Watercolor Salmon Star Lilies

I finally finished my lilies! I looked them up and found that they are the Salmon star oriental lilies.

https://www.google.com/search?q=asiatic+lily&rlz=1CAACAY_enUS713US713&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj_ub2_nZbUAhWKzIMKHUsQBcIQ_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=654#tbm=isch&q=oriental+salmon+star

If I was to pick out the most thing I don't like about this piece, I'd say the dots. Especially the ones on the bottom right corner... so annoying, but whatever. Overall though, I really like it. My first botanical piece, not bad. I just have to get the right frame now!! Shout out to Jeanne for all the great feedback!

On the Cover of the Summer Catalogue

A photo taken during one of Larry's evening classes. 

Asian Brush Painting Flowers

In this class, we pretty much worked on flowers.I forgot what its called to outline a or draw your painting first, but that's the technique I used for this piece.

Please ignore the puffy bird haha. I took this photo before it completely dried and that bird is the result of a brush carrying too much water. The rice paper is so thin that it just absorbs the water if there's too much and that can get soo annoying sometimes.

Asian Brush Painting Blossom

In Alice's class last night, we practiced painting blossoms. The bottom left one is Alice's demo on my paper. The ones surrounding it are my practices after maaany other practices. haha so the "good" ones out of the bunch. Really hard stuff to do. Also, I need to invest in a smaller brush but the supplies are so expensive and I'm kind of broke right now. 

Watercolor Lilies

I've been working on my lilies for some time now. I've just been sooo busy with so many other things that I haven't been able to spend as much time as I would like on this piece, but here it is.

The original photo is actually Jeanne's from several years back.

I WON!! The Congressional Art Competition for the 25th District

The title says it all. Thank the Lord! Words can't express how happy I am to be representing the 25th District of New York for the 2017 Congressional Art Competition. I will be meeting congresswoman Louise Slaughter tomorrow after school. Huge shout out to Mrs. Elisa for going out of her way to have my piece matted in time so that I would be able to have it with me when I meet with the congresswomen tomorrow. Also, I want to thank Rachael Baldanza (Curriculum Director at the MAG) for encouraging me to submit a piece into this competition.  

I want to talk a little about the inspiration I had for this piece. When I've visited Morocco in the past several years, I'm overwhelmed each time with the tile work design in buildings and homes. These are just examples I found online.

 

So I became inspired to create some type of tile design that when duplicated it would form a design similar to the Moroccan zellige walls.This one is from my grandma's house.

 

So I created one that if duplicated, would end up looking something like this:

 And this is just a blurry quick version I got by putting my original piece in an iPhone template just so you can have an idea of what I'm taking about. Exiting!

Asian Show

Today, we had the opening reception for the Asian brush painting show. It was at the Pieters Family Life Center Garden Cafe Gallery. I thought it went really well. I brought my mom and sister over as well and they got to meet Alice. She was so welcoming and sweet. There were so many beautiful pieces by Alice herself and her students. I got to meet many local artist as well. I brought over a couple bags of Matcha Kit Kats to add to the Asian vibe also. 

I wish I took more photos, but the gallery is still open and the pieces are still up for people to see. 

Pre-show

So today is the day before the show. I stopped by the gallery today while they're putting the pieces up. But before that, I had to quickly go to Wal-Mart to grab the screws and wires after school. This whole framing process is very new to me, so I did kind of struggle with it. Also, the way they're handing the pieces was new to me as well. They had some type of vertical metal rod or wire going down the walls and the pieces were hung that way. Any ways, it turns out, they found a way to get my pieces up with some type of wiring. So the frame wire and screws I bought weren't necessary any more. 

Exam and MAG Classes

Today has been such a looong day for me. I had my AP Lit exam in the early morning. I think it went fine. We don't get our results until July or something, so there's still time to hear back. But any ways, so like on Monday, this exam was also from around 8:00 am- 12:00 pm. We were all excused to go home right after, except I couldn't because I was supposed to be at the MAG from 1:00pm -9:00 pm for my classes. But before that, I had to quickly get to school, give Mrs. Elisa some potential pieces for the art show and get to the MAG. You do not know how bad I wanted to sleep. But I pushed through until the clock struck 9:00 pm. Jeanne's class went great as usual. I worked a little on the botanical piece I started in Jeanne's class. It's slowly getting there. I handed my pieces in during our class. I gave them to Lisa, who is one of Alice's students, but also does a lot of the behind the scenes work with Alice. My pieces still need to be wired for the show. So, I'll probably grab them from the store tomorrow and stop by the gallery while they're organizing everything for the show. 

Pre and Post Exam Day

So yesterday, I had my APES exam. Tomorrow, I have my AP Literature Exam. I thought today was supposed to be my chill day, but I totally forgot that my pieces for the Asian class are due tomorrow. So I have to get the frames, have  enough pieces and frame them all before I go to bed. My sister came through and quickly got me the frames from Walt-Mart. It's pretty late at night, but thank God I got them finished. 

