Project 2 - Jessie Kim

Process

     Sketches of Geometric and Organic Shapes

     Sketches of Elements of Tension, Unity, and Scale

     Color Wheel and Swatches

Results

Reflection

At the beginning of this project, I thought that it would be complicated and difficult to create elements of tension, unity, and scale using geometric and organic shapes because the instructions were unclear and confusing but turns out that it was incredibly simple. My favorite part was probably the painting; I am familiar with painting a little bit because I started oil painting in summer of 2015. I absolutely loved making the color swatches, I think the concept of creating yourself a palette to see the possible color combinations is awesome. I also just like seeing all of the colors together arranged as so as it is very visually attractive. The color wheel and gradients were also fun to make. I was feeling really hesitant and afraid to paint the gradients because I thought that they wouldn’t look good or that the transitions between the colors would be too blunt but in reality, painting them weren’t bad at all. I think it was also good practice, for me personally at least, in creating different shades and hues and colors because I plan to continue painting and with different mediums. I was also ecstatic to receive free gouache paints! It was a medium I’ve always wanted to try. 

For the diptych, I looked at my geometric and organic shape sketches and tried to find a connection between two of the shapes. I love plants and especially succulents so I wanted to use the cactus shape and figured that I would connect with stars to create a “desert night.” I chose the colors Yellow Ochre and Ultramarine for the top panel with the stars because when I first think of stars and the night sky, I think of yellow, blue and black shades. For the bottom panel, I chose the colors Burnt Sienna and Leaf Green because of they reminded me of colors of the desert and the cacti (and general plant life).

As for the critique, to be completely honest, I liked how the critique process was for project 1 more than how it was for this project. It was more interactive and less boring and even though it felt repetitive, it was better than feeling like I was doing nothing with my time. It was just felt really tedious and like it was dragging on, but I still received some feedback from my work, although it felt more like comments than critique or feedback.

Overall, it was a really fun project for me. I love painting and I’ve always been afraid to use colors but I’m glad that I have some more experience with it now!