Saturday, December 23, 2017

Art, my art and critiques.

I graduated with an AA in Studio Art in December of 2017.  And this page shows some of the paintings and mixed media art that I did in my classes and has some explanations of what the assignments were.

The assignment for this painting was to have two focal points that brought together convey a iconic message.  My message is that we should care for our planet.  And the A-cemetery of our planet is suppose to say that at this time we are not as good of stewards of our planet as we should be.  The two focal points are of course our planet Earth and the human hands that spell out the word love.  Some of you may notice that the first three hands are in fact the actual sign language signs, but the fourth, the E is not.  This is because not everyone knows sign language, but anyone whether or not they know sign language can clearly see that this is an E.  Plus the realism of the hands I feel shows that we humans are vulnerable to climate change, meteorites, etc.  And together sends a strong message.  I thought about painting each hand a different color, a person of a different race.  But after painting the first hand and began to paint the second hand I thought that the message alone LOVE conquered all racism trying in my own way to show that race really doesn't matter and that we are all inhabitants of this Planet no matter what our race, and it is all of our responsibility to care for it.

 
For this painting I was suppose to paint something that had personal meaning to me.  This was painted from an old painting of my Mom & Dad when they were younger.  Not only does this painting have meaning to me, but this is the way I want to remember my parents, happy, young, and healthy.
 
 
This next piece is mixed media.  And our assignment was to create something symbolic but ethically pleasing to the eye as well.  We were limited to certain materials, and this is what I came up with.  I did this piece of lungs because my sister had just been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.  I was very concerned about her, and right away thought to do this piece.  I covered it with butterflies, flowers, and plants I made by twisting some colorful wire to show that I was hoping for a speedy, and total recovery for her.  Since then my sister has completely cured of all cancer.  
 
 
For this next cardboard structure, we were to make like a sculpture of polygons as tall as we were.
 
 
For this mixed media one we were to use wood and natural things we found outside to create something, so this is what I came up with.
 
 
This painting was inspired by Claude Monet's water lily pond.
 

 
 
We learned that there are different kinds of abstract art for example some are representational or iconic, but some are not suppose to look like anything at all.  Here are a couple of my attempts at abstract art that are not suppose to look like anything at all.
 
 
 
This painting is just taking something and blowing it up to bring a large focus to something small.  Sorry, I couldn't get a good picture because of the type of paint used kept reflecting the light too much.
 
 
For these next two, we were to drive around our area (Northern California) and take photos of places that we thought would make interesting painting.  I found this old barn, and this recently burned down business.
 
 
 
 
My teacher was very impressed with this painting, and made a big scene in class during our critique.  He said something like it has such depth that it looks like you could reach right in and pick up the wooden box.  And he pointed out that there were shadows in the right places in accordance with the angle of the light on everything.  My highlights, color palate, and the realism of the wood grain.  It was embarrassing.
 
 
 
These are just apples that are off center, but some people have told that they like this painting.
 
 
 


 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 

Friday, April 3, 2015


THIS IS AN ESSAY I WROTE RECECTLY

All mammals deserve rights and compassion

I believe very strongly that the time has come for people to set clear guidelines; legal limits to humans when it comes to animal rights.  Animals are vulnerable, mammals just like us, and therefore should be treated with compassion by us.  Animals are slaughtered for our food, they are used in scientific research, and kept as pets, in zoos, farms and circuses.  So there needs to be laws that protect all animals where ever they are.  And for those who break these animal rights laws, they need to be held responsible. 

In the United States today domestically, most of the time when someone calls to report animal abuse and someone shows up to do something about it, the animal being abused has been abused many times before by these same people.  Not only does the animal have these injuries and pain from this recent abuse, but also other physical problems from previous abuse.  Also, when the police arrive, normally all they do is take a report and the owners are given a warning.  The animal is left there to be abused even more, and the perpetrators are not punished in any way.

Generally there are three different views that people have when it comes to animal welfare, the first one asserts that animals do not have a conscious and don’t experience pain or loss, and so are unable to experience good or bad welfare, therefore it is ok to slaughter them for our food, abuse them, use them for experiments, and whatever for the survival of humans. The second is that animals should not be regarded as property and any use of animals by humans is unacceptable, and the third is somewhere in between.

On farms here and around the world human activities affect the welfare and survival of domestic animals as well as species in the wild, but at least here in the United States there are efforts required by law to calm this wave of abuse of animals such as the IACUC.  The IACUC reviews research guidelines and does evaluations of animal care in research facilities to enhance the well-being of the animals in them before research can take place.  This also includes research on farm animals.  Researchers try to minimize the distress in animals when possible, and procedures that cause more than slight pain are supposed to be performed with sedation or anesthesia, but sometimes the animal’s pain cannot be relieved because this would interfere with the study.  Also in the U.S. we have laws to protect animals from being abused, but as you and I both know, there is a lot of horrific abuses that still takes place here, as you might recall just not too long ago the professional football player Michael Vick was arrested along with three of his associates on federal and state charges for fighting over fifty pit bull dogs, many of whom were maimed or crippled for life.  They were also damaged emotionally and spiritually.  You can see countless pictures on the internet of these dogs that he and his buddies fought, and how mangled they are.  He for his punishment basically got scolded, and a slap on his hand.  He is still playing professional football, and is still a role model to America’s children.

In China animals of all kinds (mostly dogs and cats) are skinned alive for their fur.  They are piled high in tiny cages by the dozens with hardly room to move, and while one of the dogs or other animals is being skinned alive, the others stacked in the cramped cages watch and know that they are next.  The animals are hung by their legs or tails and, when they cut the skin and their fur is peeled from the animals, they kick and jerk around from the pain.  These animals are still alive five to ten minutes after being skinned.  They are alive while being skinned and after being tossed onto the piles of newly skinned animals, to watch while the people skin more animals alive.  Some of the cats and dogs in the cages still have their collars on, since they were someone’s pets and stolen out of someone’s yard.  This is so awful I would put a stop to it right now, if I had the power to, and make an example of anybody involved!  In addition to this, China is the world’s largest fur exporter, and they deliberately mislabel their fur as fur from other species, to sell to unsuspecting customers in stores around the world, including the United States.

Personally I believe that animals do feel physical and emotional pain, and suffer loss just like we do.  I personally have seen many examples of an animal feeling loss, like the dog who stayed by his owners grave for years after their owners death, and there are many other examples of this all you have to do is pay attention to see that animals of all kinds feel loss.  Also I believe that animals have souls, as the Bible says that they do, JOB 12: 10, and I believe that when they die they go to Heaven just like we do, ISAIAH 11: 6-9.