Project 5: Art Project Critique

The projects that I reviewed before deciding on my critique were Anna Colfels' "Mind Altering Universe", Shawn Galante's "Metal and Stone Warriors Of The World", and Mary McDonough's "The Beauty In Darkness".

After looking through the three, I chose to critique McDonough's exhibit. The reason being that it created a relaxing, yet enjoying, feeling for me while looking through the pieces of art. When it comes to challenges, just extending the critique after saying all I wanted to say was difficult. However, I felt that I did the best I could to get all of my thoughts across. But in all honesty, I don't feel like I was qualified to really critique someone else's work. That's just a feeling I always get. Unless I'm a professional, I couldn't be confident in what I was saying.

When it's all said and done I'd rate my article a 6 just because I had issues getting it to the required length as well as making sure I wasn't rambling.  Overall I enjoyed creating my exhibit, but the critique not so much. I just don't feel qualified enough to do so.

AED 200 Final Extra Credit

1. Which assignment did you ENJOY working on the best? Why?

   The assignment that I enjoyed the most would have to be the self-portrait. It allowed me to express the type of person I feel that I am while using a tool I am comfortable with: the computer. 

2. Which assignment did you ENJOY working on the least? Why?

   The assignment I enjoyed the absolute least was the hand drawing assignment. I'm an awful drawer so anything involving actual drawing I really do not like.

 

3. How did you like using ANGEL?

    I like ANGEL. It's simple and, for the most part, reliable. Just upsetting that next semester, my last semester here, the school will be going to a different online resource. 

4. If you had the opportunity to change this course:

What would you keep? The art gallery visits. Gives you a reason to get to a place you may not have ever found a reason to go to

What would you remove? I would remove the amount of video reviews. The videos being often an hour long each just made it too daunting to watch multiple videos every week and write about them.

What would you add? I wouldn't add anything. 

5. Would you recommend this course to your peers? Like I said in my other reflection piece, I don't think I would. This is directly from my last blog: "the workload was way to much to enjoy anything I was learning which I view as a major aspect of schooling. I want to enjoy what I'm learning, not feel like it's all being crammed down my throat which is exactly how I felt in this class."

6. Please list any other comments you would like to share.

The course has potential to be a very enjoyable course, but the amount of workload was too much. It was as if this was supposed to be the only class I had all semester. The amount of work in this class, I felt caused me to suffer with my other courses. 

AED 200 Reflection: The Last Straw

This is it. The end of the line of this semester is here.

I've got to say, this has been an up and down semester at best with me having to do things I never expected to do in multiple classes, including this one. Not many classes have I had where I'm told to reflect on the semester that was for all to see, but since I'm not one to mince words no matter the situation, here is my honest reflection of this class this semester.

Back at the beginning of the semester I had said that my expectations of this class were to broaden my knowledge in the world of art. And to be honest, I don't really feel like my overall knowledge of the art world, while increased, is much broader than it was before. I watched the videos and did the readings, but with the excessive workload of this class I was never able to fully enjoy what I was learning. It was constantly, do an assignment and move on to the next one. There was no time to really digest what I was "learning".

My definition of art still hasn't changed. It's still the world around us in many different mediums. I didn't list a favorite artist in my original posting because I didn't have one. And again, due to the overload of coursework, I couldn't find time to enjoy specific artists so my answer remains unchanged.

I've taken 10+ online courses in my time in college, each one being different from the other. I love online courses, and still do. But this class really put a sour note on my experience. Again, the workload was way to much to enjoy anything I was learning which I view as a major aspect of schooling. I want to enjoy what I'm learning, not feel like it's all being crammed down my throat which is exactly how I felt in this class. I'm very disappointed with my experience with this class, and wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

Art Gallery Visit #3: Self Portrait

For this project I had to go to the virtual gallery due to being out of town for family issues. The gallery I attended virtually was The Museum of the City of New York. I went to its self portrait gallery and found three inspiration pieces that, while not all "self portraits", are all related and helped me decide on what type of photo I would take for my self portrait. 

Self Portrait With Pipe

Vincent Van Gogh

William Henry Harrison

Rembrandt Peale

Self-Portrait in Yellow Vest

Egon Schiele

I chose these three portraits for different reasons. First, I chose the Van Gogh self-portrait because of the serious look on his face which is something I wanted to be in my portrait. In the portrait of Harrison, he was looking off into the distance with still a serious look. That was another aspect I wanted to include: I wanted to look off into the distance. The third self-portrait was chosen because it's unique. It's not a typical self portrait which is also something I wanted to do with my final piece. I want it to be unique

You can see how I took inspiration from the first two photos in my pre-edited picture below:

I chose to digitally create my self-portrait because of my skill with computers as well as my ability to be totally unique with my creation. I wanted to create a unique work of art with my portrait that still had a sense of realism to it, and I feel the final outcome was successful in my goal.

