn toward schools in Pennsylvania. This is legitimately the 4th college there that I've been considering. Possibly due to my ability to make things more difficult than they're supposed to be, of no surprise, all of these colleges are difficult to get into to, or extremely expensive. This one is no exception. The minimum ACT scores required by the college are a 27-31. Wowowowoww! So obviously chock full of smart people.... Good. That's what I enjoy.... Let's see the out of state tuition... *scrolly scrolly... lookie lookie...* OH MY GOD. WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN... $50,000 tuition. Screw life. Although, there is an average $23,000 scholarship/ financial aid. Let's see admission rate.... *hesitantly scrolly... sad face* 30% acceptance. PENNSYLVANIA, Y U NO MAKE MY LIFE EASY? I'll link the website that I find all of this on at the very end of this. In fact, let's just ALL THE LINKS at the bottom. Alas, tiempo to get serious for a second. I really enjoy this college. It seems very successful with all of these benefits: 1:10 teacher/student ratio, 97% of professors have the highest degree in their field, 67% of students say they have manageable workload, students are teachers are friendly, 93% of students come back after their first year, gives credit for AP CLASSES... It seems fun! Most popular majors are Social Sciences & Liberal Arts, and Language & Literature. My kindof school. :333 I explored the website of the actual University for a while, and it seems quite interesting. I am legitimately considering this school now for my higher education after my basics here in Kentucky. I just hope that my debt won't be too large. It sucks that the school is so expensive. But I'm extremely drawn towards it. I couldn't really find a specific application process for the arts department, however, I saved a few links that are helpful. Here they are. :)) 

Summarized info about Bucknell: http://collegeprowler.com/bucknell-university/

School website: http://www.bucknell.edu/

Admissions (application) website: http://www.bucknell.edu/x68.xml#

Arts scholarships: http://www.bucknell.edu/x67410.xml

Art department: http://www.bucknell.edu/x722.xml

What is Art? (Article Brief)

Clayton Tracy
Mrs. Stamper
Art III
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/07/23/what-do-we-really-mean-by-art/

• This article was composed by Marilina Maraviglia. She is a college student, a translator, and a freelance writer. I will only summarize the first 3 parts, as the article is very, very long. Check for yourself, if you wish. She starts out the article asking "What is Art?". To me, that is a question like "What is the meaning of life?" I believe that art is what we make of it, and. like most things in life, what we put into it is what we get out of it. She gives the literal definition of art, "...something that expresses an idea, an emotion, or, more generally, a world view." She then goes on to argue how the definition of art has changed with the time period, and how it is a "controversial topic". I do slightly agree with her about art changing over the time period, but not necessarily the definition of art being "controversial". Regardless of however many different cultures have different views on what art is "considered", I believe that art is simply a way that humans connect with one another, and show off their OWN culture, as not two cultures of the world have exactly the same perspective on something.
• In the second part of her article, she appeals to two professional european artists, Alexander Daniloff and Johnathan Ball, to explain the where traditional art met contemporary. Alexander explains that one cannot trace a straight line back to this point, but rather, a few parabolas, or... a spiral. He then goes on to explain the types of artwork he enjoys, and then artist Johnathan Ball explains his digital design work, and says "Yes, most definitely (we can draw a line from traditional to contemporary art). Many of the same techniques are used, just in slightly different ways and with different tools. The same principles apply, however you create art." I don't particularly care the part of the article where the artist explain the type of artwork they enjoy, I simply care for the topic, how tradition met contemporary. They go off on these little talks about their own artwork, artwork they don't like, etc., but they do have interesting views on how the two subjects met, as I've highlighted in italics. I agree completely with Daniloff, as there are many upon many different sub-categories of artwork and not all of them had reached the "tradition-contemporary line" at the same point. I, however, do not agree with Ball. He claims that the same techniques and principles are applied when you create art, you just do it with different tools than people  in the past did. No. No no no no no no. Some techniques die out, and some new are born. Some principles of art are outdated, and new are created. Even though there are the basic principles of art, movement, harmony, unity, etc., people who created traditional art may not have necessarily even known what some of those techniques were. I can guarantee you not all of those techniques were commonly known until the contemporary time period. Regardless, both artists are qualified to talk about where they believe contemporary met traditional, and have the right to their own opinion. 
• In her third part of the article, she speaks of aesthetics in digital art. She argues that because of the effortlessness that a person can put into a digital artwork, many people believe that it isn't really art or an art form by itself. She, again, appeals to an artist, Jan Willem Wennekes. I completely agree with Wennekes on most everything that she says about digital art. She claims that, digital art is just like an other art form, where one must master the tools, for example, color theory, position of lighting, and once one does master these, their artwork shows it. Regardless of what form of art it is. Wennekes then goes on to talk about how digital art is, in a sense, an overlap of all kings of different art forms, as shown by how some digital art look like photographs, some look like paintings, etc. 
• I would have read the rest of the article and posted about it, but it's just toooooooo long. I would have so much writing to do and be sitting here for hours. I hope you get the jist of it all from these 3 paragraphs. :) 

