Van Gogh Art Article

Lauren 

Sudkamp

Period 4

Sep. 24th, 2013

Van Gogh’s The Starry Night

     Van Gogh’s recently discovered painting is getting a lot of buzz and excitement, just 

like one of his old classics, The Starry Night did.   Yes, Van Gogh is and was very

popular and very successful with all his pieces.   All his paintings were greatly

 recognized, but today when you walk into a store you are most likely to see a 

recreation of the Van Gogh painting The Starry Night.   There are many aspects that 

made this painting separate itself from the others and shine, such as the captivating 

sky.

     Many people said this was the painting that made them feel calm and at ease... even 

happier.  It is said that the town at the bottom of the painting has dark colors that spark 

our interest.  By adding the pops of yellow and white the whole painting flows together in a well crafted 

piece of art.    The most interesting thing people found about this art was that it has a large dark structure 

off center.  No one is for sure about what it is, which makes it fun.  The viewers get to interpret what they 

are looking at.  Most people said to see it as a mountain or a leafy bush. 

     Van Gogh will always be one of the first names you think of when you hear the work art.  He was 

amazing, and who’s to say he doesn’t have plenty more paintings that people can’t credit him for yet.  All 

the buzz about this new painting is exciting and maybe it will go down in history as one of the most

 popular just like The Starry Night.

Click:  Works Cited

Mandarin Fish Print

Mandarin Fish Print

     I chose my print, the Mandarin fish, because of the cool pattern on it's body.  To create this print, we found references on the internet, then printed them is our sketch books and began the sketching phase.  Afterwards, we transferred our sketches onto tracing paper so we could later transfer that onto the linoleum.  That was BY FAR the hardest part of this project.  After the design was on the linoleum, and we had set apart the black from the white, I carved out the parts of the linoleum that I wanted to be black with a carving tool.  This was easy and fun!  After all that was done I began the printing phase.  Supplies I used for this phase were: a shelf, printing ink, a brayer (roller), and a couple other things.  I printed a couple sample prints, then printed some that were single colored.  After, someone at my table came up with the idea to blend 2 or more colors together.  That's how I got the idea to blend the white and pink and make it stand out on the black.  This printing project was actually one of my favorites because the linoleum was fun and interesting to work with.  I also think the ending product was very neat.

Frog Tongue

Frog Tongue

     Creating the frog tongue was a really fun project.  Compared to the other photoshop project (the angry pancakes) this one came out a lot cooler and more realistic.  Photoshop's cloning tool was very helpful in making the frog part of the tongue really look like a tongue.  The optional dodge and burn tools also added a cool effect (the highlight's and the darker areas of the tongue).  After doing this project, I think I would enjoy doing more computer art.

Angry Pancakes!

Angry Pancakes!

     This photoshop project was an interesting idea.  I think it looks really cool, I just wish I would have used the eraser tool better to blend the mouth in with the pancakes.  Once I get used to photoshop I think I could make some really cool pictures.  Photoshop is a really cool form of art.  From this whole experience, I learned you can make anything look like what its not if you learn how to use photoshop correct. 

Stencil Project

Stencil Project

     This project was one of the harder ones to complete.  I later learned the exacto-knife accuracy was more important than I had thought.  The end result was cool, but I wish I would have picked colors that clash more when put together.  I liked that I chose my friend to do and am glad we got to use spray-paint.  It was a very cool experience.  First I took a expressive photo and projected it.  Then, I traced around each color separately and used the exacto-knife to cut the shapes out.  Lastly, I laid everything out and spray painted it.  Pretty cool project.  

Contour Shoe Drawing

Contour Shoe Drawing

     The contour shoe drawing was hard to get the hang of at first, then it got easier.  When drawing a shoe, the contour strategy is better for the outline but a little hard to get the details inside.  However, I think it made my shoe look more whole.  My first couple sketches were very... interesting.  After a while the lines started to flow better instead of being wavy.  This Samba shoe, was a good project for the contour line drawing.

iPad Value Study

     I really like using the iPad's for art because it creates a very different effect than drawing it on paper. With the value study assignment, it was a bit harder to blend the colors together.  However, I was able to choose from a huge selection of colors you wouldn't be able to use with oil pastels.  In my opinion, it's easier to draw cool scenery on the Layers Pro app, but a lot easier to draw specific objects and colors by hand.  I learned that iPads are important to making art.