The only real issue I had with creating my final self-portrait was just in the decision process. I knew a basic idea of what I wanted to do, but getting to it was a bit of a fight, however, as you can see, I got to where I wanted to go. In my process of creating the final piece, I removed the background completely and added a fiber effect to it to give it a dark and merky feeling. I wanted to emphasis on my being even more than it already was, so I added the neon glow. However, I still wanted to be kind of hidden. It was a case of wanting to hide but still be seen at the same time. I feel like I achieved that goal with this portrait. My face blends in with the background, but you can still easily make out my features. 

Despite my profession as a sports writer, I prefer to be out of the full spotlight while still getting some light shined on me. I feel the way this was done perfectly says that. I'm hiding in a way, but there is still that light shining on me because of me being a public figure.  

I absolutely loved working on this project. In fact, it was my favorite thing I've done in this class all semester long. I'm just ecstatic with how my final piece came out. To me, it's better than what I anticipated. 

MOD 15 Video Review

The two videos I chose to watch were "Greenberg on Pollock: An interview by TJ Clark" and "The Colonial Encounter: View on Non-Western Art and Culture". The first video was about an art critic and historian talking about Jackson Pollock's -- easel, just kidding --  approach to how he created his artwork and the legacy he ended up leaving behind upon his death. At one point in the video, Greenberg makes a statement that Pollock, while trying to move himself away from the orderliness of "regular art", still posses a certain type of order all their own. I feel that Pollock created his own form of order with his painting because it was something that had never really been done before. He created, in my opinion, his own style which then created order.

In the second video, I was actually surprised to learn that the Paris world fair lasted over 8 months. That is such a long time for one event to be going on, but the fact that it attracted as many people as it did had to have made it worth it. The other interesting, to me, fact I learned from the video was the fact that the figures representing the three kings back then are still on display today.

Only the first video I feel helped and related to the Art Criticism project that was created. They actually did their own form of critiquing in the film which helped me, a bit, learn how to properly critique others' works. However, it's still something I am still uncomfortable with.

As I said in my Art Curator reflection blog post, I'm much more comfortable interpreting work, which I think many are, than critiquing it. I've always lived by the philosophy of, if you can't do better, you have no right to judge. That being said, I did enjoy the videos because of the subjects covered.

The Art Curator Process

Music Is Art.....And Life. It's a theory I live by do to my love for music, and I felt there was no better theme than a musical theme for my art exhibit for this final project.

I was very picky in my art search process, and with such a limited database to chose from because of my theme, it made my selection process a pretty daunting task.

I wanted pieces that jumped out at the viewer while still having subtle messages that had to really be thought about to be realized. It led to my selection process taking about 13-14 hours of total research time.

After finding all my pieces that would be included into my exhibit, it was then time to find a look for the powerpoint presentation. That actually was the absolute easiest portion of the process because choosing a music themed look just made way too much sense not to do it.

With my descriptions of the work I wanted to help the viewers see what I saw in each piece while still describing the piece in a -- somewhat -- objective manner. I will admit, I'm not comfortable with the critiquing process due to my feeling of if I can't do better, then I have no business critiquing others' works. In addition, when you don't know the original purpose of the piece, it's hard, in my opinion, to properly criticize the work.  I'm not sure how that came across to many of you in my project, but I feel I did my best to critique in an appropriate manner.

Overall, this was actually a much tougher task to finish than expected but my love for music is even stronger than it was beforehand.

Mod 13/14 video review

1. In Bones of Contention, I learned about the tough struggles between being ethical or getting what you want in the art world while disrupting the history of the work.

The Modern Art film showed me how, in my view, sexist art curators of the past were. There were few, if any, female artists showcased in the exhibits. That's something that I find ridiculous, and, I'm not sure how it really is today, but I hope things have changed.

In Acquiring Mind I learned about the curating process and how one acquired work for the exhibit. Curators must always be objective and open to different pieces when selecting the works.

The lowdown of Lowbrow film taught me about a style that I really didn't know existed. It's a very "cartoonish" style that can be simply viewed as surreal art.


