Botanical Drawing

Tom Vance, my drawing professor, assigned us a drawing of an old print of a plant (from the 1500's).  The prints, each being different, were about 6x8'' and we were tasked with copying the print on to 3x4 ft paper, adding color and value.  The print given to me was of a garden pea plant.  This plant has a very diverse structure, with small oval shaped leaves, larger winged leaves, small flowers, pea pods and meandering vines that reach and twist rather wonderfully in all directions.

 The end result was a seemingly decorative piece.  I leave it to you to decide if its more in the vein of Matisse or of 19th century European decorative art.

The Beginnings of my Second 2D Project

Here is the basic pattern created from an 8''x 8'' linoleum carving of an even more basic pattern that has been repeated four times. The resulting pattern has so far turned out to be rather better than I had expected, though maybe that isn't saying much. My Adobe Illustrator skill are improving quite a bit and it makes things like designing patterns wonderfully easy, but it still can to me be perplexing at times. The physical act of making the prints- of rolling the ink, placing the printing block, slowly lifting away the paper to see the result- is an exhilarating experience. The whole process of printmaking is for me a joy.

Roberto Capucci at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

      I have been for the past two or three years interested in the world of fashion, and have payed some attention to what some of my favorite designers have been creating each season. I have my sister Kowa, who majored in fashion merchandising, to thank for this. She introduced me a while back to the work of an Italian artist/designer of the 20th century named Roberto Capucci. What is fascinating about his work is the incredible amount of skill and time necessary to finish a single piece, not to mention the creativity and vision behind his work. His work is particularly outstanding because it bridges the gap between fine art and high fashion- Capucci dresses are free standing sculptural pieces that can be worn, rather than couture pieces of clothing that have artistic aspects. There is going to be the first ever exhibit of his work in America at the Philadelphia Museum of Art starting March 16th.

Layered Self Portrait Assignment

Clay Mold Casting Project

      For the past seven weeks my 3D foundations class has been going through the intensive process of making plaster casts of on object of our choosing, making the molds and finally painting them and packaging them.  To make one mold takes up to three hours, and in all we had to have eleven molds- eight of them being of good quality.  Creating plaster casts is actually quite a fun process in the beginning stages, and seeing how the first clay mold turns out is reminiscent of the sensation of watching how the first print of a woodcut or linoleum cut turns out.

I chose to make molds of a small pair of binoculars. Here is one of the molds:

Drawing Assignment

      This week a 36'' x 48'' drawing is due or my Foundation Drawing class.  The assignment is to make a large scale drawing of a fragment of the figure. The main idea was to get across the sense of giant scale using a strong value pattern and a monochromatic palette.  I chose to draw my own hand holding a shirt. This is my progress so far, and I plan to go into it with yellows.