"A Scenic World" has no unread items.

"A Scenic World" has no unread items.

Sub-title: "The Zen of RSS Feeds"

A co-worker's initial thought when seeing this on my monitor was that someone was trying to make a statement. My reply was that it is very zen.

Week 6 Final Project and Artist's Statement

Mom, I hope this blesses and inspires you to continue doing great things.
- Matt


What follows is my artist's statement and the final project.


My mother has been drawing for years. She creates images of people, trees, flowers, birds, etc but also deeply spiritual pieces that really speak to your soul if you are a Christian. A while back I prompted her to expand her horizons; I asked her to move past her monochromatic works done in pencil, charcoal and ink into color. Ever since I completed FND110 Drawing, where I worked entirely with pencil and charcoal, she has been asking me to draw something in color.

For this assignment, I wanted to create a work that would be pleasing to her as well as show some of what I have learned in this class: using variations in hue, saturation and value to imply depth and transparency as appropriate; and choosing a color scheme that results in a pleasant viewing experience through harmony of color while limiting vibration. I chose to work on a religious theme using easily recognizable symbols: a bible, an empty cross and a fiery dove in flight.

During the thumbnail phase, I created for designs that symbolized Christianity: "The Word of God," a bible illuminated from the top-right by divine light; "The Empty Cross," an empty cross, light from above, atop a small hill; "The Inspired Word of God," a bible inside a ray of light coming from a fiery dove at the top-right of the frame; and "The Holy Spirit Descends," a fiery dove flies down inside a shaft of light. This was my first real project using Adobe Photoshop for drawing. A better choice would have been to use Adobe Illustrator but I do know it as well as I do Photoshop and time was running out. I learned how to use the pen tool more effectively along the way. In the end, I surprised myself with what I was able to produce in such a limited amount of time.

While working up the color harmony studies, I started with what I felt was the strongest thumbnail: "The Inspired Work of God." I chose to study monochromatic, complementary, split complementary and analogous harmonies. Monochromatic is probably the hardest harmony to work with for a design such as this one because it just screams out for multiple colors. In the end, I went with a nice orange hue. In the complementary study, I wanted a color duo that would work well for the light as well as the surrounding areas. I decided upon yellow and blue which I think works out well. The split-complementary harmony was a little easier because I already knew that I wanted a nice shade of red for the fiery aura around the dove shape, symbolizing the Holy Spirit. I had already seen how well the blue and yellow combination worked in the complementary study so I went with red, yellow and a different hue of blue. When I got to the analogous harmony, I knew that I wanted to work with warm colors: reds, oranges, and yellows. I put the colors in place and it looked nice. Then I got to looking at it a little more. I felt that I could do better, so I went to work again using the same palette but altered the shades a bit.

For the final project, I decided to ignore the suggestion that the split-complementary harmony would work better and stayed with the warm colors of my second analogous study. The analogous harmony provided more freedom to choose hues that express a spiritual passion that simply was not present in the other color studies. I started with a brand new file that was quite a bit larger. I drew everything over resulting in much smoother rays of light. I added a glow effect to the fiery dove which introduced some new tints. I redesigned the bible as well and shifted the yellow light over top of it resulting in faux gilded edges. There is no noticable vibration but the light appears transparent.

The design is a complete success. The eye is immediately drawn to the dove and then it shoots down the shaft of light to the golden bible. The light and dark areas are balanced and the contrast is gradual. The dove and bible introduce a bit of variety. The composition and layout is extremely pleasing. I feel that I was able to accomplish the stated goals and more; I have attained unity... The viewer is left feeling that this piece is complete.


"The Inspired Word of God"

Week 5 Assignment 3: Final Project – Color Studies

My "Week 5" posts are dedicated to my mother. She is a student of the arts who has inspired me to reach for my dreams while striving to do the will of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, through listening to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.


From our thumbnails, we had to pick one design and produce at least four color studies using different color harmonies. I chose to use the bottom left thumbnail, "The Inspired Word of God", for my color studies. I then decided upon studies using monochromatic, complementary, split-complementary and analogous color harmonies.

Monochromatic is probably the hardest harmony to work with for a design such as this one because it just screams out for multiple colors. In the end, I went with a nice orange hue.



In the complementary study, I wanted a color duo that would work well for the light as well as the surrounding areas. I decided upon yellow and blue which I think works out well.



The split-complementary harmony was a little easier because I already knew that I wanted a nice shade of red for the fiery aura around the dove shape, symbolizing the Holy Spirit. I had already seen how well the blue and yellow combination worked in the complementary study so I went with red, yellow and a different hue of blue.



When I got to the analogous harmony, I knew that I wanted to work with warm colors: reds, oranges, and yellows. I put the colors in place and it looked nice.



Then I got to looking at it a little more. I felt that I could do better, so I went to work again using the same palette but altered the shades a bit.

