Starry Night

So, 

I finally got around to posting about my latest art project.

I had to copy Van Gogh's Starry Night.

His:

 Mine:

 Here are a few pics of detail:

The moon...

The hills and wind...

and the church!

It was a fun project to work on.

I used oil pastels rather than paint, so the picture has a little different look than the original.

But on the whole, I was happy with the finished piece!

 I probably won't post for a while, because I'm leaving on a trip soon!

copying Monet

Sorry for the lack of posts...

;)

I had a great trip to Subic for a soccer tournament over spring break. Our team placed second!

Read more about it here: soccer tournament

Anyways...

For art a few weeks ago, I had to copy a painting by Monet.

Here is the painting I chose:

We used to have it hanging up in our house.

Here is my duplicate:

It's ok... 

The sky looks a lot less neon in real life!

I had fun trying to copy it.

But...

I was using watercolors.

They are really hard to layer.

:P

So the poppies turned out looking like washed out blobs.

~
I'm actually copying another picture right now... Van Gogh's "Starry Night"! 

I'll post about it soon.

Eiffel Tower

My assignment: 

a project related to the Eiffel Tower.

So... I painted/drew it.

I was happy with the way the streaky blue watercolor gives the effect of clouds.

And I like the different effect of pens and markers combined with watercolors!
 :)
But the tower looks a bit wobbly.
I wish I had a steadier hand...

-
I finished a neat sewing project, which I'll post about soon.
A nice change from watercolors.
:P

tropical island

For art class last week I had to paint a water scene. 

Hm. 

I picked a photo Elise took from a boat trip several weeks ago....
Sorry.
Can't find the actual picture.
:P

You can go here to see it: Light on My Lens

It was challenging. Especially the water. :P

 Any suggestions on how to paint realistic looking water?

Anyway, here is the finished painting:

The sky is not as neon blue as it appears here.
:/

Scanners...

Maybe I should photograph my art rather than scan it...

I have another painting soon, of the Eiffel Tower! 

:)

African batik 2

Here's the second half!

After the fabric was completely covered with wax, I took the pillow case outside.

I cracked the wax a little, by crumpling up the pillowcase.

Then I got out the black fabric spray paint, and went to work.

 

After covering it completely with black paint, I took it back inside on a garbage bag, and let it dry for quite a while.

Next, I ironed it between newspapers, to get most of the wax off.

This is how the first couple of sheets looked...

:P

 

I ironed.

and ironed.

and ironed.

 

and here the batik is, finished!

 

 Sigh. 

I wish I could take better photos.

These just don't do it justice.

:/

 

but I like how it turned out!

African batik 1

Well, here is my quarter project post!

I decided on African batik after finding this neat tutorial.

I found an old muffin tin, bunches of crayons, and a cotton pillowcase.

Then, I lightly sketched my design onto the pillowcase with a pencil.

 Next, I unwrapped a box of crayons...

 

...broke them into chunks... 

 ...and separated them by color into the muffin tin.

I stuck the muffin tin into the oven on the lowest temperature.

After about five or ten minutes, the crayons had melted.

I took the tin out of the oven, and using an old paintbrush, I started painting my design.

Every few minutes the wax began to harden, so I had to stick it back in the oven.

Several people commented on the tutorial that a warming tray may be much better than the oven.

If you're in a hurry, or want to be more efficient, you might want that.

Being the spendthrift I am, 

I took the time-consuming but cheap path. 

:P

Also, the wax hardened onto the bristles of my brushes, and they  became unusable.

So having a pot of boiling water is helpful, to pour over the stiff bristles, and to soak brushes in.

A warning...the container used to soak your brushes in will quickly become covered in hard wax.

Rather hard to clean. 

:P

And note the layer of wax on top of the water... 

It helps to clean that off with a bit of paper every so often, or else every time you lift out a brush, it will be re-coated in wax.

And...

Here is the fabric completely painted!

 It took maybe five or six hours to paint it all.

Phew!

Sweaty work in such a suffocatingly hot kitchen!

:)

I'll post about the last half of the project in a day or two.

purple flowers

Well, we are back to school.

:(

My art assignment this week was to paint something outside.

I was at a loss for ideas.

Then I noticed the beautiful bouquet of purple flowers sitting on our table.

So I painted them. 

They came from outside, after all. :P

I liked how it turned out!

The buds are actually light green, and the flowers are purple, not blue, but our scanner didn't recognize that.

:P

I will post about my quarter project soon...

I know, it's long overdue!

pineapple

I haven't posted for too long. 

:(

 I have quite a backlog of projects that I hope to post about soon!

Here is one thing I did for school recently...

a watercolor pineapple!

I was fairly happy with how it turned out...

especially the leaves! 

(Whenever I have a successful watercolor I'm inspired to do more. :P

I've just sketched a rose I'm planning to paint. )

I'll be posting soon about a quilt I made for Michael! 

