Reflections

Hello Blogger!

Sad to say, but my year of Creative Arts is coming to an end.  I think my time spent in this class has been very productive. I created many great pieces of art that I really love. Well, maybe not when I first made then, but I have "grown" to love them.  I have to say not all of it was easy. A lot of the time I honestly didn't know what I was doing.  But with the help of my teacher and my classmates I made it through.  If you remember, in the beginning of the school year I made two goals, one was to learn new art techniques and the other to use the Golden Rule (treat others the way you want to be treated).  I believe I completed each goal (to the best of my ability).  Everything I learned in art in 2012-2013 helped me to develop my skills and appreciate new forms of art.  As far as my Golden Rule goal, obviously no one can use this philosophy 100% of the time, but I think I did pretty well for myself.  In my school we select our electives for the next year.  I think I made the right decision to continue with art. I'll be looking forward to another successful year next fall.

Thanks for a great year!
-Cara 

2013 Art Slideshow

Hey Blogger!

For this post I will be showing you most of the pieces I created this year in my art class. To hear the music I chose to go with my slideshow, just click the third icon with a red slash through it.  I hope you enjoy!

Art 2013 - slideshow

Thanks for watching. Until next time!

Short Story

Hey Bloggers!

For my next post I will be sharing a short story that I wrote inspired by the following pictures.

Later, I will do a piece inspired by my story. I hope you enjoy!

“Cock-a-doodle-doo!”

As Sarah opened her eyes she looked around her familiar bedroom, her dresser, her washbowl, her vanity, and her door that leads out into the hallway.  She quickly got dressed and ran down stairs.  On the table sat her favorite breakfast, a small bowl of porridge with dried fruits. Next to her breakfast was a note from her father.

“He must have left it before he went off to work,” Sarah thought out loud.

            Mr. Walker owned the general store that supplied the people of the town with the food and tools that they needed.  Being the only general store in town, the Walkers were one of the wealthier families in the village.

            “Dear Sarah, Good luck on your first day. Love, Father.” Sarah read.

Today was Sarah’s first day at the Marie Antoinette School of Ballet.  She had auditioned 2 months ago and was ecstatic that she had made the cut.  Sarah gobbled down her breakfast in 3 bites and was out the door.

            “Good morning Sarah.  Good luck today!” Ms. Brown said as Sarah ran past.  Her acceptance to the school had been big news in their small town.

            “Thanks Ms. Brown!” Sarah yelled. She’d have to run if she wanted to catch the 8 o’clock ferry across the river.

            Finally, Sarah arrived at the harbor. She had exactly five minutes to buy herself a ticket and get on board.

            “Scuse me, Scuse me.” Sarah said as she pushed her way through the crowd to the ticket booth. When she finally reached the counter, Sarah slapped her money down and shouted “One ticket for the 8 o’clock ferry please.”

            “Here you are Miss,” said the man behind the counter.

Sarah turned and shoved her way to the boat. After taking her seat she finally took a breath. In a few minutes she will be across the river and that much closer to her first day in a real ballet school.

            “Next stop, Hampton Harbor,” shouted the captain. Time was moving so quickly to Sarah, minutes felt like seconds. 

            When the boat pulled in Sarah was already standing by the door.  She dashed outside.  She had only been to the city once before, but it had been so long ago. Sarah tried to remember the directions her father had given her.

            “Once you’re off the boat, go three blocks on Maple and the 4 blocks on Chestnut.” Sarah thought. She then ran as fast as she could till she was face to face with The Marie Antoinette School of Ballet.

In awe, Sarah climbed the stairs. Along the wall hung pictures of ballerinas in beautiful costumes.  When she reached the top she knew that after this moment, her life would change forever.

                                                *            *            *

Over the next few months Sarah turned into a beautiful ballerina.  She even had the opportunity to be sculpted by an artist. After many years of practice she was accepted into the Pennsylvania Ballet were she performed the role of Odette in her favorite ballet, Swan Lake.

Thanks for reading!

