Artist Statement

Artist Statement

Raegan Stewart

            When I’m working on a piece I try to make sure that I’m making something that will evoke curiosity in its viewer. If there is no sense of wonderment in the piece then in my opinion it has no real purpose. I want to be able to look at my finished work and get a new feel for it each time, as if it’s purpose and meaning can be manipulated throughout my own lifetime. As my experiences and values morph and evolve so does the value of my work. I am inspired by pure fantasy and whimsy, I always feel most inclined to create when something comes to me in a day dream or when it seems to toe the edge between reality and insanity. In many of my works I hope to signify a sense of self. What ever I’ve created would ideally be capable of mirroring some element of the life of each person who views it. A piece is successful when the viewer’s curiosity peeks and they must look upon it until they finally feel a personal connection. I make my art usually as a slow process, I will usually have sessions of inspiration over the span of many different days and for a few hours will feel compelled to work endlessly on the one piece and then will grow so tired of looking at it I won’t feel inclined to do so again for many days. Due to my whimsical nature I have a terrible habit of starting many pieces but finishing only a small percent of what I start. I use a variety of medias depending on what mood I want to convey, what I’m assigned to use, or simply what I fancy to work in on that day. Overall the creative process is for me an escape from the ordinary and boring, it is the one place on this earth where each man and woman is the captain of their own fate and the commander of their own fantasy ruled reality.

Final Piece

When i had just started working on my piece, i decided to tackle the microism, the fish scales, first since i originally thought they'd be the hardest to paint. Boy was i wrong! The fish scales were definitely tedious but so were a lot of the figures on the piece! As you can see i like to have background noise when i work so a classic pick was made, south park.

Quite a bit further along in the piece, still plenty of work to go though. I had a hard time with the colors since it seemed like a lot of my shades were very similar. i'm enjoying the atmosphere of it so far though, very fantasy outer space.

FINAL PIECEEEE ahhhhhh!!!!! I am so happy to have my piece done, i've gotten some positive feedback on it too (okay it was more so my boyfriend calling dibs on it after finals but still) i love how serene it all feels, which is funny considering i nearly drove myself crayzay working on it! The hardest parts to pain were probably the wave and the furthest orb in the sky, there were so many tiny lines to paint in i had to cut up some of my brushes just to reach! When it's all said and done though i'm very happy with the final product and it'll look great hanging up!

ujiie homework #5

Paul Klee- Dream City

Scale and proportion are integrated into a surrealistic painting because by playing around with the scale of two differently sized objects or the proportions of an object you can create a surreal or dream like effect.

Proportions are created by judging the size of one thing in art compared to another figure in the piece. Ideal geometry are forms created to have ideal proportions based on ancient Greeks mathematical ratios.

The golden rectangle is the ideal rectangle created with the ideal geometry an example would be the Parthenon.

My current final project is an ocean landscape with a wave creating the Fibonacci sequence.

dream world

A surreal landscape for our foundation designs class, i'm absolutely cray zay for cats and i guess space dudes are kewl and i also like little christmas village department store figure town things soooooooooooo this is pretty much my dream world. It's one of my first times working with photoshop so indepthly and i found it lack lusterly enjoyable.

Hmw #4 ujiie

Chpt 9:

1-     Repetitive design

2-      A grid helps define patterns because a grid gives a piece a definite and equal guideline too follows to create pattern.

3-     Though both are created normally by repeating the same motif over and over again they differ in the fact that pattern is more often the same design clearly being used over again in a neat manner while texture is slightly different and obscure implying a feel to it.

4-     Texture can evoke our sense of touch by allowing us to read certain patterns as textural associations in our minds.

5-     Actual texture is a texture that can be felt when touched while implied is merely one that can only be perceived through a visual effect.

6-     Collage is a design created by pasting down materials to create a piece of art (ex. Peter Clark’s brown eyed and handsome piece)

7-     Trompe L’oeil is artwork that deceives its viewer into believing that what they’re seeing is the actual thing that the piece is imitating.

