Friday, October 12, 2007

Arrielle Dreher
Mrs.Wierenga
12 October 2007
DAIO
This famous piece of artwork is called “Waterfall”. M.C Escher did it in 1961. In the Foreground of this picture is the base of the building that has stairways, landing, and a garden filled with unusual plants. It also has doorways, windows and two people. One is hung up Landry the other relaxing against one of the walls of a balcony. In the middleground is a great waterfall that has two tall towards with geomectic shaped cubes at the top of each one. There is a water way in between each of the tower and at the end of the water way is a water fall. In the background is a cliff but is foamed so it has setps.
This artwork has a lot of texture, from the side s of the water way that look like brick to the shingles of the top of the watermill. Also the shading in “waterfall” is everywhere, you can easily tell where the sun is and how he made sure that everywere had is that needed it. Finally M.C Escher uses also of line in this pieces he has made. It helps show the texture and the small detail in his work.
There is a story behind every artwork. In this one is about another world far way in space where water is there main sourer of energy and everywhere you look you see green. Life is easy and there is hardly anyone.
I think this pieces of artwork is every successful because it is unlike anything you have ever seen before. The small details make it more creative than ever. I like this drawing because it different and make me think about it and what’s going one.

Echer, M.C. 1961 ,"Waterfall". Echer Musem. 11 october 2007

Thursday, October 11, 2007

"Winter Garden" by Vincent Van Gogh


Dominique Hunter
Mrs. Wierenga
Drawing
12 October 2007
“Winter Garden” by Vincent Van Gogh
“Winter Garden” was created by Vincent Van Gogh in 1884. In the foreground, there is the garden which is filled with dead trees and plants. In the middle ground, is a man with a black robe walking down the pathway. In the background there are more dead plants and trees on a barren field.
The very neutral and bland colors, and lack of any bright colors, used in this piece give the impression of death or winter. The lines in the piece make everything seem more fragile and prone to breaking. The lines and space between everything also give it a forbidding feeling, which makes you not want to enter into that world. Van Gogh also uses emphasis and contrast to call attention to the different details which make this drawing so venomous.
This drawing leaves rooms for many interpretations. Winter is a very depressing season and Van Gogh is showing that clearly here. He could also be illustrating an experience of death through the melancholic scene. Van Gogh could also be expressing his inner depression through the image of a desolate landscape filled with misery and loneliness. He very well might be portraying himself as the man in the black robe.
I really like this drawing because of its variety in ideas and context. Everything in this piece seems to come together and perfectly illustrates the most likely intended idea of hopeless feeling. The season of winter is full of death and sometimes even depression. This piece makes you feel the emotions of sadness and isolation just by looking at it and that’s why I like it so much.


Works Cited

Van Gogh,Vincent . Winter Garden. 1884 .Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. 11 October 2007. <>.

Josefa Solano-Richante
Mrs. W
Drawing
11 October 2007

In 1520 Michelangelo drew Ideal Head of a Woman with red chalk. It is of a beautiful woman’s head and shoulders with long wavy hair. The foreground of the drawing is the woman’s face which contains the most detail of the entire drawing. The middleground consists of her shoulders and long hair that goes over them. The background is very plain and is mostly nothing at all except for a lightly shaded surface surrounding the head.
The only section of the drawing with a good amount of realistic detail is the woman’s face in which he used criss-crossing lines to make shading in certain areas. He used great contrast to emphasize the dimensions and lighting on the face. The smooth shading of her face also gives her a youthful look From the bottom of the chin to the neck and down, there is a quick decline in detail in which the shapes of the hair and body is implied only by some thin curved lines. This is also true for the braided hair on top of her head.
I think that Michelangelo drew Ideal Head of a Woman to both create and express his own taste in women. All of her facial features from the curve of her eyebrows to the roundness of her cheeks to the decorative style of her hair give her a very elegant and aesthetic feel that most men would find to be beautiful.
I like this drawing because even though it is simple, I think Michelangelo did a good job creating the feeling on his mind through a simple facial expression. I really like the woman’s hair with her braids and feather. But even though I admire this drawing, I think that an oil painting of this woman would create room for much more emotion.