:)

Ukrainian eggs

My kind sister used her amazing photography skills,
(see her blog here for even more amazing photos)
to take pics of my eggs!

Here they all are:

~

Now separately, in order of creation:

 This was my first one...

...which after making, I startled my family greatly by skipping through the house exclaiming how well the kistky worked.

:P

 ~

Next, a bird on one side...

And a flower on the other.

And yes, the leaves are blue.

*sigh*

Still learning...

;)

~

Then I decided to make an untraditional egg.

Traditional eggs mostly have geometric patterns, very even and uniform.

Untraditional eggs are...

ungeometric.

:P

So I made a peacock, 

 with it's tail flowing almost all the way around the egg.

I like the effect..

~

Then we have a very traditional egg.

An eight pointed star, which symbolizes the sun.

Actually, I didn't know that until after I made the egg. 

:P

~

Lastly, my latest egg.

I liked the way this one turned out. 

By now most of the lines are looking fairly straight!

~

And here are the eggs all together.

Well, five is all the eggs I have made so far, but I'm pretty sure I will make some more when I get time.

Phew.

Quite a few photos.

 Of course, I had around 70 pics, just of the finished eggs to sort through. 

:P

I'll do one more post on Ukrainian egg/Pysanky history sometime soon!

Ukrainian eggs - wax & kistky

Now on to the actual process.

First you need eggs.

Blown.

That is the part I like least...

:P

Takes a long time. 

After you have an empty, clean, dry eggshell, you can really start.

I draw lines dividing my eggs into eights, usually, and work from that.

 

After you have a design you like sketched onto the egg, you use the kistka 

(which is heated over a candle)

to coat with wax any areas you want left white.

 

 I was thrilled with how well store bought kistky work compared to homemade.

They draw MUCH thinner, smoother lines, and almost never drip wax.

I got my kit here.

Kistky are hard to use in that you hold them differently than you hold pencils, since the tip is pointing downward, not straight.

After coating certain areas, you dip the egg into the lightest dye you are using.

In my case, this was yellow.

When your egg is blown, you have to continually press it down into the dye, otherwise it would bob to the top, and dye only the bottom bit of the egg.

Thus, my brightly colored fingers.

 (sorry, no photos...:P)

I was awfully worried my fingers would be black for the concert last week...

Thankfully the dye came off just in time. With much scrubbing.

Anyway.

Take the egg out of the dye when you like the color.

Keep in mind, that (at least in my case,) the dye is lighter after/if you pat it dry.

Pat the egg dry.

If you want.

You can also let it dry by itself, if you aren't in a rush.

I was.

;P

 

Then cover the areas you want yellow with wax.

Dip it into the next color.

Red.

  Leave it in until you like the shade of red.

I found that the order of colors is basically:

-Yellow

-Light Green

-Light Blue

-Turquoise

-Orange

-Pink

-Scarlet

-Red

-Brown

-Brick

-Dark Red

Then the final colors are:

Black, Purple, Royal Blue, and Dark Green.

Ok. Not so basic.

Continue covering areas with wax and dyeing until you are happy.

Then, the really fun part is taking an old rag and a hair drier and melting and wiping off all the wax!

My favorite part.

:)

I wasn't quite pleased with my first eggs, as I forgot the order the colors should go in.

I dipped one egg into green, and forgot the yellow.

Then I tried to dye yellow on top of the green.

:/

Thus I found that there really is a reason you have to dye in order of color.

:P

Next post I'll just show you some pics of the eggs themselves.

(sorry this took so long to post...)

Gothic building blocks

Yep. 

Another art assignment.

This time, it's about architecture.

Church architecture, to be exact.

I shall show you five examples of Gothic building blocks, and briefly explain each.

Thrilling, eh? 

:P

 Alright.

~

First are the:

Flying Buttresses

 Not sure if you can see, but I circled the flying buttresses with red...   

These were a main external support, used so that the walls of buildings could be skeletal, with huge stained glass windows, rather than solid.

~

Next:

Vaults

A vault was an arched ceiling, often rising very high above the ground.

 ~

Then, there is the:

Nave 

This is the main part of the interior of the church.

This word came in very handy last night, while playing boggle.

:P

~

Then, we have the

Tracery

This is the stone framework decorating the windows.

Such intricate stonework!

~

Lastly, my favorite part: the beautiful

Rose Window

Isn't it amazing?!

Rose Windows are circular windows filled with stained glass.

~ 

And that is it!

I still find it amazing that people could make these intricate and complicated buildings with such primitive tools, and often times they took literal ages to constuct. 

The Cologne Cathedral took six centuries  to build!

Yes, interesting name, isn't it...

:)

(I started my Ukrainian eggs! I'll post about that soon...)