Chpt 10:

1-     Value is how light of dark a color is

2-     Achromatic gray is the mixtures of only black and white no color at all

3-      The relationship between areas of dark and light

4-     Equal color value weight on each side of the composition

5-     One can create an emphasis with value by having a contrast of the subjects value to every other value in the piece (in Van Gogh’s self portrait he the central subject is the lightest value with in the piece)

6-     Clear tonal contrast the suggest depth and dramatization in a piece this term was first introduced during the renaissance

7-     Atmospheric perspective is the idea that an object or seen becomes less clear and smaller as it recedes into the background. (Ex. Parmigianino’s Madonna and child with saints)

Abigail Aked, an east London illustrator, combines photographs of her London home and her illustration skills to create one of a kind collages. This collage uses the natural grid layout of the building to make an aesthetically pleasing pattern. Aked photoshops in hand made collages into the opening of her building’s doors and windows. Her piece flawlessly maintains a balance in composition by allowing equal visual weight between the presence of colored and black and white collages through out each quadrant of the piece. It all entails a natural formation of arial perspective and actual and implied textures by utilizing the buildings natural form. The balconies give the viewer an idea of their perspective to the piece and an idea of the depth in the piece from the forward of the balconies to the front of the building. The collages in the window and doors simulate a grainy texture while it is known to the viewer that the brick of building has its own actual texture.

foundation nation

a lil bit more progress on my inspired by inspiration piece, slowly but surely

inspired by inspiration

a new piece i started today for some of my high school teachers that taught me how to not be such a little prick and how to persevere through the hard times. It's a little thank you i'm working on since people often forget to be thankful after a chapter is finished. I really like my concept for it and the story behind it but i'm still questioning the media, though i'm leaning towards pen and ink with digital enhancements..... hhhmmmmmmm thought thought thought thought thought. Still in its very earliest stages gerts lerts of werk ter der.

Quote for the week of this week

Sometimes when I'm having a colour moment I think to myself, okay what would be the most disgusting colour to add here? Sometimes that 'disgusting' can turn out to be 'surprising' and 'completely gorgeous'. (Angela A'Court)

I like this quote because i think people can become so serious about their pieces that they loose sight of the fun in things. It's not soley about what colors belong together because some wheel said they compliment eachother- sometimes it's just what you create out of the love of art and surprise.

a self portrait of myself, this is its progression from paper to mylar to pen and ink. I think it's still lacking a resemblence to me but overall i like it.

quote er de weak

When an artist of talent makes a painting or a sculpture, he is always aware of the potentials and limitations of his materials; the better the artist, the more likely he is to know just what he can and cannot do with them.(Bruce Cole)
              I like this quote because it explores the idea that to be a true artists one must have an understanding of what he works with. The more related you become with your art and the more you understand it the better an artist you will be.

The Critic

I thought the critic went relitively well, my public speaking may have been a little off that day but i really enjoyed the presentation and everyone's work went great. these are some of the original panels for my pieces that we mirrored for the critic.

Ujjie met assignment

Italian renaissance artists Santi di Tito’s Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist and Mirabello Carabori’s The Madonna and Child with Saints Anne and the Infant John the Baptist exhibit many similarities. Sharing such obvious qualities as their religious subject manner they both utilize different basic techniques to convey different emotions. Tito’s work displays vertical placement of it’s subjects, leading your eye from Maddona, down to the children, and finally on the lamb a symbol of purity.  Tito plays strongly off of atmospheric perspective, drawing the eye to the naturalism of its foreground subjects. These characters are shown in a bright lighting and playful delicate manner to convey a message of hope and purity.

On the other hand Carabori’s composition is a horizontal placement of subjects- drawing your eye across the page and giving the characters a cold distance to each other. Carabori uses a darker color scheme in this painting to convey a more sorrowful and idolized message. Again though, as is common in the renaissance era, the artist showcases his great decivery skills of perception with a depthfull background using atmospheric perspective.