Work Cited

"Ideal Head of a Woman." Lourve. The Lourve Museum. 10 Oct. 2007 .

D.A.I.O



This drawing is a red chalk drawing by the French artist, Jean-honore Fragonard, and is titled A Gathering at Woods' Edge. The fore ground of the drawing is a road with many people. The middle ground looks like a forest with many trees. In the background, seems to be a cloudy day.

The tree’s leaves give puffy texture that makes it seem like they would be soft
to touch, and the ground gives bumpy but soft impression. He gives emphasis on tree shrubs by coloring dark between the trees, which makes the shrub, improve in appearance. He uses soft short lines to shade in order to give the shrubs a volume.

This drawing looks like in a middle of a day. People are sitting and having a
pleasant time. It seems really quiet because it is in the middle of a forest. It looks like a nice road for a stroll. The artist might draw this drawing when he was having a calm day. It gives a feeling of emptiness, because the tree in the back only has branches.

This drawing gave me a soft impression when I first saw it. I like the drawing
because it gives me pleasant look and comfort. It gives country like feelings. This drawing looks successful because it immediately gives people a soft and comforting feeling.


Fragonard, Jean-honore, A Gathering at Woods’Edge. 1760-1780. The
Metropolitan Museum of Art,NY.10/10/2007 <htttp://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/09/euwf/hod_1995.101.htm >.



Dan Bruinooge
Mrs. W
Drawing
11 October 2007


An Austrian artist named Alfred Kubin completed The Last King in 1903. He used ink on paper. The foreground of the picture shows a skeleton dressed in king’s clothes with his head down and legs crossed. In the middleground, which is on the right of the paper has a group of men in cloaks and one of them is holding some sort of pitch fork with something on the top that is smoking. In the background, there is empty space with slight shades around the skeleton and the upper right corner.
This painting has a very surreal and symbolic feel to it. It is surreal because of how the texture of all the figures is somewhat realistic which the actual subject is unrealistic. It is symbolic because of how the king is a skeleton instead of a human with skin and muscles. The skeleton king in his white robe contrasts with the chair and the crowd around him which makes him stand out more.
I believe that Kubin drew this picture to mark the end of kings in a symbolic way. When people think of skeletons, they usually associate them with dead people. This fits perfectly with how it is to symbolize the fall or “death” of kings. I think that it’s safe to assume that Kubin had an interest in politics in somewhat of a progressive way.
I like this painting because it has a deeper meaning that is still accessible to a common viewer as opposed to some other works of art that if you weren’t told the story behind it, you wouldn’t have the slightest idea what’s going on. He gets his message across very clearly which I think is an important part of drawing.


Work Cited


Kubin, Alfred. The Last King. 1903. Museum of Modern Art. Moma.Org. 10 Oct. 2007 .
Seulah Lee

"Tahitian Faces by Paul Gauguin"

This is a charcoal drawing on a laid paper by Paul Gauguin, the French artist, and is descripted faces. He drew a young Tahitian woman and her three different sides of face. First, its frontal face is in the center and is the most descripted part. Her eyes are blancked as a scrupture or a doll. Her lips are also closed that symbolize the strength of woman.

Strength of woman, which is the most meaningful to me, is expressed by using a gradation and a texture. There is a gradation on her forward face; her hair and her left side of her face. Gauguin also shaded her hair thikly but softly as real hair.
Not only the frontal face in the center, but also the background is a smooth texture making it to appear to flow along the paper. In my own thought, this is to symbolize a woman's secret part as her own emotion or her own feeling.

Gauguin's last facial drawing on the bottom, in addition, shaded as well as the frontal face; but not as much detailed as it. The eye is not even emphasized and is much smoothier than others faces. Its texture makes me think how woman covers her sadness and anger quietly. The closed lips are the balance which Gauguin used for showing a silence.

All three dimensions, therefore, are the emphasis that concludes three different characteristics of general women. According to this article, "masklike faces, likewise, are smudged by the sooty contour lines and shadows. This figure is not even close to the expression of beauty but is the symbol of manlike character" (Metropolitan Museum of Art).