2. I have to be honest, most of the videos didn't really help me with my project. I already had my idea and vision for my exhibit so I think I might have went into the videos with a very close-minded approach. That may not be the best thing to do, but I'm happy with where my project is at.  I will say, the "Acquiring Mind" video did teach me a bit about the curating process and how people acquire the artwork they desire. It also helped me, way more than the others, to keep an open mind in selecting my artwork while sticking to my theme.

3. For the most part, I enjoyed the films (except for their length). The only video that added anything to my knowledge was the Acquiring Mind film. Other than that, I just sat and enjoyed them.

Mod 12 Video Reviews

1.       The two videos I chose were Uncertainty: Modernity and Art and Andy Worhol: Images of an Image. I chose these videos because I wanted to know more about Andy Worhol and of the direction that art is going into the future.

2.       In the Modern art film, I learned that all art will be connected to the past in some way due to the styles of art. Modern freedoms and ideas allow people to have much more freedom with the art they create than in the past which can make the art much better for now and into the future.

In the Worhol video, it focuses a lot on his background and just what type of art he created. The fact that he centered his artwork more around current events than fantasy makes him a remarkable artist, in my view. It was also the first time I had ever heard of silk screen, to my knowledge, being used to create art. I knew that he was multi-talented, but the amount of tasks he did in his lifetime was remarkable.

3.        The videos relate to the readings because they add visual imagery to what the books states when it discusses modern and post-modern art.  The book only lightly touches on Worhol, so I felt the video did a great job in divulging more into who Worhol was.  The book talked a bit about Worhol’s works, but the film really went into detail about them and gave us insight into who the man was.

4.       In my opinion, I preferred the Worhol film over the  Uncertainty one for the simple fact that I found more enjoyment in it. Both videos, however, did provide me with much more knowledge of each subject than the readings did. I’m a fan of videos moreso than reading so It helps me understand the concepts more. 

Module 11 Video Reviews

The two videos I chose to watch this week were Matisse and Picasso, and The Impact of Cubism. I chose the first video because I find Picasso's work stunning and fascinating  and I wanted to learn more about Matisse. I figured that video would be the best way to get more knowledge on such an important artist in history.

I chose the second video simply because I wanted to learn a bit more about Cubism since it's an art style I don't know much about.

In the first video I learned that Matisse actually had a relationship with Picasso. Also, I never realized the stress that being an artist puts on a person's psyche. When the video said that Matisse often contemplated suicide, it caught me by surprise. How could you want to kill yourself when you're doing the thing you love to do? I don't understand it, but then again, there are underlying factors.

The book touched on Cubism and Picasso so, as always, it was nice to get more visual imagery to go with the stories. I was surprised that the readings didn't really mention Matisse who ended up being a really interesting person himself.

I really enjoyed the Matisse and Picasso video, however the Cubism video didn't really peak my interest. I do know that I want to learn even more about Matisse after watching this video on him.

MOD 10 Video Reviews

1. The two videos I chose were African Art, and African Art: Legacy of Oppression. I chose these videos because I blindly went in expecting them to touch on what made African Masks so beautiful. I figured they would help me draw up inspiration for my mask design.

2.  While neither of the videos fully divulged into the designs of the masks themselves, I did learn from the first African Art film that the African people reflected their beliefs, whether it be religious or symbolic, into their art work. It actually ended up providing me inspiration for my mask by incorporating my own personal beliefs into my design. The most interesting portion of the second video was the fact of how many cultures actually inhabited Africa. I was taken aback by the fact that there were more than 230 different cultures. The one aspect of the masks that I learned from the video is that the masks were used as an intimidation factor due to the belief that the masks were magical. However, they soon stopped using them as such when they realized they weren't magical.

3.  The videos went into more detail of what the book said in chapter 18. It also gave a visual understanding of the many variations of great African Art that weren't shown in the book.

4. I enjoyed the first African Art film a lot more than the second one. I felt that it taught me much more about the different variations of art than the second one did.

Module 9 Video Reviews

The two videos I chose for this week's module were The Drawings of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci: The Mind of the Renaissance. I chose the videos because these are two of the most well known artists of all time, and I've grown to respect and enjoy their works. Also, what better artist to watch a video on while learning about the Renaissance than da Vinci.

The da Vinci video was extremely interesting to me. It seemed like a video biography of the man, starting with his birth. I learned much more about da Vinci than I ever imagined. The fact that he was much more than an artist really showed just how well-rounded and intelligent he really was. The portion of the video that I found most interesting was the fact that by studying the proportions of man and animal, it mad him a better artist. People only know of da Vinci for his artwork, but this video gave me a new found respect for the man that was.

