Color Perception Test

Illustionistic Motion Blurred

I found this picture of a Pacific Blue Marlin in motion and instantly loved it. I love the way that the water droplets and the way Marlin is turned also implies the movement.

Emphasis on Focal Point

Not sure what happened to this one originally, but trying again.
I was walking out the door one morning and happen to look down and see this earthworm crawling up the side of the door. I snapped it with the camera phone and here it is.

Shape and Volume

Here are my assignments for shape and volume. One of them is done in charcoal, one in acrylic, and one in colored pencil. They are of a chair a record album "tower" (like a tower of cards) that my daughter built to go with the chair.

Balance 2

Here is the 2nd piece.

Balance

Here is my balance assignment. I used bamboo spatulas, a chopstick, a knife, pizza cutter, bowl scraper, foreman grill scraper, and a bamboo spoon. I had some trouble finding arrangements that I liked but finally came up with some.

These are my "drawings" in various media.

lines 3

This is contour drawing and gesture drawing.

lines 2

These are my lines inspired by verbs. They are all in watercolor.

Lines

These are my lines based on emotions. All are done with marker.

Rhythm Grouping

Here is my rhythm assignment. I chose sound/hearing as a sense. These didn't turn out how I had originally planned, but then most of the time they don't. I'm working on getting the hang of using ink, markers and paint, its a struggling work in progress but its getting better as time goes on.

Continuation

For an example of continuation as an expression of unity I used this picture of the Secondary color study from my Color Theory class. The form of the pyramids reflecting upon one another as well as the colors are a great example of the eye seeking movement around the picture.

Repetition (Emphasis on Variety)

For this format I chose a picture I snapped with my camera phone of my daughter holding two flowers,and two leaves against the green grass. To me the variety is as obvious as the similarity here, but for those who don't see it I will elaborate. The plant life itself is the similarity and the different types, the grass, leaves and flowers are the variety. A simple yet beautiful composition.

Repetition (Emphasis on Similarity)

The repetition and similarities in this picture I made again for last semesters Color Theory class has multiple repetitions as you can see. The colors and shapes seem to bounce around the composition allowing for easier movement. A fun piece that I enjoyed making.

Proximity

In this colored pencil drawing I made for my Color Theory class last semester, I drew various objects of different types clustered together to form an interesting composition. The end result came out better than I thought it would and I liked the color combination I used here.

Grid as an Organizing Factor

This is a photo I took at my daughters request of her "Flying House" she designed. When I look at this photo I can see the grid work in the Lego blocks as well as the straight lines in the rugs around the house. This to me is a great example of a grid being used for unity as there are so many possibilities here.

Chaotic Unreadable Images

I took this photo when my daughter and I went down to Disney World 2 years ago. At the Pop Century Resort, where we stayed that year, they had these different grouping of memorabilia from the different decades. As a fan of the '80's I was drawn to this. It also helps that I had some of these items as a child, including the Patty O Green doll! I thought that this photo really depicted a chaotic and unreadable example of unity as it is all over the place but all the things are from the same decade.

Great 2D Design

What is a great design? Is it careful planning, or is it all chance. I believe that there are some parts of a great design that are planned and some that just come about as you work. For instance, I took this picture this past summer when my daughter, by chance happen to look up into this pine tree that is in our yard. The lighting was bad and all I had was my cell phone but I took a bunch of shots of this little guy as he made his way up the tree away from us. Then of course he was so small I had to zoom in the actual picture after the fact to even be able to make out what it was. Months later I downloaded all the photos off my phone and found this one, so I started playing around with it a little. I tried cropping it in various ways but nothing looked like the picture in my mind. "No sweat, I'll just roll with it" I said to myself and continued to play. I adjusted the exposure, as this was a very wishy washy looking photo to begin with, then brightness, contrast, tint, saturation, and temperature till I came up with this. Now of course my daughter has seen it and wants a copy to hang in her room so she can always remember "Lemon" as she calls him.
My point of course is that it isn't always careful planning that makes a great design, sometimes it's just about going with your gut and throwing everything you know out the window. I hope to show more of this idea to you in coming posts. Till then dear reader aloha.