Sarah Saddler's Blog

Well it was great knowing ya. I finished my Intro to Art Class and ready for the fall semester to send, though I am taking away much knowledge and now have much more appreciation for art than when I started to class. I did art as a calming hobby for me, but now it came to more of a way to look at life and see how others interpret. I can also say I have learned a lot more vocabulary that goes along with artwork, which makes me feel sophisticated when I talk to people about paintings (though the vocab would have helped if I was still studying for SATs). I can say I’m a virtual world user, and I am proud of it. Second Life was a new thing for me, and yes it did take some getting used to, but I got the hang of it. I enjoyed this online class probably much more than actually sitting in a classroom setting. I was able to eat a ice cream sandwich in my PJs all while watching TV…what more could I ask for!

Overall it has been a great experience for me as a student and as an individual. I’ve also had more motivation for wanting to do something with art. I have now started on a small three piece canvas artwork that I plan to hang up in my dorm room. Though the inspiration that I got for this was through the artists that I researched and all the information that I have learned through this class. A shout out to my professor…thanks for keeping the class upbeat/interesting!

Another artist whose work is abstract is American-born, Helen Frankenthaler. She started off painting at the age of 16 where she enrolled in the college Bennington of Vermont. Frankenthaler would work on the floor with a large canvas, and then would apply oil paints in which she thinned out with turpentine. To help with the large pigments of paints she used window wipers, sponges, and charcoal outlines as a guide. Though later on,  Frankenthaler did replace oil paints with acrylic paints.

The painting Untitled 1995 gave me this impression of elegance but yet you want to have fun! When looking at the painting you first notice the contrast it gives off because of the white background with the bright colors only contained in the middle of the canvas. Once you take a closer look you can see that the focal point is all in the middle of the canvas drawing your eye from the left to the right with all the right colors and different shapes that are used. The overall use of a pattern can also be seen because of the way that the shapes become big and then small…it repeats it’s self.

Lately I have been very into abstract art by either creating it or researching other artists who also have created abstract art. I have been working on a painting that is able to portray how a color looks as well as make a statement that catches a persons eye. I chose my favorite color, teal, to paint the bold color with and then mixed it with white so there would be a subtle tint to fill in the rest of the white canvas.

I started out by using painters tape to create a diamond design. This gave the artwork geometrical shapes to them by using exact lines. The diamonds were painted the bold color while the lines surrounding them with the subtle color in order to give the painting a contrast. The final product gave a pattern that flowed through the whole painting.

My instructor had told me that I would be interested in two artists who have artwork in the same field. I decided to take a look at Mark Rothko’s artwork to get a better understanding of how are artworks are similar. His designs usually consist of two to three rectangles that have soft edges.

This piece is my favorite because of the color and the fact that the soft edges allow a much more calmness to appear in the painting. The edges give a great balance to the bold colors that are chosen. Mark also uses geometric shapes to fill the canvas as well as make a bold statement that attracts the eye to that direct painting.

Overall I would love to research more about the techniques that Mark used in his artwork and possibly use them to create other paintings as well.

I had my first critique on a piece of artwork for this Intro to Art class. I was extremely nervous because it is online and I was afraid people would not be able to see the product that well. Though I thought it was just like any other critique I have given and received in a classroom setting.  Overall I really appreciate the comments that I received from my fellow classmates because it has made me really think and help me cancel ideas on what to do next to enhance the picture.

I have decided to add some pale blues and grays to the exposed white of the canvas to let it settle the artwork and so it would not be as harsh of the bold colors and white. I am also thinking about adding cream to enhance the water lilies effect as well. Thanks to all the suggestions that I have received I believe the overall product will be spectacular!

I had to role play an artist and I chose Georgia O’Keeffe. I learned about not only about her life style as well as the era she lived in. When O’Keeffe knew she wanted to be an artist, it was a field that was male dominated. But what set her apart from every other artist at the time was the way she took charcoal to draw abstract pictures of flowers, bones, and landscape/architecture.

Unfortunately O’Keeffe did take time off of painting when she moved to Texas to teach. But the trip that did changer her mind to start painting again was when she visited New Mexico with a friend. That’s the place where she started to use water color on her canvas and she started to sculpt with clay.

O’Keeffe was important to art history because she paved a path for future artists to follow their own design and passion instead of following a movement. She also showed modern paintings in some of her artworks.

When I first heard that we would be using Second Life as a way to communicate, I was in total confusion. Once I had started actually using Second Life, it kind of reminded me of Sims because of the graphics, but the plus side is that you are able to communicate directly with others either by chat or voice. It takes a while to get used to considering the fact that I fell off the platform a couple of times while my instructor was giving directions. Overall though, I really like the idea that you can take virtual tours of museums and other historical buildings around the world because most likely I will not be able to see everything in actual real world!

Our first field trip in Second Life consisted of going to the Sistine Chapel. My first impression of the building was that it seemed to be massive but then it had this airy feeling. The visual textures on the lower part contained the Raphael Tapestries that had the paintings on fabrics hung from the walls. It gave the building a more cozy type of feeling for the lower part of the Chapel. Next I was able to fly my avatar to the ceiling to get a better view of the top part and have that experience. The lighting of the top part gave you a feeling as though it was like being in the middle of the sky floating on clouds due to the fact that the light illuminates the artwork painted on the walls and ceilings. And as you walk into the Sistine Chapel, you look straight ahead at The Last Judgement and there is a continuity from the floor up to the ceiling, drawing your eye from the bottom all the way to the top and on.

I decided as my first blog that highlights an artist’s work, to talk about one of my uncle’s pieces. Kevin Hluch, author of “The Art of Contemporary American Pottery”, designed a bowl for my parents to showcase in their house. Most of his work is influenced by his teachings at St. Cloud State University, as well as Kenyatta University located in Kenya, Africa.

The bowl that he gave to my parents contains a contrast of bold and subtle colors. in the pictures you can see that black was added to the bowl in different spots, which does allow a contrast to be built. Along with the contrast, there is a broken pattern on the top due to the ridged top, instead of a smooth top that is endless. As you look on the bottom of the bowl you notice that there is an organic shape, one that you would find near the ocean. It reminds me of a snail on how its loops around.

I thought I would use this as my first blog post because this week we have been learning on to put the vocabulary words into context of artwork, and by taking a piece of artwork I have then analyzed it by using the words that were given to us in class.