Corel Photo Album 6 photos
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Art is an expression of one's thoughts, ideas and passions.
My journey into Art started with a painting and drawing course. All our course projects were based around things/objects which we particularly liked or thought beautiful. I found myself gravitating towards pencil drawings especially portraits. However I haven't done any pencil drawings since then.
I love crystals and I have one in every window in my house. I became interested in the transmission of light via the sun throught the crystal and the reflection of the light in the form of a prism. Apparently the reflection of light through crystal is the purest form of light which is why crystal is used in optical lenses. I began to research artists who specialised in Crystals, The artist whose work I liked the most is in fact an architect called Vladimir Prochanska. he has constructed a stunning light fitting in a church in Prague. And has also built an avenue of glass Palm Trees. The photographs are stunning so I think in real life it must be magical. Other prominent artists working in glass are Dale Chihuly who built the Gardens of Glass in Kew in 2007. This was the first exhibition to be held with it's spectacular sequence of glass sculptures. He works mainly in brightly coloured unusual shaped glass. Steven Correia is another Crystal artist/designer whose work I liked.
I continued taking photographs of the prisms and added to this the shadows cast by the sun through the windows onto the walls.
I want to celebrate the joy of life rather than wallow in the misery of life, and so I have tried to develop my observational skills in order to see as much of the natural beauty of life as I can. Such as the sunset, which most people are aware of and also the sunrise which a lot of people are not aware of, or should I say have not seen. The sunrise is particularly beautiful and can turn an ordinary day into a 'glad to be alive' day.
This is the natural beauty of the world which doesn't need setting up. It is already there done for me, all I need to do is record it in a photograph.
As I am working on the prisms and the sunset and the sunrise. I am still thinking about the crystal tree and how I can make my own version of the crystal tree.
After a false start caused by an accident with a chisel, when I ended up with six stitches in my hand. I expected it to heal a lot faster than it did. I eventually started work on my crystal tree again. I used some prunings off a twisted Willow tree out of my sisters garden. I began by stripping all the leaves off the branches and spraying the whole thing white. I assembled it by cutting three chanels in the main trunk of the tree in order to place the small weeping branches which I then glued into place. I drilled a hole on the top of the trunk and placed the top branch in there. Initially the branches were secured with white plastic ties which I didn't like because they spoiled the line of the tree. However, I was told that they showed that the tree was contructed from scatch. I still didn't like them. I used the tree for my pop-up show and added strings of crystals to the branches. I wanted it to be displayed in a dark room with the tree lit up from the base with small spotlights so that the crystals would catch the light and throw prisms on the wall. In fact it ended up in a white room with a large spotlight which was totally wrong for the effect I wanted. I was very disappointed and felt there was nothing I could say about it as the way it was displayed totally lost the meaning. I really don't want to do another pop-up show although I enjoy other peoples. They are just not for me.
I took the tree home and took the plastic ties off it and then I used polyfiller to cover the joins of the branches to the main trunk of the tree and make it have a more knarled effect. I set it in a black background and took a photograph of it lit up from the base like I wanted it to be.
I chose to write about 'Picasso in Palestine' for my essay for The Politics of Representation. The only problem with that was the computer I had only just received it and didn't know (and still dont) how to use it. That meant that getting it posted through the blackboard was a 'by guess and by God' experience. Anyway I managed it in the end and even sent it through the day before the deadline. And although I am pleased with my marks, I realise from the comments that with a bit of extra effort I could have got better. Hopefully next time.
I had the same problems with the computer when trying to produce my portfolio. Yet again altough I did it in the end I wasn't happy with the CD that I produced.
According to the order for the computer and other equipment I was supposed to have half a days training for which the supplier has been paid. However when I queried that with them they said the traing was for the hearing equipment. Quite honestly I could have trained myself on that with the booklet. It is no more complicated than a mobile phone. I am now getting to grips with the computer basics but I think I could use everything it has to offer much better with training.
I am still on about The Diurnal cycle of the sun. So in a last ditch effort to get my point across I made a scale plan of my house showing the northerly aspect. From the plan I made a model of the house. It is actually a bungalow but I always call it a house. I made a plinth out of some plywood and 2" x 1/2" wood. Then I used foam board to make the walls. I left the tops of the doors open in order not to obscure the view. I then stuck thumbnail versions of the pictures I had taken of the shadows thrown by the sun through the windows of the house. Of course yet agin I couldn't set up the photos I just had to wait for the sun. Luckily we have had a few brilliantly sunny days in the last few weeks so that wasn't a problem. I am really pleaded with the model. I also made a slideshow of all the photos I had taken for this project and all in the correct order from sunrise to sunset. Now the computer raises it's ugly head again and try as I might I could not get it to burn the slideshow onto a CD. This is so nerve wracking. Anyway I found that if I had a movie I could burn that onto a CD. then I found a button saying 'export' so I could export my slideshow to a movie. In actual fact I don't know how I did it but I ended up with a movie so I burned it onto a CD and just to check that it had worked I decided to view it. OH! Shock! Horror!, the computer jammed up, the CD was stuck in the computer,it 11.50pm on Tuesday night and my assessment was 10am on Wednesday morning. What to do???? I sent an email to Peter , OK, I new he wouldn't pick it up at 12am but I thought if he picked it up in the morning at LJMU at least he would be forewarned that I had no CD to back up my work. I pulled the plug on the computer. OH! Castastrophe!!! Well, I couldn't leave it to the morning so after about 30 minutes I plugged the computer in again, it came on as though nothing had happened. I watched the movie then got the CD out of the computer, packed my stuff up for the next day and went to bed. Up at the crack of dawn packed everything in the car and went off to my assessment. I think it went well, we'll see!
I am really angry about this computer. I don't see the point in giving somebody something and not caring if they can use it or not. It's a good job I'm not thick!
I now need to start writing my essay for The Politics of Representation.
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