Edgar Degas

Edgar Degas was a French artist born on July 19, 1834 in Paris, to a family with 4 other siblings. His mother had died at a young age, leaving his father and grandfather to be the adults of the home. Degas had gone to law school to please his father, soon leaving, and going to an art school instead. Neglecting to stick to this plan, he then traveled for three years in Italy. After the Franco-Prussian War in 1872 was over, he began to stay with his uncle in New Orleans. Just a year after his return to Paris, his father dies, and it is discovered that his brother has astounding business debts. Degas must then attempt to make art for the purpose of selling it, upon also losing his home, and a number of artworks he had inherited to help restore his family’s name. Many years later, once all the debt was settled, he was able to buy a number of artworks from some of his favorite artists. He grew a passion for photography and had a taste for working by lamplight, as depicted in many of his paintings. He never had married, and spent the last days of his life in Paris before dying September of 1917.

~I like this artist because when I first looked up his work, I looked up his portraits. His portraits, it turns out, are known to be depictions of human isolation, which is something I favor. When I then moved on to the other paintings of his, I was intrigued by the lighting angles, and how he paints the different lighting on each woman’s body perfectly,(in his paintings of ballerinas,) as if to bring you into the actual show itself.

  The Star

What stood out, to me, in this picture is the fantastic lighting and detail. Though it’s not too apparent what’s happening in the background, it’s easy to see that he focuses on the lighting reflected in the ballerina’s tu-tu. This shows you where the light is coming in, causing the shadows on her torso, which gives it a more real feeling.

Stage Rehearsal

This picture stands out to me because of how much action is going on, but even more so, how real it seems. The floor is what really caught my eye, actually, because it seems so beat up and life like. The observers to the side are one of great criticism, it appears, while the ballerinas look as if they’re in chaos. The background looks as though they were preforming in some sort of cave, which is really captivating to imagine. This picture really brought me to the scene and seemed absolutely real, while still Degas still maintained the perfect shading to help create the effect.

Interestingly enough…

~Degas believed that "the artist must live alone, and his private life must remain unknown", living in solitude for the majority of his whole life. This led him to focus more clearly on his work, but seemed to have left him stranded from the advances of the world. He lived a successful life, but died alone, never knowing love, due to his dedication to his art work.

I have all intent to hate this assignment.

I can't say much about the metals assignment. All I know is I'm far behind every single student. 
I'm still in the drawing phase, I guess you could say. I'm content with the design I'm working on right now, even though it's not much. However, 2 "fall-back designs" are what I don't have. My design is one that comes to me from my desire to make one thing mean a bunch of little things. My design, though I lack pictures currently, is one depicting my image of a SWIFT GHOUL!
By definition, (my definition, that is)
a swift ghoul is one who is sly and cunning, stalky, and extremely intriguing. They are captivating, usually gorgeous, and are able to convince anyone of anything. People are drawn to them. Said swift ghouls never use their power for good, I'm afraid, and are usually murderers. (Most vampires are swift ghouls)
ALSO, don't trust guys in top hats behind alley ways. They're up to ghoulish mischief, no doubt.
...they also walk funny.
The drawing shows their legs when they walk, their eyebrows when they're conversing with their victims, and also their teeth, (fangs, of course!)
           I'm not fond of metal work at all, and I am also very stubborn. I know this experience will not be a fun one, and my mind is stuck that way. I have only yet begun, however, so there's not much to say about my experience. 

-Insert witty title about collages here-

When we were first told of this assignment, I knew I'd have no problem. I'm all about metaphors and junk! And, low and behold, I was right. This project was only difficult in timing, because it seems to be a habit of mine to not be satisfied with my artwork, even when it's done and graded. I have, unfortunately, no pictures or the creative process, but just the finished "portrait". So, I suppose I'll just list the things that were incorporated into the collage.
-Dark vs light, light overpowering the dark in the end. The light was all earthy tones.
-A letter describing muhself, written from a genius. I had re-written the letter onto tissue paper, ripped it up, and used colored glue to change the appearance. I also had re-written a few journal entries shared between a friend and I.
-A "hot glue tree", painted with brown glue, and other color splashes. The tree had faded from black to brown. It also had lyrics of a song glued to bits of it.
-PRODUCTIVITY is a BIG thing to Alexis. So, that was the final addition to the piece. 

I am honored to have my collage on the school's website, also! (I have no other photo, for now) :3


I didn't have much to say about this process or finished project. I try to intertwine symbolism into everything I do, so this wasn't a very new experience. 

SNAP! Back to reality....I mean...my portrait.

What, don't like Eminem?

Did you know that I wrote this exact post TWICE now, and it got deleted both times? :D

Yeah. I'm angry. So, on behalf of my anger, this post may be...well, crappy. My apologies.

The last time I made an actual art post was..hmm...LAST YEAR!...(technically).

I left you off, dear adventurer, at a point of confusion. I was in a state of frustration at my colors an poor shading abilities. Now I must say, while the brown I had worked with worked wonders for my eyes, (see left) it just wasn't giving me the relief I desperately needed. Mrs. Kiick, upon noticing my frustration and desperation to catch up to the rest of the class, had something else in mind for me, and let me do what no other student was doing- a "dash of color" (Black, white, and one other color of no relevance). This was much more my style, and let me breath a little bit easier. Though I have no pictures of the finished project at hand, I have a few of the portrait while it was rearing it's end. 

Before inking, 

with the original picture

< -

After inking    - >

The end result, I cannot say I was fully satisfied with, but I feel I'm as close as I'll get. The criticism from my peers was enough to settle my nerves for now.

FINALLY! FINNAALLYY!

Finally, after so so many attempts at trying, I'm able to post things on mah Blogger! :D
I find this to be a wonderful blissful thing! I was extremely aggravated due to the fact that my blogs are always something I type, then review, to find my satisfaction. And I was satisfied, fully! I even made a Harry Potter reference! That's loyalty there, people. I mean, seriously.
BUT REGARDLESS!
I am back. Hello! Here I go, typity-typing about the necessary things in life---erm, art class. Life, perhaps. Not so much for me though. I am superior, don't forget. :)

:P

Evan's making lots of noise.

(  This is my test post :3  )