APES Exam and Extra Work Shifts

So this day is a little off topic to my senior project, but it I want to talk about it anyways. So I had my APES (AP Environmental Science) Exam this morning at 8:00 am. I think it went fine. But right after, I didn't have to go back to school. We finished around noon. I had to work from 4-6 today, but I honestly didn't feel like going all. So I put my work on the trade board hoping someone would pick it up. Since no one did, I picked up an empty 2-4 shift. So I went from planning to work nothing to going in from 2-6. But I was working with one of my favorite supervisors, Amy, so it was all good. So throughout the whole day today, it's been raining and we've been hearing tornado warning and flood warnings. When my sister picked me up to go home, the sun was setting and the sky was the most beautiful thing ever. 

Last Minute Piece FAIL :(

My piece for the art competition was due today and the office closed around 5:00. I didn't make it. I was working on it literally until the last minute since I just started it last night. I got the idea at school yesterday on Friday to use one of my drawings I previously completed in my art class. I made a "zentangle" inspire by the Moroccan zellige tile design. I printed the pieces while I was at work yesterday. I("I" as in my sister haha) got the foam core. I started piecing it together and got to the mto the MAG, but I missed it. I guess they closed before 5:00. I did leave them a message and told them if it would be possible to turn it in past the 29th. At least now, I'll have time to get a frame if by any chance they do let me give it in.

Art Contest Update

So I've been working on drawing this piece. I don't think I'm turning this one in anymore. Last minute change of plans, but I don't think I'll paint it in time. So I'm going to take my time with this one and think of something else for the competition. 

WIld Rose

I've been practicing my signature. I'm definitely getting a lot better at doing it!

Congressional Art Competition Update

So chose to paint one of my photographs I took in Casablanca. I think it's such a beautiful picture and I don't think I'll do too bad with the drawing part, but we'll have to see about painting it. 

WIld Rose

Alice taught me how to sign my name is Chinese calligraphy. When it comes to having a signature, people can choose something that represent them. I decided to go with the meaning of my name, which is wild rose in Kurdish/Persian. She signed this one, it's so beautiful.

Painting with Nadia

My little cousin came over this week. Our spring break is next week but she lives in Virgina and hers was this week. So my uncles is very artistic. He works a lot with oil paintings and he's painted some AMAZING realistic pieces. So the art gene definitely run down the blood line. But his daughter is also into art. So I decided to have a little hang out day with her and we of course went for the water color. We chose to paint a cherry blossom inspired tree. I love hers!! It's so cute! She said mine looked like a dream haha. But hers to me honestly looks out of this world. Such a talented little girl! 

Congressional High School Art Competition

Each spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors a nationwide high school visual art competition to recognize and encourage artistic talent in the nation and in each congressional district. Since the Artistic Discovery competition began in 1982, more than 650,000 high school students have participated.
Students submit entries to their representative’s office, and panels of district artists select the winning entries. Winners are recognized both in their district and at an annual awards ceremony in Washington, DC. The winning works are displayed for one year at the U.S. Capitol. (house.gov)

"Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Arts Caucus, announced today that works of art are now being accepted for the 2017 Congressional Arts Competition. High school students who reside in or attend school in New York 25 are encouraged to submit their artwork to the Memorial Art Gallery by April 29, 2017. The winning student’s artwork will be displayed for one year in the U.S. Capitol." (louise.house.gov)
 

So Rachel told me about an art competition she wants me to enter.. and win haha. That's exactly what she told me haha. No pressure. My water color skills aren't all that so I'm going to start planning from now.

First Day of Classes!

I had my first classes with Jeanne and Alice today. I loved both classes! I left school around 1:00 and got the MAG in time for my class around 1:15. Jeanne is so wonderful! I love her. She's been teaching at the MAG for a really long time so a lot of the students who were in that class have been in her class for so long. So this class was a little different than Larry's beginners class. This one is more do your own thing and Jeanne goes around to everyone throughout the class time and gives them a brief one on one with whatever they're with. Since I didn't come today to start a new piece, I just touched up on a couple of old ones. The Asian Brush Painting class was also a lot of fun. Alice is so sweet. Joe (drawing teacher in the Fall) is also taking that class. When I thought this form of art was similar to watercolor, I was wrong. I learned that this form of art is really all about the movement and energy you put into the piece. I have a looong way to get the grasp of if haha. But it was still fun. We learned how to write fish in Chinese calligraphy and paint some fish.  