The book touches on da Vinci's life in a brief overview, but this video dives right in to full detail of one of the greatest humans who ever lived. It was just a phenomenal video that I would recommend to everyone who likes da Vinci's work.

The second video, The Drawings of Michelangelo, was interesting, but nowhere near as fascinating to me as the da Vinci film was.  The video discussed more of the processes that went into some of his most famous creations. It's a great piece that showed just how Michelangelo got to the final works that he created, however, knowing more about the life of an artist is much more interesting to me.

Exploring Line: Hand Drawings

First off, I want to warn everyone that I'm probably one of the worst drawers in the history of history. I'm not very talented in that regards so be prepared to view the awfulness that is my "talent". I'm right-handed so you can probably tell which one was drawn with my right hand and which was done with the left.

1. What was it like using your hand as subject matter for a drawing?

   It was different, but something I've done before. Of course, when I first did this I was in high school and thought I was a lot better at it than I really am. 

2. What media did you select - pencil or charcoal? Why?

   I chose pencil because it's a medium I'm much more comfortable with than charcoal. 

3. How did it feel to create a drawing with your non-dominant hand?

   To be honest, drawing with my left hand absolutely sucked. I felt like a five year old learned how to write. As you can tell, a five year old can probably draw what I did better. 

4. Compare and contrast your final drawings. Do you think they are successful studies?

   If nothing else, it shows how much better I am with my right hand than my left.

5. Would you consider using your non-dominant hand to create artwork in the future?

   I can answer that with one word: NO!

Mod 8 Video Review

Other than the first required video, the videos I chose to watch for this blog post were The Measure of All Things: Greek Art and the Human Figure and Cairo Museum.

I chose the Cairo video because I’ve always been fascinated with the Egyptian culture and art. For the Greek Art video, I chose that because of my love for Greek mythology. I saw “Greek art” in the title and figured it must have something to do with mythology.

The Measure of All Things: Greek Art and the Human Figure:

The video showed how much Greek artists made figures of human much more idealistic than realistic. Compare that to the Roman artists who, according to the book, would make their pieces realistic to be more associable with the viewer. The Greeks focused on, and idealized, the Olympic figures which influenced the imagery they created and the architecture they designed.

More Human Than Human:

The video really showed me how much imagery truly dominates our lives and the world we live in. The statement that images tell us how and what to think and how and work to feel really made me think about what imagery affects me in my life. For me, nothing beats a perfect picture of an in-action sports photo. Getting that shot at the perfect time…there is nothing better.

It also, primarily, shows how the human body has been depicted over time in art and imagery in both the art world and more natural world. The one piece the video touches on in regards to the human body depicted in art is Venus of Willendorf which exaggerates the woman’s stomach and breasts in the form of a fertility sculpture. The book (page 319) said that exaggerated pieces like that would be created in hopes of a child being delivered to the person in possession of it.

I learned in this video that cultures all over the world have their own unique take on what the human body should look like. Some are more realistic than others.

Cairo Museum:

What I found fascinating in this video is the fact that a lot of the artifacts are not on display. They are kept in the basement away from the casual eye. The fact that the artifacts have survived all these years give people interested in ancient Egyptian culture a chance to look into the past. So much has been preserved by the people of Egypt, it makes you wonder what other countries have artifacts that are being locked away from visitors. The idea of things are being held from you just makes you want to see them more. It’s such a great look into the history of Egypt.

Overall, I enjoyed the Cairo Museum video the most because I felt it taught me more in a shorter amount of time. The More Human Than Human film was actually pretty boring to me. Still, it’s always helpful to have a visual image of what you’re learning rather than just reading it in a text book. 

The Project Reviews

Blog 1: http://scibetn01.blogspot.com/

Blog 2: http://maglekellie.blogspot.com/

When it came to both students’ photo galleries, I absolutely loved them both. Nick did a phenomenal job capturing his elements any principles with beautiful shots of nature. Kellie used unique angles with her pictures that really drew me in right from the get-go.

In project two, both blogs had two different sets of images from each other and from mine which I feel is much better than looking at a blog that had similar choices that I made.  

The piece that piqued my interest in Kellie’s project was Andy Warhol’s 100 cans. I’ve always found Warhol fascinating so anytime someone uses his work, I instantly feel a connection to it.  I just always like to research and find out why Warhol made the pieces he made.