Gauguin, therefore, put his uniqueness on Tahitian woman's faces, expressing not only the strength of woman but the secret side of woman's feature. Shades, texture, lines, and sketch are symbolic rather than realistic. This drawing is, in conclusion, not the simple portrait but is an expression of human mind.



-Worked by.
Gauguin, Paul. Tahitian Faces. 1899. The Metropolitan Musement of Art, New York. 10 Oct. 2007. <http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/viewOne.asp?dep=9&viewmode=0&item=1996.418>.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

DAO! oct. 10

Rachel Snack
Mrs. Wierenga
DAOI
10 October 2007


Jan Brueghel: View of Heidelberg

Jan Brueghel’s drawing of the View of Heidelberg created in 1588, is a simple drawing of a town sitting atop a hill next to a wide river. In the background there are blue clouds. They are smooth, peaceful, and simple; and they almost look like they could be the vague shape of mountains. Also in the background is the city, and main focal point of the picture. It is drawn in sepia colors and is sketched lightly. A bridge connects the city to another strech of land on the other side of the river. In the middleground is the river, which takes up most of the drawing. It is lightly tinted blue but looks calm and simple, just like the sky. Also in the middleground is a boat, the only one in the river and it looks like it might be a fishing boat, because of the net on the back of the boat. Looking at the foreground, you can see a small strech of land, a bank on the side of the river that keeps the river from dominating the page. It is also drawn in like sepia colors and some greens.
To me this looks like a fantasy world. Something you might see in Lord Of The Rings. It is quite and simple and reminds me of a medival setting, with wide open areas and tall castle like structures. There is little texture or variety, everything is simple and light. However the light color contrasts Brueghel uses creates movement and variety in the picture. That alone makes the picture unique and stunning.
I think that this might have been Brueghel’s escape. It could have been his imagination, or perhaps a real place; it was beautiful and calming. Maybe the boat in the picture was Brueghel’s or he lived in the city. Maybe he simply wished it to be real. Whatever it was, I think anyone who saw it would have been inspired to paint.

I love this picture, which was one of the reasons why I picked to report on it. Its so calming and so beautiful, I get caught up in it. In my opinion this work is successful because Brueghel made me feel the mood of his paitning, which I think for any artist is the hardest thing. He was talented and used his skill to provide an escape not only for himself but for anyone who saw his painting. No doubt about it, Brueghel had a beautiful mind.

Brughel, Jan. Works of Art: Drawings and Paintings. Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2007. 10 Oct. 2007 .

DAIO

Sieun Lim
Ms. Wieringa
Drawing
10 October 2007





This drawing is by Vincent van Gogh, and it is entitled Winter Garden. This artwork was made with a pen and ink and created in 1884. The landscape was based on Gogh’s hometown. In the foreground of the piece, there are two twisted and dark trees on a lane and a man who are too dark to recognize his figure standing between them, and both left and right side of the road show some rural fields. The middle ground continues to show the scenery of rural town with the road, but there is no tree on the road in this part. Then, there is a vague building that looks like a church in the background.

On the Winter Garden, Vincent van Gogh put some elements of art to make his drawing impressive. First of all, he used sharp and twisty lines for drawing the tress which express his personal agony or sorrow. As it is called Winter Garden, the big empty space of the sky brings feelings of coldness and isolation to the picture. In addition, the simple and dark color of brown makes the drawing more serious and gloomy. Gogh put strong shading to make the foreground vivid. On the other hand, he made the background dull and faint, for example, compared to the dark trees in the foreground, the church in the background is hard to be seen. This contrast of darkness creates a distance in the landscape and makes it more realistic and 3-D. Also, there are several principles of art in the piece. A composition of main objects, the trees and the man, in the middle ground makes the drawing visually balanced, and a strong contrast of light and dark values from the trees and the man create an emphasis on the picture. Also, the movement from the twisty lines of the trees makes them look like wrenching and screaming like a human.

The picture looks so sad and lonely to me. As every creature dies in winter, things in the drawing look ending their lives. Especially, the dark man on the drawing seems to have short time before his death and to struggle with his great emotional pain as the two trees by him writhe in agony. Looking at the place far away from him, he must miss someone in that place and want to meet that person before his death. However, the distance between the man and the vague place in the background looks so far from each other, so I think that it might be going to be a sad ending at last.

