ART EXPLORATION NO. 1

1. Discuss what you thought about creating the Value Scale and Color Wheel.
I had a lot of fun creating the Value Scale and the Color Wheel for this project! I have done similar projects before but it was a few years ago so it was really nice getting to do it again. The Value Scale had its difficulties when it came to the gradation and how to spread out the value. I noticed in the book that we were to refer to that the scale only contained 9 boxes and we were to create one with 10 so finding a spot for the extra square was interesting. I started the color wheel with the primary colors blue, yellow and red because I wanted to test the difference between those and the new primary colors of cyan, magenta, and yellow. To my surprise the new primaries worked so much better than the ones I had previously been using!

2. Which media did you enjoy working with the best and why?
I enjoyed working with the acrylic the best, mixing the colors- even though it took a couple attempts- was fun to create new ones from only three. I used pencil instead of charcoal for the value scale only because of the messiness of the charcoal and honestly I do not particularly love the feel charcoal has when using it.

3. What was the most important discovery in the creation of these studies?
I learned that I was wrong about the primary colors. Growing up I always thought they were blue, yellow and red and even had to test it out compared to the magenta, cyan and yellow that we were to use for this project. I was definitely surprised about this and thought it wasn't going to work. 

4. What is the most important information you learned from watching the videos for this project? What is your opinion of the videos?
The video was interesting because again I did not realize that I was wrong about the primary colors. I liked watching the video because at first I said to myself no that is not right. But upon watching it again and trying it myself I stood corrected. Slightly changing the primary colors made a huge difference on the result of the mixed outcome. 

ART PROJECT PROCESS 

I was very excited about this project and wanted to find out if all the principles and elements of art were right in my back yard- they were! I had a great time and my dog was running around trying to get into all the pictures. I found that the photo I wanted to capture for value was almost missed- I wanted to get the light just right through the leaves and almost missed that chance. I had a great time doing this project and found it really interesting that I was able to find them all right at home. It is going to make me see even a trip to the grocery store in a different perspective. The elements and principles of art are all around us!

COLOR-EFFECTING-EMOTIONS 

1. Describe Color and it's effects on emotions. Use the appropriate vocabulary of color in your posting.
Color has a significant effect on our emotions. We can see this in a simple comparison of the Valentines Day card, which we all know to usually consist of reds and pinks arousing the feelings of love. Now take that card and change the colors to blues or cool colors, and we get the feelings of sadness and loneliness or despair. The emotions behind colors can stir up emotions within ourselves and to change colors and use them to our advantage is key. The intensity of a color can change its strength, like an intense red can show anger or power or intense emotion that same color with a changed intensity can produce calmer emotions. The hues, intensity and value of colors are just some ways in which color can be altered to change our emotions. 

2. What is a theoretical aspect of color that most intrigues/fascinates you? Why?
The theoretical aspect of color that most intrigues me is Scheme. The combination of colors shown on the color wheel can be Monochromatic, Analogous, Complementary, Split Complementary, Triad, or Tetrad. These are the different ways these colors can be combined and convey different emotions.Unification can be shown through the Monochromatic scheme by using one color or hue and its tints and shades. The Analogous scheme shows harmony by using color next to each other on the color wheel. Complementary colors are hues on the opposite side of the wheel from each other. Showing that opposites attract, there is an obvious difference in the colors however they work well with each other. Split Complementary to me coneys more chaos through the color scheme by using one color and the two colors on either side of its compliment.  Triad uses color that are equidistant on the color wheel, to me this shows harmony by how well thy work together but also how warm and cool colors can compliment each other. And lastly, Tetrad which uses four colors equidistant on the color wheel. This shows chaos and harmony through the colors. 

3. In the Color video, what made the biggest impact on you in regards to color and it's effects on emotions?
In the video on color, the thing that made the biggest impact on me was when it explained how artists were trying to capture emotions through color. They were focusing on the emotions instead of the actual object that they were painting. Not that the object was not important but because they felt that what they were experiencing emotionally was more the point of the at. We saw in the video Van Gogh and Monet capturing emotions through the colors they used in the paintings. We see June Redfern experience the same thing on her trip to Venice where she is aiming to capture the emotion from within the scene she sees. She used colors to get a sense of the piece, brought it back to England and continued there trying to capture the emotions that she felt there through the use of color. 

