Biomes Clay Tile

For this piece, we were able to work with clay for the first time to recreate a biome and an animal that may be found in that biome. I chose the grasslands biome and decided to create a peacock within that biome. I chose to do a peacock because I am really intrigued by the unique colors and intricate designs on them. I think that I was really able to capture that unique quality of this bird in my final piece. I used all that we have learned about color theory to give the bird this quality, as well as what we were taught about techniques used for clay. I think that this was really successful because I was able to use a lot of skills that I have aquired throughout the course to complete it! Plus, the gold is a nice touch...who doesn't like a little glitter?? :)

Printing Project

For this project, we were asked to get inspired by an animal in it's habitat and sketch it. Then, given linoleum tiles and ex-acto knifes, we carved out the negative spaces. Once we had created our own "print", we transferred the print with ink on brayers onto the paper. The blue areas shown here were what were rolled on after being left raised. We created a series of five final prints using the one tile.

I really liked this project because not only was it fun, I really learned a lot of neat techniques. It was really neat to be able to see start to finish how one tile can turn into multiple prints. Most of my final prints were very sucessful as a result of clean lines, contrasting textures and values, as well as good color combinations. I think that they also turned out so well because I was really inspired throughout the process. I actually went to Alaska this past year and saw this scene for myself.  Being there and actually feeling what the scene provokes truly show through my work. I hope you can see how inspired I was through the final product!