I like this drawing by Vincent van Gogh who is my most famous artist. Although most of his drawings and paintings are negative, sad, and gloomy, I love to see his effort to express his emotions sincerely and honestly through his artworks. Therefore, his art is unique and different from other normal realistic art. Gogh has strength of inspiring his emotions to the audience, so it made me feel like being in the place of the Winter Garden when I saw it. Although I was firstly shocked by the dark mood of the Winter Garden, I wanted to go and find more deep inside of the story in the drawing. I love art works that mentally influence on me, and Gogh’s pictures always give me exciting emotional experience as I look at them.




Work Cited
Gogh,Vincent van. Winter Garden. 1884 .Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. 10 October 2007.
<http://www3.vangoghmuseum.nl/vgm/index.jsp?lang=en>

DAIO - Cindy Baik

Cindy Baik
Ms. Wieringa
Drawing
Oct. 10. 2007


DAIO

I am going to introduce a drawing called, Children Hunting Bird's Nests(1850) which is drawn by Jean-Francois Millet, French (1814-1875). This drawing was done with chalk, heightened with opaque water color on light blue paper. There are three distinctive grounds in this drawing: foreground, middleground, and background. In the foreground of the drawing, there is a tall tree. There is also some grass on the right side. For the middleground, there are some children who are hunting bird's nests. One of them is up in the tree holding the nest. He is trying to drop it to the three children who are trying to catch it at the bottom of tree. For the last, I think Millet drew the woods for the background of this drawing.


In Children Hunting Bird's Nests, Millet did a successful job because he pointed out the three different grounds by coloring differently. For example, he draw the tree in the foreground with very dark shading. Then he expressed the tree and children in the middleground with white color so he could emphasis it. Next, he draw a vague wood for the background and he colored some dark for showing that it is a deep wood. It also tells that the sun is on the right side, because the shading is on the left side.


The children in this drawing remind me of my childhood. It shows the freedom of childhood by drawing fearless children who are hunting the nests. The boy up in the tree must be very proud of himself because he is the one who went up to the tree and got the nests. The rest of them are eager to see it and touch it. They will probably bring that nest to their house and show their parents what they got. It reminds me so vividly about my childhood. My friends and I did similar things, such as catching bugs.


I think it is a very succesful work. Jean-Francoi, Millet did a great job by showing the shading and the intensity of coloring. By his perspective representation, it looks very real and makes me want to join them.



Jean-Francoi, Millet. Children Hunting Bird's Nests. 1850. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia. 10 Oct. 2007 <http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/51956.html>

Daio


Samantha de Waal Malefyt
Mrs. Wierenga
Drawing
11 October 2007

DAIO

This drawing is titled Nocturne and it was created by James Abbott McNeill Whistler in 1878. This piece was done with lithotint with scraping. In the foreground of the drawing is a solitary man on a small vessel in a lake that stretches into the middle ground. In the background, there is the outline of a town and some hills.

In this drawing, Whistler uses a lot of blending in order to create a smooth, foggy texture over the lake and the background. The soft, undefined lines also add to the texture of the painting. The extra shading on the man and the boat create emphasis and add value to the elements in the foreground. The light shading in the middle ground compared with the darker shades in the fore- and backgrounds gives the viewer a sense of the space between the man in the foreground and the town in the background.

In the picture, it seems that the man is out on the lake in the very early morning, because of the foggy atmosphere around him and the peaceful state of the lake. The man appears to be totally isolated and separated from civilization, like he is enjoying a sort of escape. Its seems that he is enjoying the clear morning on the still lake before the rest of the town wakes up and goes off to work and disturbs the peace.

I really like this drawing because it has a real sense of peace about it. It makes me feel relaxed and after looking at it for a few minutes, I immediately felt calmer. I think this piece is successful because it shows a very unique and striking atmosphere, which is something Whistler was trying to show. The drawing definitely shows a peaceful, serene atmosphere that is obvious and striking to even the casual observer.

Works Cited

Whistler, James Abbott McNeill. Nocturne. 1878. The Metropolitan Museum
of Art. New York. 11 October 2007. < dep="9&viewmode="0&item="17%2E3%2E159">.

