FINAL; 7 Continents

Fairy Tales; Anne Anderson, Maxfeild Parrish and Edmund Dulac

Beauty and the Beast:

Anne Anderson

Introduction: Anderson was a Scottish artist born in 1874, then spent her childhood days in Argentina.

In 1912, she married a painter, Alan Wright and they settled in Berkshire. Wright had a successful career in illustration prior to 1898 when he illustrated a story for Baron Corvo. The story and Corvo were highly criticized in the press, and because of his association with the story, Wright’s commissions dried up until he married Anderson. They collaborated on many books together—he would draw the animals and birds and she would draw everything else. It has been said that it is difficult to distinguish his work from hers. But mostly, he dedicated himself to providing her with an environment conducive to her work.

In addition to her illustration, she was also an etcher, watercolor painter and designer of greeting cards. (biographical information from: http://www.ortakales.com/illustrators/)

Jack and the Beanstalk:

Maxfeild Parrish

Introduction: (1870-1966) was a unique figure in American art, not belonging to any school, part traditionalist, part inventor, sometime illustrator of gnomes and dragons, other times finding inspiration in the oak trees of his New Hampshire environs.

A meticulous craftsman, Parrish's idiosyncratic painting method involved applying numerous layers of thin, transparent oil, alternating with varnish over stretched paper, yielding a combination of great luminosity and extraordinary detail. In his hands, this method gives the effect of a glimpse through a window....except that the scene viewed is from the fairy tale world.

In spite of the long time it took to perfect a painting, Parrish was prolific over the course of his productive years, from his children's books of the turn of the century, to his famous prints of androgynous, lounging nudes during the 1920s, to his calendar landscapes of the 1930s through the 1960s (Biographical information from: http://www.illustration-house.com/bios/parrish_bio.html)

Firebird:

Edmond Dulac

Introduction: French-born illustrator, designer, painter, and sculptor who settled in England in 1905 and became a British citizen in 1912. Dulac is best known as a book illustrator, particularly of fairy-tale and legendary subjects, in which his sense of fantasy and gifts as a colourist were put to brilliant effect (he was much influenced by Middle and Far Eastern art). He was also a portrait painter, a caricaturist, a sculptor, and a highly versatile designer: his output included carpets, furniture, tapestry, and much work for the stage, and one of his last commissions was a stamp commemorating the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. (Biographical information from: http://arts.jrank.org/pages/12422/Edmund-Dulac.html)

The Little Mermaid:

Anne Anderson

Edmund Dulac

Sleeping Beauty:

Anderson

Parrish

Dulac

Cinderella:

Anderson

Parrish

Dulac

Frog Prince:

Anne Anderson

Maxfeild Parrish

Edmund Dulac

Book Art Assignment

kitsch and camp

kitsch
Pronunciation: \ˈkich\

Function: noun

Etymology: German

Date: 1925

1 : something that appeals to popular or lowbrow taste and is often of poor quality
2 : a tacky or lowbrow quality or condition

— kitsch adjective

Camp is an aesthetic sensibility wherein something is appealing because of its bad taste and ironic value. The concept is closely related to kitsch, and campy things are described as being "campy" or "cheesy". When the usage appeared, in 1909, it denoted: ostentatious, exaggerated, affected, theatrical, and effeminate behaviour, and, by the middle of the 1970s, the definition comprised: banality, artifice, mediocrity, and ostentation so extreme as to have perversely sophisticated appeal.^[1] American writer Susan Sontag's essay “Notes on 'Camp'” (1964) emphasised its key elements as: artifice, frivolity, naïve middle-class pretentiousness, and ‘shocking’ excess. Camp as an aesthetic has been popular from the 1960s to the present, and arguably peaked in the decades of the 1970s, 1980s, and to some extent the 1990s as well

Nonchalant On Top of the Locker

Cut out of Black paper. I finished the structure of my sculpted cat, and decided it was a failed experiment. I had fun and learned from making it, but I still wanted to show something I was more proud of during critique. So, I decided to do something else I have been wanting to try for a while; cutting out a silhouette. This is the end result, I was pretty happy with it. In crit, Anthony said it was too decorative, and looked like something a mom would want in her kitchen. I agree... it did come out, overall, too "pretty." His other critique of this piece is that he didn't like my use of a cat to portray my word... he said that I was humanizing it and should have just done a human instead. This I don't really agree with... weather or not I am humanizing the cat, it is something we all do. It is an accepted humanization of the animal; I think everyone can agree cats are often pretty darn nonchalant. Since this is such an accepted attitude of the animal, I assume my viewer to understand this. Anyways... OVERALL, constructive crit, lots of mistakes and learning in my process, and a final piece I am happy with. As far as I am concerned, it was another good week.

Surface Research and DESTROY.

Death

Surface research and destroy 7/7: Death

Sight

Surface research and destroy 6/7: Sight

Full:

Detail:

Taste

Surface research and destroy 5/7: Taste

Detail:
Full:

Touch

Surface research and destroy 4/7: Touch

Detail:Full Image:

Hear

Surface research and destroy 3/7: Hear

Detail:
Full Image:

Smell

Surface research and destroy 2/7: Smell

Detail:

Full View:

Baby!

Surface research and destroy 1/7: Birth

Details:

Full veiw:
Materials used: golden doily, paper doily, toilet paper, tissue paper, map of new york, price tag, cardstock, colored pencil, gesso, and brown artist pen.

Painting over this is going to be painful.....

Figure Study

The consensus in crit was the my poorly drawn feet. I didn't detail them because it wasn't the focus... unfortunately it caused the opposite affect because the totally distracted people from the rest of my painting! I plan to go back and make their shape more detailed, as well as adjust some of the highlights and shadows to conform to the light source better.

I chose to do a figure drawing for my major (communication arts), colored pencil as the medium I am comfortable with, and gauche as my medium which I haven't used (Also, I used some microns to touch up and detail some areas).

Despite some difficulties, I really enjoyed making this piece. Working with gauche was... interesting. I did a practice before this piece, which was very helpful when I did my final. In retrospect, I wish I had made the adjustments I mentioned in the previous paragraph, as well as made a slightly bigger piece (it looked so tiny on the wall!!). Overall, though, I am happy with the result.

Mother Nature

Acrylic Paint, Gold Doily, and Mica flakes on canvas.

This painting has consumed most of my week- it is hands-down the most time I have devoted to one piece within a week. I am very proud with the result, though there are parts where I wish I had more time to have tweaked and perfected... I am nervous and interested to see what people will say in critique. Regardless, this was definitely a great learning experience, and I feel like I now understand painting a lot better (though... I still have a LOT to learn). I feel like my ambitious sketch turned into a very rewarding challenge- and though I haven't slept regularly in a week, I really enjoyed putting so much work into tackling a variety of subjects and mediums I am unfamiliar with.

There were many times, of course, where I would mess up or realize I had to do large sections over. Times like those called for blasting my favorite angry song ever... the Christian Bale remix.

abstracts (paintings)