Art Journal 4

The potter I chose is Dara Green.

She is creating a ceramic bowl on the wheel. In this specific video, she trims the foot of a bowl.

Line up your leather hard bowl, rim down, as best you can with the guiding circles on the wheel. Spin your wheel slowly, and place your thumbnail lightly against the bowl, towards the top. Hold your thumb in one spot, and see where it does and doesn’t touch the bowl. When it doesn’t touch a certain area, move the bowl in the direction of that area. Continue doing this until your thumb is touching each area as the bowl spins. Now break a piece of clay into four pieces, and roll these pieces between your palms to make cylinders. Secure the bowl to the wheel with this clay. Take your trimming tool and skim the top of the foot using the long part of the tool. Then tilt the tool sideways and trim the side of the foot. Now round out the “shoulder,” or part of the bowl leading up to the foot. Stabilize the tool with both hands, and make the foot ring using the point of the trimming tool. Then trim away the center of the ring. Create a 90 degree angle between the inside of the foot ring and the top/base of the bowl. While you hold the tool in one hand, stabilize with a finger from your other hand. Smooth out any sharp edges. Take a damp sponge and go over the bowl to finish it off.

Next time I trim, I will try to make the inner foot ring a 90 degree angle, and I will try smoothing out my bowl with a damp sponge.

Art Journal 3

The potter I chose was Emily Reason.

She is creating bowl. In this specific video, she is trimming the bases of the bowl to create a foot.

Flip your leather-hard bowl upside down and place on the wheel. Use the rings on wheel to help you center it. Touch your finger to the side of the bowl and spin the wheel very slowly. As it spins, watch to see if your finger moves. When your finger moves, stop the wheel and push the bowl slightly away from you. Continue to do so until your finger doesn’t move. Roll three small coils of clay, and press them down onto the wheel, up against the side of the bowl, to secure the bowl. Spin the wheel at medium speed. Place your left fingers on top of the bowl, and use the pointed/squared end of the ribbon tool to shave off clay. Angle the tool in to trim the shape of the foot. For the next steps, use both hands on the tool to stabilize it. Now use the wide edge of the ribbon tool to round the base of the bowl. Press the pointed end of the tool into the inside of the foot, at the desired distance away from the edge, to create a ring. Now use the wide edge to trim away the inside of the foot ring. Lightly trim the edges of the foot so they aren’t sharp. Finally, use a soft rubber rib to go over and smooth the areas that you trimmed.

Next time I trim, I will try using a rubber rib to smooth out the final product because I think it looks clean.

Art Journal 2

The potter I chose was Emily Reason.

She was creating a ceramic bowl on the wheel.

How to throw it:

Smack the clay in the middle. Wet your hands, then place your hands around the clay, with the insides of your fingers facing you, and touching each other, and your palms at the sides of the clay. Squeeze your fingers and palms together and pull up to create a cone. Then put your right hand on the side and your left hand on top of the clay. Bring the clay down. Press straight down with your fingertips, creating a hole, while your right hand remains at the side. Place your left fingers in the bowl and your left thumb outside, while your right hand rest hand rests on top, and squeeze with your left hand, opening up the bowl. With one hand in and one hand out, continue applying pressure to open the bowl, easing pressure when you near the rim. Use a metal rib along the inside of the bowl to smooth it out. Spinning the wheel slowly, use a wire tool to remove the bowl from the wheel.

*detailed description of hand placement included in above paragraph*

Next time I throw, I will try using a metal rib to trim the rim instead of a needle tool since I usually ruin my bowls when I do that.

Art Journal 1

The artist I chose was Dara Green.

The artist was creating a ceramic bowl on the wheel.

To throw a bowl: Put clay on the wheel, put water on the clay, and center the clay. You will know the clay is centered because your hands won’t wobble when you put them on the clay. Then flatten the ball of clay so it’s more flat on top. Then make a hole by pushing your finger into the center at an angle. Pull outwards a little bit, and pull upwards. Continue to open the bowl. Take a sponge and place this on the outside of the bowl with your fingers on the inside. Shape the bowl so it’s like a parabola. Take a needle tool and slice off the rim so it’s flat by sticking the needle into the side. Stop your wheel and remove the bowl.

Hand placement: While centering, her hands were meeting, with one on top of the bowl and one at its side farthest from her. While making a hole, she placed two fingers in the center at an angle. While opening the bowl up, a few fingers were on the outside of the bowl and a few were inside, with the bowl in between her fingers. While removing the bowl, her fingers made a diamond shape around the base of the bowl.

Next time I throw, I will try making a hole with a finger instead of two thumbs. I will also try to put more pressure at the bottom of the bowl so it has an even thickness. I will also leave more space between my fingers at the rim of the bowl so it is thicker.

Interview

I interviewed Mason. His dad has been the most influential person in his life. His biggest fear is heights. He is most passionate about baseball. His favorite food is steak. He is most proud of his family. He wants to be a professional baseball player when he grows up because it is his favorite sport. His superpower is he can get a 13 and 1/2 on a sit and reach test. He plays baseball for fun. His favorite quote is “never give up.” His mom, dad, and sister are in his family, and he has two dogs. His favorite class is physical education.

Still Life

Tag critique:

The flower closest to the top has detailed texture.

Why did you choose to draw what you did?

The handle is unclear.

Artist statement:

The subject matter of my still life is a brown pot with red flowers behind it, dark blue glasses in front of it, all on top of a black and white patterned fabric. The most noticeable elements are color and form, and the most noticeable principle is rhythm in the fabric. The media is acrylic paint on paper. I used the technique of blotting to blend the paint more. One of my goals as an artist is to get better at painting. I think that this piece helped me work towards that goal because it is better than the last thing I painted. One thing I learned in painting this is that you should choose what patterns you include in your piece carefully. The fabric I chose took a very long time to paint and it was easy to mess up. The final piece is actually better than I imagined and I’m proud of it.

Self-portrait

Artist statement:

The subject matter of my portrait is myself. In the drawing, I am smiling, I’m at a 3/4 angle, and I’m wearing an adidas jacket. The most noticeable element is value and the most noticeable principle is contrast. The media of my portrait is pencil. I used the technique of stippling for my face and part of my jacket. I also smudged pencil around the drawing and then erased the pencil immediately surrounding the drawing. One of my goals as an artist is to take my time and be patient. To test this, I used stippling technique which takes a long time. At first I stuck with it, but when I got to the jacket, I mostly just shaded normally, so I wouldn’t say this piece helped me reach my goals that much. The drawing turned out how I expected it to, since it is realism. However the dots on the light part of my face turned out more obvious than I would have liked.

Still life practice sketches

1st sketch: Your choice – arrange the still life any way you wish, draw it in 20 minutes

10 points – 2nd sketch: Rule of Thirds – you can use your iPad to line up your main items

10 points – 3rd sketch: Micro/Focused Still life (do a close up of at least 2-3 items, make sure they overlap and focuse on detail, color, and texture)

10 points – 4th sketch: The golden Ratio – with this concept in mind, arrange your still life and sketch

Your choice

Rule of thirds

Micro/focused still lifegolden ratio