Graphics: Photo composite project

I really loved this project we just did for Graphics. I chose an art history theme (in case you couldn't tell... hehe).

The seascape/silhouette is a Monet painting called San Giorgio Maggiore at Twilight (or ''at dusk''), the statues on the beach are the Venus of Milo and Michelangelo's David, the paintings in the water are Man in a Red Turban by Jan Van Eyck and Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, there's also Da Vinci's Last Supper and lastly The Great Wave by Hokusai.

No, the bench, beach, and boat are not from famous pieces of art. I just added them in for flair.

In other news...

Less than a month left of school and SO many exciting things are happening! Where to start??

Okay, I'll start with the short term. This is going to be a great week for 3 reasons!

1) My Non-Western Art class is going on a trip to the Field Museum in Chicago this Tuesday to check out the African/Mesoamerican/Native American art
2) The poem/illustration exhibition at Higher Grounds Tuesday night
3) Trip to the River North art galleries in Chicago on Friday with my Illustration class

Yay for field trips to Chicago!

Also, my presentations for both my art history classes went extremely well! I got a 94-ish% on my Fra Angelico presentation for western art history and a 100% for my presentation on Buddhist sculpture in non-western art history.

Lastly, I've been officially accepted to the Art History Major (BA) at St. Cloud State University! I'm signing up for classes there within a couple weeks, too. I already have a few classes set up, including Baroque/Rococo art and European 19th century painting/sculpture. Tomorrow I find out if I made SCSU's Honors Program, which I adamantly hope I did. So I'm almost set and ready to go, I just need to figure out what I need for the Spanish major, too. Oh, and I'm also going to be an art minor. :)

I'll update again once I find out more about my classes and such. The next project I'm working on is called ''A Week in the Life''. We're making books about, well... a week in our lives. It can be past, present, future, or even made up. I have a good idea for mine, but I still need to start the sketches. I think it's due really soon, so I have a lot of work to do.

Fra Angelico

For as long as I've been exposed to Christian art, I've always found it rather repetitive and uninteresting. I'm starting to realize that my opinion is a little biased because there's a lot of beauty to be found in some, including early Renaissance Christian art.

I chose to do my artist/artwork presentation for art history on an Annunciation fresco by Fra Angelico, a Dominican monk/painter from Florence whose artwork is just beautiful. The scenes he creates are so serene and elegant. They're filled with so much spirit and soft light.
I find it unique how Fra Angelico portrayed Mary in comparison to how she was being portrayed in Christian art from the Middle Ages. Normally she's shown wearing bold, dark blue that makes her the immediate focal point of a piece of art. But here the colors are pale. I like it when Mary seems more like a real person instead of an exalted queen.

My favorite painting!

Well folks, I'm finished with my box for Illustration! I worked on it last night from about 11:30 pm to 2:30 am and for a couple hours today. I will have a post for it following this one!

You know, much as I've been involved in art, I can't say I've ever come upon a particular work that I can call my favorite... until now!

There is something captivating about ''La nascita di Venere'' (''The Birth of Venus'') painted by Sandro Botticelli (c. 1482-1486). It would be worth your time to see a larger image of the painting by clicking here.

When I first saw this in Janson's History of Art, I couldn't take my eyes off of it.

Anyway, according to an introductory segment on this painting in Perspectives on Western Art (vol. 2), ''Venus, the Greco-Roman goddess of physical beauty and sensual love, was exalted in the Renaissance as the embodiment of ideal beauty and as the channel to spiritual love.'' The painting depicts Venus emerging from the sea. On the left, Zephyr, the god of the spring winds, blows Venus upon her shell to the shore while Chloris clings to him. On the right, a nymph prepares to clothe her.

There are so many things I love about this painting. I love the rich color, especially Venus' hair, I love the movement in her hair, the movement in the garment she's about to be clothed in, the movement in the water, and especially the light... I can't even name everything.

Some day, I shall venture to the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence to see it.

Intro to Blog 101

Welcome to the land of artistic reveries, my new blog about art and art-related things! (I know, so specific!)

The establishment of this blog is partly for school-related purposes. aka, I've been assigned to do it for my Illustration class. I say partly because I intend to take it beyond just class assignments. It will be my place for sharing my art, my ideas, and what I'm learning. To anyone who is saying, ''Why would I want to read about art?'', I have this to say: you don't have to know a lot about art to love it. HOWEVER... the more you know, the more you love it... I promise!

This year, I've been more engrossed in art than I ever have been, and that includes art history and art studio classes. Right now I'm taking Illustration for Publication, History of Non-Western Art, and History of Western Art II. Honestly, I can't get enough of these classes. I love all of them.

If you're wondering why anyone would blog about art, well, I think people learn by sharing. So if nothing else, then being able to write about what I'm learning will help me learn what I like, what I understand, what I don't understand, and what I hope to understand. And the plus side is, anyone who reads this can comment and give me feedback... who knows, you might even learn something as well!

Art encompasses a large portion of my life at the moment, so in summary, the heart of this blog is... life!