DAIO



This drawing is a Conte crayon and gouache drawing by Georges-Pierre-Seurat, a French Artist, and is titled At the Concert Européen (Au Concert Européen). . In the foreground of the drawing there are four silhouettes of one man, and three women sitting down, the backs of the chairs, the white collars of the women’s shirts. The middle ground is the ladies hair, and a woman illuminated, singing. In the background you see the illuminated woman with a backdrop behind her.
In this drawing, Pierre-Seurat shows balance by the dark shades on the bottom of the drawing, and the lighter on the top. Pierre-Seurat uses pointillism, a technique using only dots to create illusions of forms.
This drawing shows a very eerie scene. The concert hall is dark, like one usually is, and the stage is lit up showing the soloist singing. It looks like a nice place to sit and relax and listen to the concert. The medium was crayon, and the drawing does not have much detail in it except for the background, but is still eye catching.
I like the drawing of Au Concert Européen because at first it seems just like a bunch of dark shapes, but when you continue to look at it you can make out the people. And the small details that Pierre-Seurat. The work is successful because Pierre-Seurat was using a different kind of technique that not a lot of drawers typically use. It is a work of art that is very interesting.


Georges-Pierre, Seurat. "The Collection." The MoMA. 1886. MoMA.Org. 9 Oct. 2007 .

DAIO- Julie Park




DAIO

This drawing is an ink drawing by the French artist, Georges Bataille, and is titled Untitled drawing for Soleil Vitré. In the foreground of the drawing is a man's face with a beard and spiky hair. He has a long nose and slightly frowning lips. There is no middle ground. The background features many abstract symbols such as flowers by his eyes and an animal on the man's right cheek. There are also various tiny faces on his forehead, two pairs of eyes surrounding his lips.

In this drawing, Bataille creates emphasis by using various inks. The prominent features of the face (such as the eyes, nose, and lips) are drawn with a dark ink, while the more abstract features in the background are given light ink. He uses short lines to detail the face's hair and beard, while using quick dots to outline the perimeter of his face. The darker shades in the middle of his face create a balance with the outer areas along with the abstract symbols. There is a sense of freedom in this drawing as some lines seem to be drawn wherever Bataille wished them.

This drawing shows a man's face which appears sad. The beard and short hair on top make it seem like he is an old man who has had a lot of experiences. Those experiences are shown in the background. There are two faces of a young, cheerful boy on the forehead and nearby there is a campfire. The perimeter of his face could also be grass, which could also remind him of his childhood. But I don't understand the diagonal line that is shooting from the top of his nose. It could represent blood, sweat, or tears, or even a combination of them. Bataille is comparing an old man's current state with the carefree memories that are part of his life.

I find this drawing very interesting because I can see the different points of view from his face. I like this drawing because I can see the emotion not just on his face, but from the background objects. This work is successful because Bataille is trying to create a drawing that gets your attention and makes you think. And this drawing definitely made me stop and want to figure out the meaning behind it.



Bataille Georges, Untitled drawing for Soleil Vitre. no date. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. 10 Oct. 2007 < http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?object_id=84991>





Art Daio 2, View of Heidelberg

Ms. Wieringa
Drawing I
11 October 2007



Art Daio: View of Heidelberg





This work of art, the View of Heidelberg, was drawn by Jan Brueghel. The pen and brown ink drawing with blue and brown washes was completed in ca. 1589. In the foreground, there is hard, bareness land and what appears to be a cliff, in the middle ground there is a lake with a boat, and finally in the background there is a castle and a bridge with a large mountain located behind them.



By analyzing this piece, it is discovered that many elements and principles of art were used in its creation. Space, for example is an element of art. Space is seen in this drawing by the distance between the land and the boat, and finally, from the boat to the land. Line is also another element used throughout this drawing. Line is seen in the way that the boat, bridge, and castle are outlined. The lines in the castle, boat, and bridge define the edges of the objects. Harmony, a principle of art, is the last thing present in the drawing. Harmony is achieved in this drawing by the way that similar elements are used to create an uncomplicated feel to the work.