Week 5 Assignment 2: Final Project – Design Thumbnails

My "Week 5" posts are dedicated to my mother. She is a student of the arts who has inspired me to reach for my dreams while striving to do the will of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, through listening to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.


From our proposal we had to come up with four design thumbnails using only black, white and shades of gray. This was my first real project using Adobe Photoshop for drawing. A better choice would have been to use Adobe Illustrator but I do know it as well as I do Photoshop and time was running out.

I ended up surprising myself with what I was able to produce in such a limited amount of time.



Top Left: The Word of God
Top Right: The Empty Cross
Bottom Left: The Inspired Word of God
Bottom Right: The Holy Spirit Descends

Week 5 Assignment 1: Final Project – Proposal

My "Week 5" posts are dedicated to my mother. She is a student of the arts who has inspired me to reach for my dreams while striving to do the will of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, through listening to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

My mom draws a bit and I prompted her to branch out from monochromatic works done in pencil, charcoal and ink into color. She creates images of people, trees, flowers, birds, etc but also deeply spiritual pieces that really speak to your soul if you are a Christian. Ever since I completed FND110 Drawing, where I worked entirely with pencil and charcoal, she has been asking me to draw something in color.

I would like to create a work that would be pleasing to her as well as show some of what I have learned in this class: using variations in hue, saturation and value to imply depth and transparency as appropriate; and choosing a color scheme that results in a pleasant viewing experience through harmony of color while limiting vibration. The theme will be religious symbols. I will execute the theme by using using three different religious symbols: a bible, an empty cross and a dove in flight.

Color Theory Wrapping Up

Color Theory has been a class with which I have had a love/hate relationship.

Love: I have really enjoyed the color exercises and projects.

Hate: I have never liked critiquing the work of others especially when I know that I know next to nothing about the subject matter. Also, I still find myself tripping over the language and terminology every step of the way because color is such a hard thing to explain verbally.

Today is the last day of week 5 which means that we have half a week of class left and only our final project. I will be posting the week 5 work soon but in the mean time here is a dump of the exercises and projects along the way.


Week 1: Hue Study



Week 1: Value Study



Week 1: Saturation Study



Week 3 Assignment 2: Color Exercise



Week 3 Assignment 3: Color Exercise 2



Week 4 Assignment 2: Color Exercise



Week 4 Assignment 3: Color Project - Transparency First Draft



Week 4 Assignment 3: Color Project - Transparency Second Draft



Week 4 Assignment 3: Color Project - Transparency Final



Week 4 Assignment 3: Color Project - Depth



Week 4 Assignment 3: Color Project - Vibration


Sorry about that last one but if I had warned you, it might not have had the same effect. :)

Art Institute of Pittsburgh - Online Division

As some of you know, I attend classes through the Art Institute of Pittsburgh - Online Division (AIPOD) which is sometimes simply referred to as the Art Institute Online (AIO). I have received a few questions since I started blogging about the school so I thought that I would go ahead and write up an entry that summarizes those discussions.

1. Does the online campus match up to a typical brick and mortar school? Do they show the same level of professionalism?

The professors come from all over the country and typically teach at a ground-based university as well. FND110 Drawing was a very rewarding class and the teacher was a pleasure to work with. ART1020 History of Art in Early Civilization was very challenging and the instructor really cared about the students learning the material. (I have actually kept in touch with her. She thinks that I should pursue a Master of Fine Arts once I have earned my Bachelor of Science in Photography.)

All of the professors and administrators have been professional and extremely helpful. Due to the accelerated format, it is quite common to read four to six chapters a week and the assignments can each take up to 8 hours with the research. My only experience previously was community college but this is much more intense.

My academic advisor calls or sends me email periodically to check on my progress. She also sends me email congratulating me on my good grades which really helps the self-esteem.

There is also a student run group on Flickr: AIO Photography.

2. I will be taking online classes in photography through the Art Institute. I am wondering if you have had any issues using your G.I. Bill? What did Uncle Sam pay for? Just classes or are tools (e.g. film, camera, etc.) included?

Veterans/Active Duty members, if you have not yet filled out your application for eligibility, you should do so now! The F.A.Q. claims "six to eight weeks" but that is not always true. I applied with the Veteran's Administration at the end of April. The Buffalo regional office handles all claims from AIPOD/AIO and they downloaded my application on May 5th. After three or four calls spread out over the past three months, I finally received my Certificate of Eligibility on October 26th. That's five months and three weeks if you do not have a calendar handy.

Your benefits will depend on which chapter of the G.I. Bill applies to you. I fall under Chapter 30 Active Duty and that will reimburse me only for tuition. Be sure to look at the VA's Benefit Comparison Chart.

I have yet to receive my first payment. According to the VA, they are extremely backlogged right now so the turn-around time on payments is pretty slow.

Update: When I arrived home last night, the check was waiting for me. That last phone call, where I asked for an inquiry to be opened, must have done the trick.