Reflection 12&13

So, I don't recall what I was doing last weekend, oh! I did a walk for ALS, and stuff, and this weekend I went away/ had to work. In any case, I didn't get to work much on my project. But, I will post some pictures:

These are the pieces I've worked on since getting my new pastels. The apple one is based off a picture but the other two are not, The landscape pieces aren't turning out so great, probably because I didn't use a reference and because they are actually portrait orientation. Also, for some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to have bright yellow sand in that desert one. I will have to fix that.

Reflection 11 (I think)

I'm writing this one early because I know how the next few days are going to go for me regarding this project. I had two AP tests this week, so that consumed Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for me, and I'm going camping this weekend with the girl scouts so I will be gone right after school on Friday until Sunday afternoon, and I have another AP test (my hardest one) on Monday. And I also have make up work due to missing class from the AP tests, and packing, and other stuff to do. Needless to say, my 20% project has been at the very bottom of my priority list so I haven't worked on anything related to it, and I definitely won't have any time to work on it until next week. Sorry to disappoint!

Reflection 9&10??

So, I forgot to do my twenty percent last week, so this will be an update of two weeks.

Last week, my new oil pastels came in the mail. It is a set of 25 Erengi Art Aspirers.  I tried them out with a drawing of an apple, and they're great! Way better than my old ones I had, they are much softer and I can actually blend with them. I also drew a picture of a desert sort of which turned out alright. It is much harder to get used to oil pastels than I thought, because you really aren't able to put as much detail into a drawing/painting. I liked the apple better than the desert. It's also tough when I'm blending another color such as white into a painting, and random spots of color get on the white pastel, and then if I try to use it in another section it makes a smudge of that color. I'm actually enjoying this project though, and it's definitely much more low-stress.

This week, I didn't have quite as much time to work on my twenty percent project. However, I did start a drawing of a waterfall. It's not turning out great so far, but I'm playing around with the effects of different techniques. For example, if I blend the colors with my finger stroking a certain direction, it creates a different texture than if I go in another direction. Unfortunately due to AP's and stuff, I'm not sure how much time I'll be having to work on this in the next week or two, plus I'm going camping next weekend, but we'll see.
I will post pictures of a bunch of drawings at a later date, since some of the drawings aren't done, and it will be more efficient to do more at one time.

Reflection

So, I didn't have a ton of free time this week. I had to play the flute in a memorial service...it's a long story. Anyway, so in light of my low-quality oil pastels, I've decided to order some new ones online. In the meantime, I've started making outlines of some new drawings. One is going to be a waterfall, and one a landscape with a road and the side of a lake or some other body of water. I guess I've been pretty nature-inspired lately due to the amazing weather we've been having, and some recent events in my life. I'd show you pictures, but the outlines are pretty faint and hard to see in a picture. Also, I just realized I made two outlines of landscapes in the portrait arrangement. That was silly of me! So I'll probably change them anyway. Ta-ta for now!

Reflection

I'm not sure what reflection I'm supposed to be on, but I think I skipped a few. So I'm just going to give an update of the work I've done over the last few weeks. Since I haven't been able to make it to AC Moore, I decided to try a picture with oil pastels that I already had. I suppose it was a bit of a mistake to make my first serious oil pastel painting a horse, since that's a little complicated. It was really, really hard to blend my old, low quality oil pastels. I guess they shouldn't dry out since they're oil? I don't know. But here's my work. First, I started out with an online photo.

Then, I made a pencil outline (as indicated by my research)

Then, I blocked in the colors roughly.

Then, I attempted to blend and finish off the drawing. Sorry it's upside down. I couldn't figure out how to rotate it.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with my first attempt, although I am kind of kicking myself for not getting nicer oil pastels. These were terrible to blend and I really couldn't get the kind of detail I wanted. Until next week!

Reflection 2

For this week's 20 percent, I started my sketchbook of oil pastels. I didn't get a chance to take a picture of anything, but it's nothing spectacular. I bascially just practiced with some new techniques and tried to get used to working with them. It was a little difficult, since they blend very oddly and they get everywhere! And if you try to use your finger to blend, it's probably dirty and will get on the paper. However, they look really bright and interesting. I wonder if nicer pastels would help with the blending problem.  Next week, I will try a realistic drawing and see how that goes.  Maybe then I will decide if I should get better pastels. I actually found some in my room, and some of the colors seem to go on and blend better than others.

