BREAK IT UP

FRACTURED FRONTAL PORTRAITS

INTERMEDIATE 2-D ART

pastels, tinted charcoal paper, ink, colored pencils, construction paper & poster board

These pieces really show off the talent & creativity of seniors Bernice Lin & Risha Bhakta.

They were required to find a frontal photo to work from,

then fracture it into at least 3 pieces.

They could fracture right from the get go on one piece of paper which no one chose to do this year,

or they could draw selected sections of the subject & cut and paste them next to each other

like we will see  below in Bernice's kitty piece,

or the fracture could happen after the drawing was complete like the first two we will see.

In this first breathtaking piece by Bernice,

she started off with a beautiful photo with amazing colors.

She enlarged and drew it on tinted charcoal paper in water based pastels.

But it was her gorgeous fracture idea that really made it special.

She spent hours & hours carefully cutting out her fracture from a piece of white posterboard

with a super sharp exacto knife.

Truly remarkable Bernice!

And so proud to show it off.

This next one below by Risha is equally as magnificent.

Her technique was to first draw in pencil then go over that with colored pencil 

which looks so realistic in the way she captured the high & low lights,

the subtle color changes of each strand,

and the exact movement of each wave.

Brilliant! 

Her fracture,

the mask.

No one has ever thought to do this idea before.

She,

 like Bernice,

 used an exacto and black construction paper

to cut out her delicate & intricate design.

The most difficult thing was how to attach the mask.

Risha didn't want to glue it down in case she decided to take it off.

So this clever girl used transparent fishing line and dangled it down from the matt she framed it in.

Can you see the strings?

Pretty cool, huh?

Bernice enjoyed the fracture challenge so much that she did a second one 

with a cute little kitty as her subject.

In this one she drew in ink & colored pencil on a piece of white paper.

 She selected only sections of the cat that she felt would look good on their own,

drew those & cut them out,

 and mounted them next to each other on black poster board,

creating a jigsaw puzzle effect.

She bordered it with gold and then black matt to pull it all together.

Drawings with Sharpened Sticks and Ink - Student Work

PEN & INK WASH DRAWINGS W/ WATERCOLOR AND COLLAGE

Intermediate 2-D Art

It is always a pleasure to show off these pieces.  The kids go into them very unsure and skeptical but come out so pleased with themselves and their work.  They draw their subject in Modified Contour with a sharpened dowel dipped in ink.  They do no pencils drawings first, just go for it with the stick and ink.  And surprise themselves in the process.  After the drawing is dry they come in with 3 values of ink wash, then watercolor and collage in whichever order they choose.

For senior Heather Warner, this was her best piece of the year so far.  To fill her composition and add balance she drew in her hand; great critical thinking!

This is the first time I make the kids cut their own matt to frame out their work.  I really like how senior Jasmine Zhao has double matted her lovely piece with the silver and black.

Senior Anne Allen has brought humor into her work which is always fun, but it's how she watercolored the sky with the sun's rays shining thru the clouds that has me taking a second and third look at her work.  

Brilliant piece Anne!

And seniors Alex Lee above and Justin Hwang below bring us so much beauty and sensitivity.

And finally senior Cathy Luo gives us an exquisite composition with her strong skills and color choices.  

Loosing Up with Black Marker

Recently my Intermediate 2-D kids were heading into a new assignment where they had to be able to draw quickly with pen in a loose style.  So I asked them to choose 3 resource pix from magazines and gave them a class period to draw and be inspired by the pix.  These are what they came up with.  Each is so playful and fun with a very spontaneous feeling.  I really like what they did.

Senior Jasmine Zhao (above)

Senior Cathy Luo

Senior Anne Allan

Senior Justin Hwang

Senior Heather Warner

Senior Alex Lee

Stick & Ink Drawings w/ Watercolor & Collage

I love showing off the results of this project because the assignment just keeps evolving and changing with each year that we do it.  It started off as a simple pen & ink work that grew into including ink washes, then watercolor, then collage.  What happens is a student will ask permission to try something outside the framework of the assignment, I say sure, go ahead; and then it turns out so well, I feel inspired to try it with the whole group the next year.

These works are done by my Intermediate 2-D kids.  They were allowed to pick their own subject matter, and then draw it in Modified Contour (again a Betty Edward's Right Brain thing) using only a thin wood dowel sharpened and dipped in india ink (my idea :).  So no pencil, no erasing.  This really freaks them out at first, so we do a practice piece before the original.  Then they find they love the technique, and off they go.

After the ink drawing they must mix up 3 values of ink wash and brush those in their appropriate places to create shadows.  Two more techniques remain.  Collage and watercolor to finish them off with in any order they want.  I do usually recommend collage before the watercolor though.

Now senior Belinda Wu (above and below) has taken her piece even one step farther by puncturing pin holes into her paper and sewing the heart with red thread.  Brilliant piece kiddo!  And get this, it's Belinda's first time watercoloring and look at how she took to it like a duck to water in her little mouse below.  A very talented young woman who is in the process of applying to Art Center and Rhode Island School of Design.  Should be a piece of cake for you, they will probably be fighting over you Belinda  LOL  

In this next one by senior Halah Elsahhar I really feel she has created a sensitive, lovely mood with her work.  Every time I see it I just kind of go ahhhhhh and relax.  :)

The students were required to frame out their pieces as well, and one of my favorite frames was made by senior Kevin Tang.  Plus I love his piece he created as well. The eucalyptus leaves are such a nice touch.

Junior Megan Fong belongs to this next one.  Sorry Megan that I shot it tilted.  Beautiful layers of collaged tissue with gold flecks surround her flower.  Megan totally got what I wanted with the ink washes used to shade the piece with.

And this last one was done by junior Michaela Platt, and again, I'm so sorry Michaela that it's out of focus.  I really need to work on photography skills.  :)  Look at the value range she has achieved with her tissue collage in the foreground, and her lovely use of watercolor.  Such a pretty piece. 

Linoleum Printing - Student Work

Junior Cindy Kim, my sole 3rd year Advanced 2-D student, did these remarkable portraits in the linoleum printing technique.  She was required to do a portrait using shapes of shadows on the face, to print 3 pieces on 3 different papers, and to print at least one piece with multiple colors.  And then to mount up at least one of them.  As you can see, Cindy went above and beyond the minimum requirements for some great pieces of art. 

Negative Space Ink Drawings - Student Work

The kids from my beginning drawing class did some gorgeous pieces recently in the negative space technique. They picked an image and drew it in silhouette first, then drew a plant from real life over top the silhouette. Then they had a choice between inking in the positive or negative space areas. The results were terrific. Above we have junior Crislyn Ogawa, and below hers is senior Rachel Kim.

Junior Janice Min did this cool piece above, and junior Michelle Lee created the work below.

Here is a close-up of Michelle's intricate work. Amazing children!!

Linoleum Print - Alumni Art

Loralei Bingamon created this striking lino print after doing some traveling thru the Philippines several years ago, and gave it to me as a gift. I've matted it and it hangs in my home and I've really enjoyed it over the years. I worked with Loralei in several of my art classes when she attended Whitney and she remains one of my all time favorite students in the 29 years I've been teaching. My third year drawing students are starting this assignment and I wanted them to see this wonderful piece.