Halloween!!... Not really.

Hey there guys! :) I thought I was going to do a blog this week over halloween or something creepy to fit the theme, but I found this instead. I'd stumbled upon this before, I believe. But theses were more interesting.

Here's a link to the site that I found them on. http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2JlFTo/24flinching.com/word/gold-seal/inspiring-artists/still-life-still-alive/

I just think that this artist is amazing. As I've been looking through modern/contemporary artwork over the last couple of months, I've noticed that many artist nowadays seem to actually produce their artwork "on-scene" in a gallery or some other such place. This in itself adds a sortof "excitement" to the artwork, if you will. But just because an artist does that, doesn't necessarily mean they are talented. However, this woman seems exceptionally talented. Not only does she play with the viewers' perception of her artwork, but she knows how to paint very well. She knows what values/shades need to go where to create a certain shadow or lack thereof, highlights in the right places, etc. With this type of artwork, you MUST get all of this perfectly correct or it will ruin the entire piece. Yet, she never faltered. Placement was also very important. If the model was too close or too far away, the illusion would be ruined. But, placing the model directly infront of the background allows the viewers' eyes to connect the two, and connect them "as one". Kudos to this woman. I'd love to see one of these additions to a gallery in person. If you ever want to search for this on your own, just type in "still life still alive" on google and I promise some of these will pop up. :)

Disgusting...

This is my exact face and question I asked to the employers (but really myself) that posted this online job application to be a "Sports Merchandizing Art Director".
http://www.jobsinsports.com/job-listing/sports-merchandiser-art-director-scotts-valley-ca-453169578?source=simplyhired.com&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=Art%20Director&utm_content=Scotts%20Valley,%20CA&utm_campaign=simplyhired
Contrary to popular belief, I'm just fine with sports. I don't care for them, but I don't profusely dislike them for no reason. However... This job just seems absolutely horrid. I mean, the requirements just scream out to me "HEY! YOU! YEAH YOU! BE OUR ART/MARKET/RESEARCH/MERCHANDISE/ORGANIZING/OFFICE DIRECTOR AND DO EVERYTHING WE TELL YOU AND LOVE THE COMPANY PUHLEASEEE?!?!?!?!?!?"
If you actually read all of the requirements, some of them are just ridiculous. Just to cite a few..

Understands the brand and is passionate about its past, present and future.


Take the lead on all creative projects and be able to balance great design with cost and time requirements.

• Command Skills: Relishes leading; takes unpopular stands if necessary, encourages direct and tough debate but isn’t afraid to end it and move on, is looked to for direction in a crisis and is energized by tough challenges.
• Conflict Management: Steps up to conflicts, seeing them as opportunities, reads situations quickly and is good at focused listening
  • Flexibility and the ability to handle constructive criticism are essential
  • Must be able to turn around projects quickly and accurately
  • Meet deadlines and work under pressure
    
    
    If you actually read all of the requirements, some of them are just ridiculous. Just to cite a few..
    I mean, it may just be me, but it seems like this company just wants you do to all of the things they don't want to do, and you need to be happy about it while you're doing. The entire job description basically says : You're going to have to work with people all the time, and they're most likely to be people you don't like, and if you all fight, you have to deal with it. You also have to do every project we tell you about (and occasionally we get mad at you for ones you didn't do that we didn't tell you about), and you have to organize everything in the office, do all of our research for us, collaborate with other companies (don't screw that up!!), and by the way, you have to do all of this under extreme deadlines and pressure, and just... Be happy about it all! Kthxbye. 
    
    
    I'd absolutely hate this job.