Reflection 1 (2)

So for my second twenty percent project, I did a little research on pottery and sculpting, but I think I'm mainly going to focus on oil pastels and maybe painting. This is mainly because I don't have much money and it turns out, materials cost money! I had planned to go to AC Moore today to get some new oil pastels, and use youtube videos to learn some new techniques; but I couldn't make it because of the snow. I guess I'll also work in a sketchbook, I think that'll be a good thing to help me with this project. Hopefully by next week I'll have something I can take a picture of and post on here! I admit, I've been a bit lazy this week but I did have a lot of stuff going on such as tests, mid-marking period, application deadlines, etc. I think next week will be better though.

Proposal 2

For my 2nd twenty percent time project, I want to spend more time making art. I plan to hone my drawing skills while also exploring new types of art. I'd like to experiment with oil pastels, colored pencils, possibly paints, sculpture, and multimedia art. My goals are to make nice art pieces, and learn more about new kinds of art I haven't tried before. I've always loved to draw and do fun projects, but since my time at UCVTS I have not really had many chances to pursue my passion. I will carry around a sketchbook with me all the times and work on drawing figures, objects, and appendages; and on the weekends I'll try different types of art projects so I can have time to go to AC Moore if necessary. There might be some costs involved for different projects, but hopefully they will be minimized since I already have a lot of art supplies. I plan to use YouTube and other online resources to get ideas and learn new techniques. I think this project will turn out better and be easier than my first one because I'm really interested in making art, whereas my other one was a bit more forced. I also loved all the final products of people who did art related projects. Some challenges I might encounter include running out of ideas and money, not being able to obtain certain supplies, and not having clear goals. I just hope to have a lot of fun with this one!

Reflection 13

For my final project, I've decided I'm going to create a powerpoint. For my introduction, I'll play the fencing scene in the princess bride and discuss the techniques used.  Then, I'll go over what I learned, what I could've done better, what constraints I had, etc. I'd bring in a visual aid, but weapons are...well...weapons and I'm almost positive I can't bring one in.  Maybe I can borrow an old fencing mask from someone, but the equipment is very expensive so I'm not sure if I will. I hope I'm able to make a nice presentation that'll be long enough.

Reflection 12

During the break, I also didn't have much time to work on my 20% project. I guess I don't have a good excuse this time--but no one wants to do work during a break from school! Plus I had a lot of other work to make up. Anyway, I planned to go to a very big fencing tournament called Cetrullo. It's all day and I was excited to learn more about the complicated event. Unfortunately, my friend who was supposed to take me succumbed to a terrible sinus infection that has gone around, and his brother who was supposed to be fencing at the event had some horrible flu-like disease. So we didn't go. I think it's time to work more on my final project anyway, since the deadline approaches fast.

Reflection 11

Ok so the week before winter break, I had surgery and pretty much was out of commission sleeping on the couch for almost a week--and then I got a really bad cold and spent even more time sleeping. Jeez, I came back on Tuesday before break to see any teachers I might have missed and have the attendance record; and with my wound and cold ended up being very miserable during AHA day. I soon realized that nearly everyone else in my grade was also sick! Needless to say, I didn't really get much done on my 20% project.  Which I'm not very proud of but I feel my excuses are legitimate.

Reflection 10

This week, I was thinking about how I'm going to make my final project. I don't really have any video editing and filming resources. So I think I'm just going to present it by having a powerpoint and the one really famous fencing scene from The Princess Bride. This is both to show off my new knowledge of fencing and also to add some fun to the presentation. I think this will be feasible for me with what I have now.

Reflection 9

This week, I researched my final product for this project a bit, and the parts are still kind of blurred. In one of the main fencing scenes of The Princess Bride, Inigo and Wesley are fighting and make a bunch of references to famous fencing techniques. This is a funny scene and it's accurate in terms of the footwork and also in the references they make. I'm thinking I'll compile some of these famous fencing scenes and in my final project, explain the references and point out some of the footwork, etc. The main problem I see with this is my lack of skills in video editing, but I don't necessarily need to make a youtube video.  I could maybe just make a powerpoint or other presentation, with links to the scenes in youtube.

