Painting 2

This art is from my painting 2 class, which I took the spring of 2009. With my love of wood I found myself ignoring canvas for all of my paintings. In this class I began to explore my role in society as a women.

The first piece, "Women" is acrylic on medium density fiberboard. The women in the piece is an exaggerated housewife. I was thinking of all the physical features that women are often expected to have in America, so I gave her gigantic breasts, a tiny waist, and small weak feet and wrists. She is offering both herself as well as her well cooked turkey to the viewer. In the back window, feminists protest her way of life. On her fridge I have taped some passed ideals of women.

The rest of the pieces displayed are a mixture of acrylic and charcoal on wood. I wanted to bring drawing into my paintings as I had brought paint into my past drawings. These paintings are a commentary on make up, its application, and its over application. As a tomboy I avoid make up, but I see it as a necessary evil in my future as the time I will have to go for job interviews looms closer. I find make up an odd ritual where women poke and prod at their faces for hours with small torture devices and toxic chemicals, only to improve their beauty just slightly. I also find the looks people make when applying make up hilarious. I remember laughing at myself as I went through the motions to put on a simple contact. As for making the women in the paintings especially gaudy, well I work in a library and find the fashion magazines passing through my fingers onto the shelves. These poor models often have ridiculous amounts of makeup plastered on their faces.

Art from Printmaking

During the fall semester of 2008 I was taking a woodblock printmaking class as well as my life drawing class. As I am about to embark on my last life drawing class this fall of 2009 and my senior art show, I would like to begin by looking back on my previous work. One influence on my work by this class, and my drawing 3 class taught by the same professor, is that I came to love wood. This despite the many cuts I received through late nights carving into wood. I also spent much of the class in a state of self exploration. I found myself the subject in many ways of many of my prints.

Final Portfolio Life Drawing 3

This is my final portfolio. The first half of this semester I spent my in class time drawing the skeleton. During this period I reached a break through in my art style. As you can see with the first leg bone shown as compared to those beneath it, my style morphed. I switched from charcoal pencil to straight charcoal sticks to help me move into a more expressive style. I brought this style into my work on the Norse gods. I was able to accomplish a special goal this semester, do art reminiscent of fantasy art without making my art look like generic fantasy art.

Siff Images

Siff written

I have finished my second drawing. Siff is the wife of Thor. She is know for her beautiful, long golden hair. She has always been my favorite of the Norse gods. She has long blond hair just like me. I admit to using myself as a model. She is very little known. My sources say that she is the goddess of the harvest and possibly a minor fertility goddess. She is best known for a story that concerns her long locks. One night well Siff was sleeping, Loki decided to shave her head/ cut off all of her hair. When Thor got wind of this, he rung Loki's neck, until he promised to replace her hair. Loki went to the dwarves and asked them to make her the most beautiful golden hair. He also made the mistake of telling them to make other gifts for the gods such as Thor's hammer and Odin's spear. If they made wonderful gifts, Loki said, they could have his head. They over did themselves and made the marvelous gifts, too wonderful. Loki told them that they could not have his head. It was attatched to his neck you see, and they could not have his neck. They sewed his lips shut and let him go with the gifts. Siff was given long hair of spun gold that would grow like normal hair. In my image I put her in a field of Barley, one of the crops grown in old Norway. I will post the images soon.

Hel Finished

Here is my finished "Hel". Below are more detailed photos. She is charcoal and white conte. She is about four feet by three feet. I did quite a makeover on her since my last post.