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The End of the World

Thanks to all of those who helped make this video.

First Finals

Going to college means experiencing the dreaded finals weeks. As my first one is right around the corner, I wanted to take a minute to offer some advice... Calm down. Stress is part of everyday life and even if the material that professors are cramming into the heads of students is completely pointless information that will offer no help in the future, the stress that professors are forcing the students to experience is definitely a valuable life lesson. I am now learning to manage my time along with my sanity.

It's all going to be okay guys..

Just chill.

Respect for the Digital World

       Ever since I was younger, I have loved to draw. Drawing with crayons, pencils, markers, pretty much anything I could get my hands on. I used to create picture after picture of the most random nonsense for my mom to hang on our refrigerator. After taking this course, I realize that all those years of drawing prepared me for Digital Art. I know that sounds crazy but if it weren't for my ability to just jump into something with no plan on how it is going to turn out, I don't know what my work that I have created this class would have turned out to be. Digital Art allows you to explore millions of options on how to create something and in order to get things right, you have to just mess around until you find what works.
           I am very appreciative for this course because it has allowed me to get my feet wet with Adobe Illustrator. I have always been a Photoshop fan and completely ruled out Illustrator because it always seemed so complicated to me. After making our watercolor portraits and the success that I had with it, I want to explore more with Illustrator and see what else I can create using that program. I always just thought it was for making boring flyers and posters but now I know that Illustrator can be used to digitally paint masterpieces and is another program I can use to expand my portfolio.
        I know for a fact that after this course I will continue with Digital Art. Being a Design Studies major, I know I have to continue to take drawing and sculpture classes but I plan to load my courses with as much digital studies as I can. I am so drawn to the idea of having endless possibilities with the digital programs that I now know how to use. I am not the best painter or drawer but by using digital art programs, that no longer matters. Hopefully in my future, I will have a career that calls for most of my work to be done on the computer because I feel like that is where my artist hands best fit.

A Fellow Artist

Lauren Kleinfelder

       All semester, I have sat next to Lauren but I haven't really taken the chance to learn about who she is as an artist. Through a quick interview, a lot was revealed about my fellow classmate.

       Lauren likes to work mainly with photography. She also explained her interest in the digital art that we have been working on in class. She says she wishes she was able to access it more so she could "play around with it" and expand her skills with the programs that we have learned. Also, Lauren says that she likes to work with sculpture in order to really express herself. 

       Lauren is a very "in the moment" person. She says "I usually like to start working on a project or assignment when an idea comes to me, not necessarily plan ahead." Most artists are spur of the moment people and those types of people sometimes create the best work. Lauren is a very hands on learner and believes that it is best to learn from making mistakes. 

      Lauren focuses very much on making sure her work has an expression or a feeling. She says "this year is a big year for figuring out who I am and who I want to be in the future, so I try to incorporate that into my work." A lot of the times it is hard for artists to capture themselves in their artwork, therefor by trying to do this, Lauren is greatly expanding her work and the emotions that it creates. 

     Just like myself, Lauren draws her inspiration from the people she is around and the places that she goes. She talks specifically about New York City and how all the different types of people and the uniqueness of the city inspire her artwork. Lauren also talked about her admiration for Picasso. She explained how she feels that she is always able to identify the emotion or feeling that he is showing in his pieces. I found this interesting since for me, Picasso is one artist that is not the easiest to understand.

Photo Montage

Black & White

 I have always considered myself an aspiring Photographer. Whenever I get the opportunity to get my hands on anything with a lens I am taking the chance to capture something beautiful. I have dabbled in many different art forms such as oil pastel, acrylics, mixed media and even clay but the digital art world has always been my path of choice.
To the left, and the next three images are some of my black and white photographs that I have done. If I was asked to say a particular theme that my work

 I don't exactly know what I would really tell people. I have always had a large amount of respect and intrigue when it comes to black and white photography. I love the simplistic beauty that it creates and how it allows objects to be seen in another way. Most of my pieces are high contrast with intense highlights and shadows because I really

 like the intensity that the effect creates. I am always photographing old pieces such as the pocket watch or the antique mannequin because I love how the old and simple pieces are captured through the black and white values.
       When it comes to photographing things that are actually living, I tend to stay away from people. The image to the left is one of few artistic portraits that I have taken. I am proud of what I captured but since I tend to be shy behind the camera, I usually stick to the living objects of the plant variety. Plants are one of the Earth's greatest gifts. They all have their one specific characteristics that make them beautiful and I see all of them as perfect opportunities to create artwork. Although you can obviously tell the subject of the image on the left, there is still a sense of mystery that I like to create in all of my images. The naturally pink flowers, turned white, highly contrast the black background, making this piece a cohesive part of my portfolio.

Landscape and Architecture...

Now this... You are about to experience my absolute pride and joy. My complete obsession. I would do this every day for the rest of my life if I could... Architecture and Landscape Photography

       Summer of 2011, I went on a trip to Germany Austria and Italy with my cousin and my grandfather. On this trip, I fell in love. And not with a super delicious Italian boy, but with European Architecture. I do not understand why anyone would ever want to move to America when they are living amongst gorgeous architecture as part of their every day lives.

       On that trip, I took over three thousand pictures of everything that I saw. The Gothic cathedrals and buildings in the main square of Munich, Germany had to be my absolute favorite. I used the solid structures of the buildings and altered these images to give them my own little spin. Most of the images include pen & ink, watercolor paint and a lot of digital manipulation. I love playing around with the intense contrasts and adding on my own colorful spin. Like I said, I love the simplicity of black and white images but splashes of color I will often use to make pieces unique.



      I was also truly intrigued by the culture and the mystery that came along with the small European towns that I visited. The image to the left was taken in Salzburg, Germany. A crazy little town with cobble stone walk ways and old buildings crammed too close together. This town just really stood out to me. It has almost a haunted feel to it that I did my best to capture with the images that I was taking there. I kept my black and white style for this image and others like it to help create the sense of mystery that the town      
               made me feel.
      The next image was taken in the Italian Alps. The gondola ride made me feel like I was in an old time movie so the antique coloring and style of the image really reflects that feeling. I guess you could say I try to create emotions even through the most emotionless subjects. I want to try and get people to think of their own story when they see the photographs of the places I have visited.
    So as for a theme for my overall work, I would have to say simplicity. By simplicity I don't mean simple images that don't take much thought. But more the simplicity of objects that show their true beauty and evoke emotions in the viewers of the images. Now a days, people don't really take the time to notice the simple things and see the true essence for what they are so hopefully through my photography, I am inviting people to take the time and notice what the world around them has to offer.

Bridge Building

I wanted to take a second to post some pictures of my latest project that I have had to do. The instructions were to create a bridge that spans six feet and can hold one brick for an entire minute. My bridge passed expectations by being able to hold up four bricks. Since the eight foot bridge was much to large to fit in my little dorm room, its now resting peacefully in a dumpster but I at least have some pictures...