I enjoy reading what my peer’s thoughts are on art works or projects that they’ve done. It gives me a small look into the mind of someone I really don’t know. I truly believe that it’s something that can help broaden my overall view of art.

The comments I had on my Art Gallery project were really helpful to me. The reason being is that it reassured me that I wasn’t losing my mind or seeing a message in a painting that wasn't really there.

My Visit To The ABK

For this assignment, we had to visit the Albright-Knox Art Gallery and find two pieces that impressed us, two we felt connected with, and two we want to know more about.

I spent about an hour and a half at the ABK last week, and really came across some magnificent pieces of work.

Pieces that had an impact/impression on me:

Piece one: 

KAREL APPEL

PERSONNAGE AVEC FLEUR, NOT DATED

lithograph, 90/125 

image: 28 1/2 x 20 3/4" (72.39 x 52.70 cm.) plate
Gift of Wade Stevenson, 1985
P1985:4.1

REASON: When I first saw this piece, I saw, what most people probably saw, a child reaching out for help. It impacted me because it made me feel somewhat helpless. Sure, it's only a picture, but I still got that feeling that I couldn't help a child in need. 

Piece Two:

HANS SEBALD BEHAM

HERCULES VNA CUM HYDRAM OCCIDIT (HERCULES FIGHTING THE HYDRA) FROM THE SERIES LABORS OF HERCULES, 1545

engraving
sheet: 2 x 3 inches (5.08 x 7.62 cm)
Gift of Willis O. Chapin, 1891
1891:4.35

REASON: The reason this piece impressed me is because I've always had a fascination with Greek mythology, especially how others interpret it. This engraving really stood out to me out of all the pieces in the collection because I like how he represented Hercules and the Hydra. He made them nearly equal in size, but we don't know If everything is giant or normal "human" sized. It's something that we have to ponder which might have been his point all along.

PIECE THAT I FELT CONNECTED WITH:

Piece one: 

NICHOLAS AFRICANO 

(AMERICAN, 1948)

THE HIGH WIRE, 1979

color lithograph, 3/100
sheet: 7 x 9" (17.78 x 22.86 cm.)
Charles W. Goodyear Fund, 1979
P1979:20

REASON: I felt an instant connection with this piece. The reason being is the simple phrase it has on the picture, “He's so brave. Of course, someday he'll break his neck.” It brings me back to this past July when Nick Wallenda walked over Niagara Falls. The entire time he was making that walk, that quote was pretty much the exact thought running through my head.

TWO PIECES I WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT:

For the two pieces of work I selected, I had the same idea when I saw them: just what made the artist want to create this piece. Unfortunately, the information wasn’t readily available for me, but that doesn’t mean I won’t do my research to find out about it.

Piece One:

HOMAGE TO THE SQUARE: DEDICATED, 1955

Josef albers

oil on Masonite 
framed: 43 5/8 x 43 5/8 x 1 1/4" (110.8075 x 110.8075 x 3.175 cm.); support: 43 x 43" (109.22 x 109.22 cm.)
Gift of The Seymour H. Knox Foundation, Inc., 1969 
1969:4

    TRUCK CONTAINER II, 2006

    Kim Adams

plastic 
   overall: 5 1/2 x 8 x 6 3/4 inches (13.97 x 20.32 x 17.145 cm)
   Charles Clifton Fund, by exchange, 2011 
   2011:10.4

The Creation Of The Logo Of Me

First off, I have to warn you, these drawings are not pretty. I've never been a talented drawer so be prepared for what you are about to see. It may haunt you forever, haha.

First, let's look at the sketches.

I wanted to incorporate the things that matter to me most into the logo. I love video games (sketch 1), Computers (2), Writing (3), and Music (4). I just threw ideas together, and made four quick sketches to try and get any real sort of idea.

Then it really hit me. Why not incorporate it all. After thinking of how I wanted it to look, this came as the final logo.

Again, I'm not the best drawer in the world. Every logo design I've ever done, I made via photoshop/illustrator. With that being said, I do feel that the above final design visually grabs who I am as a person.

The most important discovery I made from doing the logo designs, which ended up taking longer than originally expected, was that I'm still awful at drawing.  In all seriousness though, I feel that I know what describes me, and my logo designs really stood out when it came to telling who I am via an image.

Creating The Value Scale

Creating the value scale was a bit of a task with a pencil. I had never really done something like this before so it became a bit of a challenge for me to get the shades how I wanted.

However, I did my best with it and got, what I feel, was the best shading possible.

