PGSE progress report 2

with minimal added background


with a touch more- shutters perhaps? remember the ref pic is only like540x680 pixels or something in that range.
zoom on shuttered area!
another one already, because i picked up a different piece and ran with it until i hit a wall. this time it's a conte crayon composition. the only thing i'm tweaking is the background, because i thought i finished it back in November. it's a touch more, well, monochrome because i neglected to take a new bistre stick, and the one i do have is more of a stub. as is now the white. my dad was going to see if Home Depot was still open, so we hopped in the car, and got there ten minutes too late. bummmmmmerrrrrrr.

PGSE progress report 1

this entry is dedicated to my art teacher and mentor, Mrs. Taylor. because i'm terrible at formal emails and there are too many files to attach.
Pennsylvania governor's school of EXCELLENCE! portfolio progress: -50%

i'm working from cell phone shots as references for the background of one conte piece. i feel like i already screwed it up D: this is the ref shot








now these are a series of shots (again from my phone, and surprisingly accurate colors) of my 'key chain' picture done in prismacolor pencils. BUCKET OF FUN IT IS.
first- zoom of corner









second








third - i don't understand why these are bigger files D:















fourth
















fifth














sixth















seventh- taken with a real camera!
i think (or at least would like to believe) that this last shot has a little too much brightness in the warm colors. but i did add a whole bunch of white to the right side. but t is far better than the cell shots just cause it makes it look rather rich.

and about the work itself XD
metallic things are dreadful and sadistic. after at least an hour of only scrutinizing the rings, i've only done the bottom corner. i'm also lost as to the red-grays in the bottom-right key. does silver even truly exist as a color???

i feel that even though it resembles the original key chain, it hasn't become it yet. i've just figured out ' adding the contrasting color to darken' trick, which is minimally evident near the pinwheel, but i am downright frightened of trying it in the rest of the shadows, which in the reference shot (not shown) are nearly a cadmium red. i am also not sure how to address the background, which was kind of busy. i might use the grayish browns of the table, but i'm partial to the pinkish color that is already in the foreground, which would make it more uniform.

i'll take more zoomed shots for next entry.

all for the artses.


and now some classic literature!

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. goodness, this book is out there. i picked it up because i read about it in an afterword in my edition of 1984 which i read for school, and there are a lot of parallels. nearly identical, to be precise.
in a nutshell, the story is that of a future where humans are 'decanted' using a manufacturing system and bottles, Henry Ford has replaced God, and by process of 'conditioning' from birth an drugs, the entirety of civilization is 'happy'. sex is embraced, but actually giving birth is shunned. and tiers of society are decided from decantation as well. the story focuses on a handful of unhappy 'alphas' who are smart enough to somewhat think around their conditioning and be unhappy, question society, etc. . One who is a chump with little self esteem goes with a lady friend to an Indian reservation, and meets a young man who is white, Shakespearean, christian and born to a 'civilized' mother who had been left behind on her own vacation years ago. they bring him back to London with them and ideologies clash. in the end civilization in that modern state drive him to suicide. it is very sad.
unlike 1984, it led me to question whether i might enjoy being part of such a society. drugs, sex rock and roll, depending on which 'tier' i were to fall. but the idea of mass-production of humans is frightening. and i don't think i'd like the world much if everything were unified and peaceful. nothing would change. i would say even if you think nothing changes today, it's because things change constantly in the world so we are used to it and roll with the punches.
Brave New World also reminded me of The Giver by Lois Lowry, a book i completely despised as a child. it was the lack of a happy ending, and the choked feeling i had for days after reading it. 1984 left me with a hole in my stomach. but i'm getting hooked on dysotopian fiction, for sure. next on the list is a book called We whose author i am not certain, and maybe even picking up The Giver and its companion Gathering Blue ( also read, verdict: eh).

was John, the young man from the Indian reservation, agreeable because i could identify most with his ideology? most likely.

Sudden Impulse+ Do List 1

i wonder who shall stumble upon this. also, what to post, what not to post, and whether or not i should really be working on this or another in a line of procrastinated-upon term papers.

and so it begins, i suppose.

Tei's Do List ( Chowmein style) #1:

• term paper rough draft for soc class, due tomorrow, currently 0% finished. eh heh heh.

• finishing amigurumis for christmas presents ( 4.5 out of ... 7?). and basically no time to do it. Popcorn's can wait until next weekend when she comes over to hang out for two days ( exciting) and we exchange gifts then. she keeps saying she has something nice in store for me. i'm rather curious...
• Art ( normal) homework. something about drawing shoes. not too exciting.
• compiling a portfolio to submit to the PGSE. the postmark deadline is the 5th and it look like, a lot of fun. srsly.
• Graphic Arts class related things. basic photoshop tricks i have yet to learn, and screen printing ' family coat of arms' coasters ( of all things, why coasters?!?!) and suchness.

i'll be posting throughout christmas break, just for the hell of it. there are so many movies i want to see: Benjamin Button, The Spirit, etc...