Although this piece, the View of Heidelberg, is quite simple, many interpretations can be drawn from it. Could it possibly be a stately castle standing majestically on a hill? Or is it a vast and large city? Many variations are possible, for example, maybe the boat symbolizes oncoming enemies or someone that just fled the quite remarkable castle. Even this piece in all its simplicity could have many different meanings and variations depending on the viewer’s opinion.


This painting, the View of Heidelberg, is one of Brueghel’s drawings that reside in Metropolitan Museum of Art. In my opinion, I believe this painting is okay, it’s not the greatest I’ve seen, but it’s not the worst either. Some portions of the painting are very simple and almost too washed out by the lack of color and shading. I do not think that this painting was very successful because of the lack of striking color and contrast. The piece itself is not strong enough to catch the viewer’s eye or to stand alone.


Work Cited


Brueghel, Jan. View of Heidelberg. 1588-1589. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 9 Oct. 2007 <http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/viewOnezoom.asp?dep=9&zoom%20Flag=0&viewmode=0&item=1995%2E15>.

This is a famous drawing done by M.C. Escher in 1948, called Drawing Hands. In the foreground we see a right hand busy sketching a shirt-cuff upon a drawing pad. At this point its work is incomplete, but a little further to the right it has already drawn a left hand emerging from a sleeve in such detail that this hand has come right up out of the flat surface, and in its turn it is sketching the cuff from which the right hand is emerging. In the background we have a pad of paper pinned onto a drawing surface, this kind of background helps keep the focus on the hands.

Escher uses a lot of different elements in this drawing. The element of line is apparent when you look at the cuffs that are being drawn and also the drawing pad. Another element of art that Escher used in this drawing would be texture. The hands are perfectly shaded so that it looks very realistic. Not only did Escher use different elements of art, he also used some principles in his drawing. One of the main principle of art that he used would be movement. The circular shape of the hands drawing each other creates great movement throughout the whole drawing, and keeps your eyes moving around the whole picture.

Escher enjoyed giving his viewers a visual game in which he transformed flat pattern into three-dimensional objects. He takes one of the most common objects, like our hands, and creates an interesting concept with them. This drawing makes you ask a lot of questions.

I really love this drawing because it keeps you asking questions, such as, what hand started drawing first. Drawing Hands is one of Escher’s most recognized prints, although most people who are asked cannot name the artist. Drawing Hands is a conflict between the flat surface and spatial perception. No artist before or after Escher has been able to turn flat surfaces into such spatial realism. And through this, Escher’s Drawing Hands is a very successful drawing.

Escher, M.C. “Drawing Hands”. 1948. National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. 10 Oct. 2007.
<>.

DAIO Drawing

Seo yoon Kim
Ms. Wieringa
Drawing
Oct. 5.2007


DAIO

I am going to introduce an art piece called Samson and Delilah (1506). The art piece drawn by Albrecht Altdorfer (1480 - 1538), was done with dark brown ink and heightened with white pen on brown prepared paper. The art piece has three points of interest which are foreground, middleground, and background. I think the two people, look like talking each other, the rock, and the ground are the foreground of the work of art. I think the old trees with steps are the middle ground because it looks like it is in between the people and background. The last part, the background, is the old buildings that is broken.


In the Samson and Delilah, Albrecht Altdorfer used white and dark brown pen to make positive and negative space. I, therefore, could find three points of interest in this art piece. Moreover, the detail is very successful in the foreground because the ground looks real. Also, Albrecht Altdorfer used white pen to emphasize the texture of grasses, so the grasses look moving.

I think the story of Samson and Delilah is related to the war. According to the art work the atmosphere and broken buildings in the background of the art piece looks tensioned and brittle respectively. I could find the two men names, Samson and Delilah, from the title of the art piece. They tried to help each other in the war. Samson got injuries, Delilah, therefore, tries to help Samson. Delilah found the way to escape from the dangerous region, but Samson could not walk to the steps.


Showing successfully positive and negative spaces by usage of bright and dark colors, Albrecht Altdorfer made one great art work. Samson and Delilah is the drawing without color. It, however, shows tension and mood of the war very well.

Work Cites

Albrecht, Altdorfer. Samson and Delilah. 1506. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 5 October 2007. < http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/viewOne.asp?dep=9&viewmode=0&item=06%2E1051%2E2 >