Project 3: Surreal Compositions with Natural Objects

Artist Statement:

When choosing natural objects to scan onto the computer and use to create my surreal compositions, I looked for bright colors such as berries and bananas, as well as choosing objects that would have a lot of texture such as walnuts and twigs, etc. In arranging these objects within each composition I tried to have the background have a lot of texture so I choose to have enlarged images of berries and raisins because of the wrinkles they contained. A few of the pieces focused around patterns such as the last composition while a few tried to create a scene such as a bird or a storm at sea. With the other pieces I focused on layering foreground and background to create depth and a sense of movement. Each composition is separate but the composition 5 was influenced  by my creation of the bird in composition 2.

Project 2

Artist Statement: 

     To begin I will expound upon the first part of the project or the first three composition descending from the top. I explored the limitation of creating a composition solely by scanning objects and leaving them as close to their pre-scanned form as possible. In an attempt to be creative and create a composition that was entertaining I decided to explore depth. To do this I layered objects over one another as exemplified in the 3rd composition in which I layer pencil and scarf haphazardly to show contrast and depth. I also played with the far background of these pieces using paper and or fabrics such as a yellow and a crocheted hat in composition 2. This had a good result as the crinkles and bends in the background of each composition caught the light of the scanner differently and produced a textured look.

     In the next three compositions I attempted to turn the scanned objects into surreal pieces. My main focus throughout these compositions was to distort the perception of size ( as scene in the last composition and how the crocheted hat is blown up to look almost like hair) and to make the tinfoil I scanned unrecognizable. Concerning the latter goal, placing the tinfoil in the background and or by applying a setting to it allowed the the tinfoil to appear like zebra stripes as in the first of the three surreal compositions. I also decided to play with the scaling of objects as seen by the colored pencils I scanned. For example, in the third surreal piece I scaled the pencils down and then distorted them which allowed them to be turned into legs and antennas. It turned out nicely.

Art Project #1: PLAY

Throughout my first "play" with photoshop I enjoyed playing with texture the most. I mainly did this through the smudge tool and the ability to apply effects to the brush tool. I also stumbled upon other settings/tools such as opacity and other frequency controls that  appeared to control the velocity, hues, vibrance, etc of the colors and overall piece. An example of this is demonstrated in the second and third pieces. The latter going overboard with the controls and accidentally creating a black and white piece that was kind of cool. I attempted to stay away from cartoon type content although this snuck into the first piece. I also explored paint brush options and learned that the pen tool can be used to create shapes (although this happened after class). The stamp tool or stamp brush feature allows for quick repetition of identical shapes which I explored in my first and final piece. This was quick and affective.