Embellished Blind Contour Self-Portrait Drawing

The topic of my next blog is my Embellished Blind Contour Self-Portrait Drawing.  For those of you who don't know, a blind contour drawing is a drawing where you don't look at your paper (don't worry you get to look in a mirror) while your do a self-portrait. To make our drawing more personal and visually interesting we added sentences about ourselves. Such as “I am…” or “I dream...” I haven't quite finished yet, but here is what I have currently.

I have to be honest, it's not my favorite piece, but it's not my worst.  I just have to remember I drew it without looking.  I'm not sure what it needs, but I'm hoping to figure it out soon. I'll update soon. Until next time.

Empty Bowls

This post will contain information about a program at my school called Empty Bowls.  The Empty Bowls program is where all of the Creative Arts students at HTHS make, glaze, and fire bowls for a HUGE pasta dinner for anyone who would like to come. All of the proceeds go to the Food Bank of New Jersey.  Helping with this project really made me feel great that I can help people in need.

There is a huge problem in America and that is hunger.  One in four children in America is living without consistent access to enough nutritious food to live a healthy life. Though my act is small, I am still making a difference. It reminds me of when, at my church, I helped make dinners for My Father's House.

I had a lot of fun learning to make the bowls and creating them. I'd have to say that the glazing was my favorite part.  Here are some of the bowls that we made.

I am super excited for the dinner and to help out. Below is a link for more info on Empty Bowls. Until next time!

http://www.emptybowls.org/

Paper Lantern

For this blog post I will be talking about the paper lanterns we made. So far I think this has been my favorite project. To begin this piece we sketched our idea for our lantern. It had to be based on a season, but other than that we were pretty much free to design it however we wanted. After finishing your draft you then copy it onto the better quality paper. Next, you take an Exacto knife and cut the paper where you want the light to come through. I tried to make my designs similar, but different at the same time. On each side I incorporated a tree, five ducks, and the sun.  I choose to do one side fall and the other side spring. Here is my final product... (It's double sided!)

I really enjoyed doing this piece. It has been my favorite project we have done so far.  I think one of the reasons I like it is because no matter what your design is it will look beautiful. Also in my piece I really like how on the fall side of my lantern, the light is focused on the setting sun. It was a very nice surprise  when I finally lit the candle.  I am very excited that I finished. I hope that my classmates are just as happy with their piece as I am with mine.

Edgar Degas Research Post

For my next post, I will be talking about Edgar Degas. Degas was born on July 19, 1834 of French decent.  By 1845, he had begun school at Lycee Louis-le-Grand in Paris. Degas frequently visited Italy to study the works of great artist before him, such as Michelangelo.  Upon returning to France, he continued his art education by copying works at the Louvre.  Throughout Degas' life he was mostly ignored by the public.  Hardly any of his paintings were sold, let alone put in a museum.  Degas was thought of as an Impressionist, but to himself he was a Realist.

For my assignment, I am to select three of his works that I like. 

My first is called "Little Dancer of Fourteen Years."

I really love this piece because of the medium that Degas uses. Many paintings of dancers use a lot of light colors, but this is very dark and somewhat mysterious.  I also like this piece because I think it is interesting that Degas has his subject stand in such a simple pose instead of having a more intricate pose.

My second work of is called "The Rehearsal."

The way that Degas captures the shadows and the natural light in this painting is very appealing to me.  It creates a lot of visual interest throughout the piece and draws the viewer in. This painting is located in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

Degas' third piece is called "Ballet Rehearsal on Stage 1847."

I love how it seems that this painting is almost black and white.  It emphasizes on shadow and light and creates an amazing affect. I believe this is on of Degas' best pieces. This piece is located in Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

I really enjoy a lot of Edgar Degas' work. Like I said before he shows a lot of difference between light and shadow.  Also Degas was one of the first few artists who began a technique that almost made their pieces look like photographs. Parts of his subject would be cut off to give a more realistic look. I'm really glad I had this opportunity to learn about an artist and hope to now notice many of Degas pieces all around.