Advanced Watercolor Class

So when Mrs. Elisa called in to sign me up for the advanced watercolor class with Jeanne, all the spots were taken!! Luckily, Jeanne mentors my community expert, so I reached out to him and asked if it was possible for her to take in one more student. She said yes! Thank the Lord! So I'm going to be taking two watercolor classes every Wednesday for the next 8 weeks starting April 5th. The advanced watercolor class with Jeanne in the afternoon and the Asian brush painting class in the evening. 

Update

So I won't be going to my usual Tuesday classes with Larry tomorrow since I finished that winter class. Since I the Wednesday class with my teachers and principle, I'm just waiting to hear response from the MAG now. Sometimes they do discontinue certain classes if not enough people sign up. Hopefully, this class goes through. In that case, the classes will start up on April 5th, Wednesday afternoons. Also, I'm signing up for an evening Asian Brush Painting class that also start up on April 5th. So if everything works out, I'll be taking two Wednesday classes at the MAG for the next two months. 

I'm taking Jeanne Lindsay's Class!!

As quoted from the Nan Miller Gallery, "Lindsay received her B.A. from the Empire State College of N.Y.S. She has taught art at the Rochester Institute of Technology and has been an instructor at the Memorial Art Gallery since 1984. . . Lindsay continues to receive awards of the highest standing for her botanical watercolors." 

So, in the fall when I first started looking for artists I can work with because two was the requirement for my senior project, I saw Jeanne's work and student work displayed at the Memorial Art Gallery. I asked about her and they told me that she was in her 90's and that she retired. I ended up finding Larry after working with Cynthia, so I was set. I then find out that Jeanne is Larry's mentor and I thought that was awesome. I'm learning from an awesome artist who is learning from and awesome artist. 

I recently reached out to Cynthia and we touched up on some things and she had let me know that the spring catalog was out so I obviously checked it out. To my surprise, I saw one of Jeanne's classes listed, BUT, it was on a Wednesday from 1:15- 4:15, and so it interferes with my Pre-Calc class and AP Environmental class. I spoke to both teachers and my principle about working something out if I were to miss those school times and they graciously supported me!! So thank God to Dan, Negussie, Dr. Idonia and of course Mrs. Elisa who helped me through the whole process,  I will be taking this class starting April. I'm so exited about it!! Hopefully it all works out great!

Watercolor Trees

So for our final class with Larry yesterday, we learned how to paint trees. I loved it. I'm definitely going to be practicing these more and more. I loved how my bare tree turned out for my first try. For my other tree, there's way more room for improvement.  I loved everything from shading techniques to branch techniques. Overall, really fun. The perfect thing to conclude our class!

Watercolor Academy Paint VS Professional Paint

The biggest mistake I made thus far with watercolor is spending 100's of dollars on worthless paint supply. I do have a job, but I don't make much, so when I do save up as much as I can, I do like to spend that money on my watercolor supplies. The problem though is knowing the right kind of paint to buy. I advise ANYONE looking to buy art supplies to speak to a professional first. So when I first started out in the fall before I spoke to anyone, I bought the student grade paint, about 5 colors ranging from $5- $10 each; not bad. Throughout the year I found out that the artist quality paint is so much better. It's more pigmented, better blending, it dries better, etc. And a very great trusted brand is Windsor Newton. So I go to the art store and buy a whole bunch of paint in the Windsor Newton brand each about $5. I come to find out that:

1. I can make most of the "extra" colors I bought using 2 or 3 of them. So that means I spent my money on unnecessary colors.
2. Just because it says Windsor Newton on it, that doesn't automatically make it artist grade paint. Now it makes sense why the smaller tubes (5 ml) were literally 2x the price of the bigger tubes (8 ml).

As you can see in the photo, the paint tube farthest to the left is a student grade paint (Academy) in the Grumbacher brand. The one in the middle is Windsor Newton but it's Cotman which is also student grade pain. The one fatherest to the right is also in the Windsor Newton brand but its the artist grade paint since it says professional on it. So I learned my lesson with that. I purchased some professional essential colors so far and let me tell you, there is a difference. Definitely worth the money difference.

Water color Practice W/ Little Brother

During my free time, I like to pull up Youtube tutorials and just practice painting. My little brother who recently turned 12 this month is also into art. So I do paint with him sometimes and he loves it. This is a piece we recently did together. At first glance, it's hard to tell which one I did and I think that's awesome considering I do have way more experience than he does. But it was fun and I love the colors!

Paint Brush Bag Roll

So in my first semester art class at school, I took a textiles class with Mrs. Elisa. In this class, we first designed our own stamps. We were required to create one figurative, geometrical and one other I forget the name of but it had to do with plants. Anyways, so I made one inspired by the Moroccan khumisa (palm shaped amulet), the Kurdish sun (on flag) and and the Egyptian Scarab. 

