Zoetrop

The Zoetrop was created by William Horner in 1834 and was origianally named the "Dardalum" which means ("wheel of the devil").
This "toy" was based on Plateau's phenakistoscope but it was a lot easier because more than one person was able to view it at the same time.
The way the Zoetrop works is that a sequence of hand drawn objects or images on strips of paper is placed at the bottom of the drum and slots are cut at the top of the drum just above where the pictured slips are positioned. When the drum is spun the images create an illusion of motion which is viewed by looking through the slots that had been created.

Barbara Kruger

A work of art by Barbara Kruger
The way I feel about this work of art is that it gives the viewer a very blunt message.
To me the message is harsh. For example, when it says, "go hang around someone else" or, "a jerk you are"
The person is obviously expressing their feelings towards someone who is a fake and is being completely honest about how they think about them.
I like this work of art because she is standing up for herself and making it clear who's taking charge.
Overall, I believe this is a bluntly honest message telling all the fakes to get real and stop being so in love with themselves thinking their always right.

Group of Seven - J.E.H MAcDonald

J.E.H MacDonald's style looks like he uses thick, dark, colours, rarely ever bright. His style of art is bold, and he mainly focuses on landscapes. He uses a lot of orange, red, green and browns in his paintings. J.E.H MacDonald's paintings were mainly abstract and didn't look like they were meant to relate to real life, or look like something realistic.

Three paintings created by J.E.H MacDonald are:

Algoma Waterfall - 1920
Artist's Home and Orchard - 1927
Mist Fantasy

Please be sure to make a comment after viewing the paintings, to leave feedback if you believe I have understood J.E.H MacDonald's way of art. :)

Sketching Graffiti

Here's an awesome video of some Graffiti sketching!

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

It's amazing how talented some people can be. :)

I myself am working on graffiti...of course not for illegal purposes!

My Chess Piece

This is a photo of a picture of a chess piece that I have been working on in my CyberARTS class at LCI. I used many varieties of line in my picture. Using different techniques of line I tried to create the feeling of movement and rhythm so that the reader's eyes follow, allowing them to see every part of the picture. To do this, I used many different types of line including: short lines, long lines, dark lines, light lines, thick lines, thin lines, curvy lines, wavy lines, rounded lines, straight lines etc. The way I achieved this is by using my three different art pencils, my HB my 2B and my 6B. To get the thick darkest lines I used my 6B pencil, but to get the thin light lines I used my HB.
To get the different shades I used almost the same idea. My darkest pencil was used for the darker shades and my lightest pencil was used for the lighter shades. I tried to shade darker around lighter parts of the chess piece so that it would stand out and not sink into the background.
The parts where the light hit the chess piece are the lightest of the picture (almost completely white) and the parts where no light at all hits the chess piece are the darkest of the picture.
My background has many little eye catching designs but my main focal point is the chess piece...ENJOY :)

Billy the Monster

Good morning readers :) I am fairly bored right now so I decided I would write something for you to enjoy! Today I have decided I am going to tell you a story :)
Once upon a time in a land far far away lived a hideous green monster named Billy. Billy was an ugly little "thing" and no one really liked him :( Poor poor Billy your thinking, correct?
Well, Billy is an example of how good things happen to good people. Even though Billy was always being teased and excluded from the other monsters activities, he still had a kind heart. Whenever someone was in need Billy was there to help them, and whenever someone was hurt, Billy was there with a popsicle to make them feel better :) A watermelon flavoured popsicle...yummy!
Billy was one of those monsters that didn't care what people said to him, or about him, or around him, he just enjoyed life. Until one day...
This youngster of a monster, was walking down Dino Lane, and out jumped the Big Bad Brontosauruses! They pinned poor Billy to the wall and stole his lunch money. I mean what kind of monsters do that sort of thing?!
Anyways, Billy had to walk home, moneyless, and in tears. "Why oh why do kids treat me this way!" he cried.
The next day at school, Billy didn't say one word to anyone. When his teachers asked him what was wrong, he didn't reply, when his only friend Martin asked him what was wrong, he didn't reply. Poor poor Billy, all alone in Dino Land!
This routine went on for weeks, he never said a word to anyone, until one amazing morning. Billy woke up to the sound of a crash outside, as he walked outside to see what was going on a fairy flew into him. "I am your fairy godmother, Billy-saur" she said. "I am here to grant you 3 wishes." "MY FIRST WISH IS TO BE HANDSOME, MY SECOND WISH IS FOR KIDS TO BE NICE TO ME AND FOR MY THIRD WISH I WISH I HAD 1 MILLION DINO-DOLLARS." "Granted," his fairy godmother said.
That day at school all the girl monsters were checking Billy out, all the boy monsters were asking Billy to hang with them, and at lunch, he had 10 extra Dino-dollars to spend.
Billy was living the life :)

"Sloop Nassau", by Homer Winslow

Imitationalism and Literal Qualities
This beautiful painting catches your eye because of its variety of blues. The picture really flows like the actual water in a sea, moving fiercely in the wind. The boat itself has an intense feeling in it because of the darkened sky. You can see that there might be a storm coming, or has already occurred, and that the boat could possibly be struggling to continue with its journey. The waves are very life like, you can see the peeks of each wave. The highs and lows of the water are very vivid and the boat has its certain amount of detail, just enough to make it realistic.

Emotionalism and Expressive Qualities
When studying this painting, it almost gives me an erie feeling, as if something bad is about to happen. "Sloop, Nassau", is definitely not meant to be seen as a happy painting. The mood is very dark and dull, therefore the colours are dark. This painting, in a way, makes me sad. When you look at, don't you feel as if the sailors of the boat might be stranded, or lost?

Formalism and Design Qualities
This painting looks like its whole. The colours are emphasized to make them look darker and bolder than others, to help bring out the feeling in the picture. There are a variety of lines, making your eyes follow them, to help you see the whole painting and not just one detail. "Sloop, Nassau", obviously is not a still painting, the waves are moving, the sky is drifting and the boat is in motion. Your eyes are to follow the colours, the shades, the lines, every little detail, so that you see it all.