Cut/Torn Paper Practice: For this assignment I was told to create a paper cut-out collage. Looking back on it now, I realize that I created more of a scene. If I tried this again, I would add more details to make it more of a puzzle to the eye, rather than a picture.
Collage Final: "Pink Street" For this project I was assigned to create a collage from torn or cut up magazine pieces. I was also allowed to use watercolor on cut up watercolor paper, and patterned paper. My fifteen brainstorming were mostly buildings; a photo my mom took of a European building in the 90s, the San Francisco big red bridge, the Versace Mansion, New Orleans street (French quarter), a 1950s New York Scene, a Tropical vacation location, with mountains and little huts, a Hot Air Balloon festival, Little Italy, Japan, a Switzerland village, Santorini, Greece, Rovinj, Croatia, Japan: Cherry Blossoms, Cuba, and the Statue of liberty. I ended up choosing a beautiful pink building scene in Greece. Initially, it was difficult for me to decide what location to use for my project. I kept "deciding" on locations, but kept changing them over and over. I was going to do the Versace Mansion, then Rovinj, Croatia, my mothers photo, and then finally decided on the pink building. I just fell in love with the simplicity of the solid pinks, and knew I could spruce it up for the final. I believe that the patterns and prints I used throughout the piece made the composition interesting. I also think the shapes and different sizes I used added to the final product. I tried my best to not only use triangles, and try and use other shapes. I would say that the proportions in this piece are 80% accurate. I think I executed the buildings correctly, but there were some sections, like the magenta window, and brick pathway, that were slightly off. Overall, I think the majority of it was correctly proportioned. I think the values and shading are moderately accurate because it was difficult to find the exact colors I needed to fully replicate the shadows. I tried to use duller shades to enhance the shadows. I also placed the pieces down diagonally, when needed, to create an effect of perspective. Although many sections were solid, I used texture to add visual interest by incorporating a lot of patterns into this piece. I used a lot of "curtain-like" patterns, because I think they attract the eye. I also used different shades of pinks throughout, because wanted there to be a variety. One of my favorite uses of texture in my piece is the body of water. I love how the cursive letters beautifully replicate waves. I also enjoyed using different sized letters and fonts to have a variety of sizes throughout. The bricks on the right-hand side of the collage are all different patterns to represent the individual bricks. I wanted to stray away from using too many triangles, so I just used what I felt was accurate. For example, on the building with the magenta window, I cut out the bricks in "brick-shape", so that they could look similar to the picture. For the pathway, I decided to rip the magazines to create a rustic texture. Finally, for the left portion, I chose to cut parallelograms, because that would create the slanted effect I needed for this particular wall/building. I feel that I used a semi-full range of values to reproduce the photo, because some parts of the collage seem two-dimensional. I attempted to create depth by using darker colors in areas covered in shadows. I used bright whites to accentuate the highlights, and I also used dull colors underneath to allow certain components, like the pathway, to stand out. I would say that my collage is pretty neat. Some of the papers look a little "soggy" and crumpled from the over-saturation of the gel-medium. I also think that gel-medium dried weird in certain areas, washing away some of the color. Other than that, I would say it is pretty neat and well executed, in terms of color, proportion, and texture. If I were to redo this project, I would try to improve it by using less gel-medium. I feel that was my largest struggle, because many of the pieces began to crinkle. I would also pay more attention to the perspective of the building, because at one point, I had to rip off dried magazine and restart the process. Lastly, I would sort out my magazine pieces by color, in separate bags, because searching for specific colors was difficult when they were disorganized.