Sunday, April 25, 2010

Etching, ethcing and etching Oh My!

Finally we began etching in my printmaking class.
Etching or intaglio has always been my favorite technique when it comes to printmaking.

To create the plate used in this process you take a sheet of metal, in this case copper, and cover the surface with a tar like substance known as hard ground. After the hard ground is applied you scratch away at the surface revealing the copper plate.

After you have completed your drawing you place the entire plate into an acid bath. Where you scratched away the acid will eat and will create a groove for ink to sit. You can then apply ink and run the plate through the press to get your print.

In these prints I decided to focus on similarities in features. Since figure drawing is not my forte I decided to instead look at similarities between different facial features. Dad

John
David
You will notice that both me and my dad have glasses and my brothers chin is very similar to that of my dad's. I addressed the eyes of my dad and I the same way and my brother and I both have hair done in similar ways.

I tried to create a direct relationship between the lineage found among families.
The Title of this series is called "Lineage"

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Foundations Showcase 2010

Last night was the fifth annual Foundations Showcase, in the art department. Work was displayed from all the foundations classes that has been created throughout the year.

The piece of mine that was displayed was this color drawing. The drawing is a still life like any other, however we had to use not black and white to create the image tbut instead use color. Now with black and white objects it was slightly difficult to achieve this. Using analogous colors and chromatic neutrals we created a piece that depicts the objects and their relative colors. The material used are Prismacolor Nu Pastels, Rembrandt Soft Pastels, and Prismacolor Colored Pencils.


Later in the evening the gave awards to the Freshmen Ten ( ten freshmen who portrayed a certain amount of technical skill, but also a certain level of leadership in class). At the end of the awards I was surprised by the Foundations Coordinator of NIU by an award named after me. I received the John Cheney service award for services and excellence in the school of art.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Fore!!

This past weekend I went with some friends to a minigolfing place around campus.


None of us were any good so I won't mention the scores but this picture might sum it up.
It was really fun and with finals drawing near it was a good way to unwind.