Unfortunately, I was hit with a nasty ear infection and body cold that kept me bedridden for the week so I didn't have the strength to go out and get acrylic paint for the second part of the assignment. I fully understand that a grade reduction is necessary  but I wanted to at least get the strength to get up and do part of it so I can get partial credit.

I have to be honest, I watched the videos and I didn't really find much about them interesting. The only thing I found remotely interesting was the idea of all the different colors you can make by just mixing them together.

There is one other thing actually. When I was a kid, I remember having an art teacher who always tried to tell us students that black was "the absence of color". Well, from the looks of everything, including the video, I see that that is a load of crock.

Black isn't the absence of color, it's the over-presence of color.

The Elements And Principles Of Design

When creating this slideshow, my knowledge - or lack there of - of the elements and principles of design really came through.

It was pretty tough to come up with ideas for some of the different principles, but I went back into my photo album on my camera and was able to find a few that I feel really showed the elements.

Unfortunately, when I went to create the slideshow on photobucket's website, I came across this little issue:

Photobucket's slideshow capabilities were disabled when the revamped their website late in 2012

However, they have this new feature called "Stories" that takes selected photos and creates a storyboard, of sorts, with them. So that's what I have embedded below: The creation of the story is a bit weird. The opening photo that has the caption of "Michael Straw's Story" is actually my photo for rhythm, but I couldn't change the label.

When it came to actually creating the story (slideshow), I wanted to incorporate my interests along with my ideas of what makes a cool picture.

I take A LOT of photos, my 32gb memory card in my camera only has 1.24 GB remaining. Needless to say, I like my photos. Haha.

I like taking pictures that many people find weird, like my Line photo. Who goes under a dock? I also wanted to take pictures from different angles that not many think of like in my Pattern, Shape, and Form photos.

I have a love of sports, I am a sports writer after all, so I wanted to incorporate sports into my photos which is evident in my Form and Emphasis photos. 

Color Theory And Its Emotional Effects On One's Self

1.  Color and emotion have been linked together for centuries. When one sees a certain color, it often triggers an emotional response either good or bad, depending on the person viewing the color.

There is no set guide for how one reacts to different colors when it comes to emotion. The closest thing we have to a guide is the context that one puts colors in. Some colors trigger good thoughts and emotions in someone while evoking sad thoughts in someone else. It’s all about context.  

In plenty of cases, colors effect our thoughts about certain items. Like the MyARTStudio link shows, it’s weird to look at a bowl of blue food, or a blue Valentine’s Day card. We have, engraved in our minds, ideas of what things should be what colors. It’s all based on our cultural upbringing.

2.  When it comes to the theoretical aspects of color, I have to say that the aspect that intrigues me the most is the fact that there are only three primary colors – red, yellow, and blue. It’s crazy to think that out of the hundreds up hundreds of known colors, only three of them cannot be made by mixing other colors together. It’s something you learn in grammar school, but you don’t truly comprehend that idea until you really learn about it.

3.  After watching the video on Color, I feel that the thing that made the biggest impact on me as far as color and its effects on emotions is how vivid colors can create such joy among a person. For example, June Redfern, while walking through Venice in the early portion of the video sees how the colors come together by the boat and bridge, and decides to do a quick painting right there. The colors of it all caught her eye and sparked a creative motivation in her to get something done. Just knowing that color can motivate someone to do a painting really made me think about what color does for me in my life.

4.  In the “Feelings” video, the thing that made the biggest impact on me was just how different a person’s emotions can be from someone else’s simply based on the one color, or a group of colors, and how (a) specific color(s) is(are) represented.

The fact that some people can view colors as joyous and special while others can view the same colors as dark and depressing is something that just fascinates me. Just learning about how different cultures and individuals view color is just incredible. 

The Creation Of The Last Straw

Creating a G-Mail account and a blog are things that I'm pretty accustomed to.

Setting up the G-Mail account is as simple as it sounds. You just go to the website and click create account, simple as that.

The creation of the blog is pretty simple as well. I mean, there is more that I can do as far as customization of it, but I'll work on that at a later time. Right now, I just wanted to get it created, and get the ball rolling on this.

I'll be honest, I only registered for this course in order to fill a general education art credit requirement. I had previously gone to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, but my transferred credits didn't count as art credits; I know, it makes no sense.

In this class, I really hope, and expect, to learn more about basic visual art to help change my naive views towards it all.

When it comes to taking an online class, I love it. As a newspaper journalist, I'm on consistent deadlines. The online classes allow me to do my school work around my requirements with the newspaper. It just makes everything so much easier.