After that we printed our own fabric and were given the option to use our stamps. For the fabric base, we used acrylic paint and Gelli plates. If you know me, then you would know I stepped out of my comfort zone with these colors. I absolutely hated it at first because of the colors but when it was all put together, I ended up actually liking it. Anyways, so I added my stamps on top and this took several weeks to get completely done because there was so much behind the scene work involved. 

It didn't end there. My class was making regular bags fit for tablets and stuff like that, but Mrs. Elisa said I could make something that would go with my senior project, so we decided on the brush bag/roll. This also meant that my fabric pattern would be completely different than everyone else. So this involved a lot of thought processes from the both of us but it turned out to be awesome!!

Watercolor Artists

So since I have a research paper due soon on contemporary watercolor artist Janet Fish, I've been coming across many amazing artists besides her. There was one piece that caught my attention not just because it's one of Cloud Gate, but because of how real it looks! 

So after some research, I found out the amazing artist behind this piece. His name is Steven Kozar. I'm telling you, I'm still in doubt with some of his painting because of how real they look. 

  

Like there are some amazingly great watercolor artist out there like Janet Fish, but I can tell her painting is a painting which doesn't take away from how great the pieces. But Kozar's paintings are too realistic.  

Last Class Cancelled?

So because of this wonderful weather we've been having in NY, my last class with Larry has been cancelled :( BUT... It's also been rescheduled :) So our final class is next Tuesday. I'm glad we're still having it. The Spring catalog for the MAG Creative Workshop has been posted. There are so many great classes that include ones that will be taught by Cynthia and Larry. The problem is that most of them interfere with my school time. There is also one being taught by Jeanne Lindsay! I couldn't believe my eyes. She's taught watercolor at the creative workshop since 1984. She's an awesome artist! And, she does botanical pieces. Still life and botanical work was what I was primarily interested in when it comes to watercolor. Like it can't get any better.

But, her class is being taught during my school hours. I'm going to try to see if there's anyway I can work that out. 

Last Winter Class

So this coming up Tuesday will be my last class with Larry :( For our final class, we will be focusing on trees. I feel like trees are one of those essential things that just don't seem that important because they're everywhere but they're important because they're everywhere. If that makes any sense at all. So I am exited to learn the techniques for trees because they can add depth and interest to a lot of nature based piece of art. But this also means that I need to hunt down for more classes because I have to take at least one during the spring time. Exiting!!

Working with Shadows

So yesterday, we finished our observational piece from an image Larry took somewhere in Canandaigua. I like it! The shadow aspect of this piece is really cool. In order to achieve, I just went over the already painted areas with a blue wash. For the shadow wash, I mixed mostly ultramarine blue with a little bit of windsor blue and burnt sienna. The most important thing I got out of working with this piece was not going back in specifically with the glaze. For the shadow, we used a technique called glazing which just means going over a painted area with another. As tempting as it gets to go back into it after the first stroke, don't. But I do like the final piece.

Watercolor Redo... Success!

I redid it and it did come out better! I way more happy with how this piece came out! One of the major things with my other piece is that the tree on the far left was very muddy, the background was just horrible in general and the tree kind of looked unrealistic. Another thing was adding depth the the ground to make it almost look downhill. I mean there is still room for improvement with this piece but I'm happy with how it looks. You can see how i roughly sketched it before and how much life the color added to it afterwards. 

From Photo to Watercolor

We didn't finish our one point drawings this class, but we did start with another. This piece was also one that we used a photo reference for. But we just roughly sketched before going in with the paint. I personally don't like how it looks. Larry did suggest doing it over. He said that doing the same piece over will improve it every time. It's kind of learning from your mistakes but with the same piece. I will, and we'll see how it comes out. 

Updated Watercolor Grapes... Fail

I told you I'd update on those grapes, so here it is. We had no class today because of February break, so I though why not. It still looks horrible in my opinion. The shadow coming from the grapes makes it even worse. I am starting to like the colors for the grapes. One Larry told me to not use again is the gouache which is the opaque watercolor paint. I used a white to highlight the grapes in this painting and he said it's just better to stick to the habit of using the white of the paper as the highlight. 

Perspective Drawing

Today we worked with perspective drawing. I've had a little experience with this before in the drawing class I took in the fall, so it was not new to me, but still fun. So for the two point perspective drawings, the lines meet at two separate vanishing points on opposite ends of the paper. For the one point perspective drawings, the lines meet at one point on the horizontal line. We did a little practice with the two point, but will actually be painting our one on point perspective drawings.  

Apple in Watercolor

We painted the classic apple. I did one before during my fall class with Cynthia for that still life piece I put in the art show. For this piece, we did a lot of playing around with color. For this specific apple, I used yellow for highlighted areas and blue to shade. One thing I did improve on was the shading since my grape piece. I tried to make it a little more softer on the edges and darker towards the object the shadow is coming from and I used blue as a base color instead of the brown I used before.