4. In the Feelings video, what made the biggest impact on you in regards to color and it's effects on emotions? 
In the video on Feelings, the painting by the French artist David "The Death of Marat" stuck out to me. It was a time for revolution and this painting was used as propaganda and needed to convey the emotions that needed to be felt. The use of the dark shading around Marat shows despair and death while his head is wrapped up with a white cloth and his pose is Christ like. He is almost glowing surrounded by all that death and darkness. His side table is bright and we can see his quill and ink along with the letters on the desk and in his hand. It effects our emotions through the HVI, contrast and value of the colors.

Module #2:

ART & AESTHETICS 

1. For each video and article list/discuss the key concepts you learned. 

(Aesthetics: Philosophy of the Arts) I think the key concepts of this video were really showing how the definition of art and art aesthetics are ever changing. It started with Plato saying how the artist does not know what he is doing (mainly talking about poets). Plato also said art is only a copy of a copy.  Then we were taken through Aristotle's view on aesthetics and saw his work "The Poetics" which was a rebuttal and critic of Plato's view. Aristotle thought that art and poetry was good for the city of Athens because it aroused strong emotions. Then we were taken through the Renaissance and Neo-Classical ideas and so on. The main concept being how the definition and what philosophers thoughts were changing based on culture. 

2. Which philosopher's theory on aesthetics do you feel is most important? Be sure to mention the philosophers name, era (time in history), and contribution to the aesthetic theory in your response.

I thought that Emmanuel Kant's, from the 18th century, contribution was most important because of his saying there was no exact science of the beautiful. That the judgement of beauty could not be determined by concepts because they were simply guesses. It was a guess on how one would feel and react to spending time with that piece. 

3. What do you think about Changeux and Ramachandran scientific view of aesthetics and art? What was the most interesting fact you discovered from each speakers lecture? 

I thought Changeux and Ramachandran's scientific views of aesthetics were interesting because they explained the chemical and factual side of how we see and understand art. the most interesting thing I thought from Changeux's lecture was the distinct difference of how our brain interprets visible words from masked words. Our brain lights up different areas and some much more prominent when we see visible words from those we have to interpret. (Honestly, I had a vary hard time understanding this lecture and the subtitles on Youtube made it much more confusing.) 
I really enjoyed Ramachandran's lecture, he was funny even though he was still talking about aesthetics from a scientific view point He explained how our eyes and brain pick up the images and process them and how art works because there are so many areas of the brain that work on visual aspects of the image and process them. Artists then distort images that are pleasing to the brain and activate all those centers. 

4. How do the videos and article relate to the readings in the text?

The videos and article related to the readings in the text by both exploring why. Why we like art, why there is art and where it started or where we think it started. The book as well as the video(2) showed the cave drawings of lines and how the earlier humans could pick up what those lines were showing and expressing. Other animals do not do this. We can see a sketch of the room we are in and understand that even though they are only lines they represent and show much more. We understand reason. The article, videos and readings in the book talk about what aesthetics is and what is has to do with beauty and art. We see in all three too that beauty and art do not necessarily match and that what is beautiful may not equal art because of how images can be distorted to seem pleasing to the eye and not convey what we may think beauty actual is. 

5. What is your opinion of the films and article? How do they add depth to understanding of the topics in your reading in the text?

The films and article were interesting to me because they explained a lot about what I had not really thought too much about. I had never thought of why we can see lines and understand them, it was just something that was. Or why we can see faces and images in clouds and stains, because as babies we used that distinction of faces for our benefit. I enjoyed the assignment because it made me think about what aesthetics was and how it related to art and beauty and it also made me realize that there is much more a connection between us and art. 

First Time Blogging Using "Blogger" : Here We Go!

QUESTION: How was the process of creating the Gmail account and setting up the blog?
ANSWER: Creating the Gmail account was pretty easy actually. I did honestly get a little confused when I started setting up the Blogger. I was excited when I got to choose and customize the colors and layout of the blog and I suppose we will see if I did everything right when someone goes to read all this but hey its my first time using this.

QUESTION: What do I expect to learn from this course?
ANSWER: I expect to learn a lot from this course! I do not know a lot of the proper vocabulary or many artists that I can refer to by name and by the end of this course I am sure I will become more knowledgeable about terms and artists and why a piece of art makes me feel a certain way.

QUESTION: How do I feel about taking an online course?
ANSWER: I am excited because I want to take this course and need to and the only way I could was by doing it online. I am also a little nervous about missing something or getting confused and missing a due date with another class but all in all I am exited!