Merry Christmas '10

Merry Christmas from the Chocolate–Loving–Siblings (sporting their new matching pajamas!)

Luke 2: 1-21

¹ In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register.⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. ⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” ¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” ¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” ¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. ²¹ On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.

Wooden Still life

Yet another still life!
This one didn't take me as long as the other one this semester. I confess, I fought against doing this one, but Bippes talked me into it and I'm kinda glad that he did... I like it (despite the creepy-skull-aspect) This piece is also colored pencil—I really struggled with the wood grain, and I"m still not sure if I solved the problem.
Unfortunately the photo isn't that great, but hopefully a better one will be up soon

Surprised

This is from earlier in the semester, but I never found time to post it! My favorite young man surprised me with a visit while I was working at the art center and brought me flowers!! Horrid picture because it's from my cell phone... but they were beautiful :}

Reflections

My hardest project for the semester. Well, the most time consuming if nothing else. After about 40 hours, if this piece had not made it into the end of semester show, I would have given up—but thankfully, it did :)
This piece was done in colored pencil (my favorite). The glass bottles are sitting on a mirror and there is also a mirror behind the table that also reflects... again!

Chalk Portrait

I hate this thing.
This portrait is still unfinished—I need to fix her hands to match the style of the rest of the drawing, but it's one of those pieces that I doubt will ever get finished. I'm just sick of looking at it at this point!

Anyway, it was a light study and my Bippes had me add more wrinkles than can fit on a horse, and I just want to have a bonfire with it

Abstract Portraits

Okay, here's some more abstraction! We were told to make an abstract portrait out of crayon (picture coming) or out of oil pastels. So I tried both—multiple times! One of these oil pieces was a shape study, while the other was an attempt to work with through a different technique. I personally loath both of the oil pieces—one of which I was really excited about until I overworked it! The shape study features a sunburn on steroids and the other is ghostly and has the highest cheekbones imaginable!
Haha, well the assignment was to explore the media and that's just what I did so I guess I can't complain...

Chalk Pastel Landscape #1

This is one of my final pieces for Drawing 3. I actually really enjoyed doing this one. I wish I had more variety in colors—none of the rich, deep colors were at my disposal (until I stole one from a friend for about 5 seconds—though I still didn't have time to carry it through the entire piece...).
I still need to finish this piece. Bippes had me add in the log, and I agree that the right side was too empty without anything there, but that log doesn't quite do it... and Bippes informed me (after the final was OVER) that I should have just left it out.
Needless to say, I was rather frustrated at the time and I'm still a little irked with the entire situation.
Oh well, it happens :)

Melting Crayons

Well this one was fun—though the photo is awful! I spent an hour or so with an iron in my lap (facing upward), the canvas on top, drawing/painting with the crayons in my hand that melted from the heat of the iron. The result was this slightly crazy piece... that kind of looks like a elementary student did it. Haha, oh well, it was fun to be a kid again for a while :)

Mono-prints

More abstraction! Oh well ;)
We worked with mono-printing this semester and it wasn't exactly my talent! Getting incredibly messy and ending up with something less than satisfying was not my favorite pastime! Bippes liked my technique at first, but after the final (brilliant timing as always) he changed his mind and said he didn't like them
Oh well, it's not something I really shrived for perfection on so I can't really say that I'm horridly upset

Abstract Landscapes

Another series of abstract studies from the beginning of the year: obviously, abstraction isn't exactly my thing... Instead of 'abstract', my pieces are... well, blurry! Haha, the only compliment I was given is that I am good with color. At least I've got that going for me! But I actually enjoyed working with the color—if I had had a chance to work through a few more, I might have come up with suitable abstract pieces, though they would have been more of a color study than anything else :)

Abstract Bottles—Continued

Here's another one of my 'abstract' bottle pieces from the beginning of this semester. He (Bippes) didn't seem too fond of it so I left it out of the portfolio for a while and let my roommates hang it up on our room.

NW Automotive Logo

My roommate's dad is the owner of North West Automotive and they asked me to create a logo to go onto the hats of the workers. The deadline ended up being... well about the time I started (thanks for that Mandie... ;] ) so it's nothing witty or brilliant—or even finished for that matter—but they saw it at this point and wanted it as-is. So it's 'done'. . . feedback welcome :]

Semester close

In the words of my Savior: "It is FINISHED!"

The fall semester is finally over. And I am officially worn out! But I'm enjoying a roomie-date-night with some of my favorite people :]
This picture was taken during a walmart run tonight, and we all found our Disney princess (in Barbie form) and took a photo
more later, I'm TIRED

50's Phenomenon

The final portfolio piece for Graphic Design 2! A book cover design in PhotoShop. I had so much frustration with this piece—I had to do it 5 or 6 times! My photoshop files kept giving me trouble :(
Anyway, we were given a list of 3 titles and the rest was up to us! The only requirement was that it be done in PhotoShop, and that it be obvious that it was created in PhotoShop. I wanted the design to hold together when the front and back of the cover were both seen at the same time, so the large "1950" was the beginning of this piece, then I researched and found photos of significant events / fads from the 50's in America and added them in.

Customer Communication

This is my Illustrator piece for the Graphic Design 2 portfolio. We were asked to create a design (without text) that portrayed customer communication. We had to select our own customer and context and after trying absolutely everything I could think of, I selected the communication between a pastor and his congregation.
My original idea incorporated Michelangelo's hands (Adam and God) and I wanted to echo the position in the hands of the other figures.
I picked the more simplistic, shapely style to keep the figures more detached and in order to allow the viewer to connect with them more [and I tend to be so realistic that doing this more abstract style was actually harder for me]

Cooking the Books

My first portfolio piece for Graphic Design 2. We were given the article and then told to create a magazine layout for the piece. I struggled with this piece more than any of the other pieces. Layout isn't my strength and I always second-guess myself.