Reflection Week 8

So much has been happening these past two weeks. First of all, a bad cold kept me out of school for a few days last week, and then we had Thanksgiving, and Black Friday, and we all know how teachers cram a bunch of tests and stuff right before a break. I mean, to be fair, pretty much all they have left of the second marking period material is between now and winter break. In addition, I got into my first choice school on Friday, so that's where I'll be attending next year! (yay!!) I've also been away from a smartphone for a week since mine broke. I hadn't realized how much I used it in my day-to-day activities (maybe that's a bad thing). Anyway, there's so much going on, and I didn't think about my 20% project much. I did have some conversations about Fencing equipment but that's really it.

Reflection 7

This week, I was able to meet with my fencing buddy and learn about some fencing skills, such as parrying. They are numbered 1-6 I believe and different kinds of parries are more important for different weapons. Epee uses parries 4 and 6, which have to do with how you are blocking the opponent's sword.  It's pretty confusing since I'm left-handed and that changes the strategies used for fencing.  I am really not someone who enjoys sports, but in my opinion fencing is at least somewhat interesting because it requires so much mental agility. You have to think really fast and decide what your opponent's next move is going to be before acting.

Reflection 6

I am finding it harder to focus on my 20% project, since it's been difficult to have hands on experiences with fencing. My friends are trying to help, but it turns out it's hard to find a gym to practice the techniques and to find times when people are available.  However, I did have a chance to sit down and have a conversation with my one of my fencing buddies. We talked about fencing equipment, discerning the different types of swords, and handling the sword (no sexual connotations intended). For example, fencers always wear long fencing socks to protect the area from the feet to where the knickers end. Knickers are special pants that have a certain quality to the fabric to protect the fencer from any serious injuries. My friend also said that Pirates of the Caribbean has unrealistic fencing in it, and it's not at all like the sport. Apparently The Princess Bride is the epitome for fencing movies. I still really like POTC though.

Reflection 5

This week I researched famous fencers. Many are very interesting, and have a variety of interests. Some also study at college while being on the olypmpic fencing team. I also looked up how to fence on youtube, and learned some basic techniques. Hopefully I can get in  a fencing lesson with my friend next weekend to practice some of the things I've learned.

Reflection Week 4

This week, I did not get as much accomplished as I would have liked. I was, however, able to read a little more about fencing in my book, and it's really interesting.  I also went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Saturday with a friend, where I saw the Arms and Armor section and looked at all the historical swords there. The collection was big, and many of the weapons and armor were very beautiful. I was able to distinguish what I would expect to be early forms of what would become sabre, foil, and epee swords. One of them had nicks in the blade, which my friend explained would be useful to a soldier because he would able to parry an attack, get the opponent's blade stuck in one of the nicks, and have an opportunity to break the opponent's sword. I am trying to think of ways I can incorporate what I've learned into a final project. So far, I'm planning on sticking to my original idea but maybe have more history than I had originally expected.

Reflection week 3

This week was pretty rough for me, and I'm sure it was for many of my classmates, due to school work and college deadlines. Unfortunately, I didn't get to work on my twenty percent project much this week. In class, I did some more reading in my borrowed book and it was pretty interesting. I was working on a chapter about the very early origins of fencing. I kind of feel like I should come up with more clear goals than I have right now. I kind of think the movie idea for my final project might not be sufficient to show what I've learned. A friend suggested that maybe I could become a certified director, but I don't know if that will be possible or if I'll have enough time. My mind is kind of consumed by getting into college at the moment.

Reflection 2

Apologies for the late post. My project is going well; fencing is an even more interesting sport than I had imagined. I have been reading the books I borrowed. One really interesting chapter from By the Sword by Richard Cohen is about Helene Mayer, "The Womand who Saluted Hitler." She was a foilist prodigy who represented Germany in many Olympic games, starting in 1928, and her father was Jewish. I haven't finished the chapter yet though.Yesterday was my first lesson with my friend, and I learned how you're supposed to stand and move your feet. I find very it interesting how the different kinds of fencing have different origins. Epee, for example, is supposed to resemble a "real" sword fight more than the other weapons, because it is heavier and used to stab people anywhere on the body. Sabre, on the other hand, resembles more battle on horseback. Slashing or stabbing is legal for this weapon, but hits to the leg are illegal because it was considered dishonorable to hurt another man's horse.