All Afternoon

I have spent all afternoon working on photos :)  here are a couple of them:

 

Here are the links to the rest on Facebook and on my website :)  I am super happy with them.

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelly-Latham-Photography/193246680739772

Kelly Latham Photography:  http://kellylathamphotography.wordpress.com/

New Claw Mermaid Drawing :)

 

This is a drawing of a mermaid with a claw. I don't normally work with graphite, but I was looking online and saw these really cool images where they drew creatures in really detailed graphite, and then they scanned them in and colored them in photoshop.

I am currently working on the coloring part, which is a lot more difficult that I had originally expected. haha. Oh well...

Graphite on Moleskine Journal Paper, 8"x5"

Here is my Facebook Page:  

http://www.facebook.com/KellyLathamIllustrationAndDesign


Here is my Other Art Blog:  http://kellylatham.wordpress.com/

Final Box Photos

  
 
    

Process Photos of My Box! :)) I really like these for some reason.

 

 

 

 

 

Assignment 3: Summary of the Project

For the project, I built a vessel out of walnut wood to hold my collection of Japanese and English handheld Pokemon video game cartridges.  First, I made lots of sketches trying to decide the best way to represent the video games through shape and texture of the box, as well as represent the over all concept of childhood.  After choosing walnut as my wood, I glued and clamped it into a solid block in the wood shop.  Then, I glued my patterns to the top and side and cut it into the pieces of my box.  I went home and sanded the inside parts of the box and glued it together.  After it was dry, I used wood filler to make sure there were no gaps where the wood had been glued together.  Once that dried, I used a power sander to sand with 60 grit sandpaper.  I had to use a power sander because when I was cutting my block, I used a larger bandsaw because it was so tall and heavy, which caused really noticeable saw marks.  After sanding with the 60 grit, I worked down to 100, 150 and eventually 220.  Then I cleaned all the sawdust off and put a clean satin polyurethane finish on it, which really helped the color.  I am very pleased with how my box turned out. 

During the project I learned many things.  I learned about the different types of wood the wood shop at KU has, and about their grains, hardnesses, and colors.  I learned how to glue and clamp wood together, as well as how to use a band saw and power sander, which I had never used before.  I also learned how to apply finish to wood.  Then, after I had my box complete, I learned countless tips and tricks about In-Design, but it is still difficult to use.  

Different things I would have done during the project would be to use the band saw more carefully.  I rushed cutting a lot of my pieces, and there were really noticeable saw marks that I had to sand out later.  It was a lot more work that I could have avoided, but no one told me about that in the beginning.  

Otherwise, I really enjoyed the project.  It made me go down to the wood shop and use tools that I would have otherwise probably never used because I had never been taught.  The project also made me use In-Design which, up until now, I had tried to avoid.  I learned a lot and hope to use it in future projects and assignments I have.  

Reflection on Davie Pye Readings

“The Nature and Design of Aesthetics” reading focused on materials in which people use, discussing technique, properties, beauty, and many other aspects. 

One point that I found interesting was that we do not have control over the properties of materials.  So, sometimes we pick a material based on only one property and then others that we do not necessarily want come with it.  An example that the reading used was steel and wood.  Steel was described as “...a material hich is hard, tough, and stiff...also heavy, cold, opaque, and liable to rust…”.  Wood was described as “...a material which is immune to rust, and is light and warm, and which is fairly hard, tough, and stiff but only if it is unstable…”.  This example explained the differences in the materials and their qualities.  In doing so, it showed that even if you want only one of the qualities, for example, being immune to rust, you get all the others of the wood.  This discussion lead to more points about how the materials also sometimes do not go well with the technique one is trying to use on it, and other related subjects.

I thought that article gave me good information to think about when working with wood for the project.  Even if I really want to make my vessel into a certain shape for it to have a certain characteristic, if it won’t work it wood, a band saw, and carving tools, it isn’t going to happen.  

Assignment 3: Statement About Vessel

My vessel contains hand held video game cartridges the my boyfriend and I collect.  The games range from the original Japanese formats from 1996 to the newest English formats from 2011.  The are from the Pokemon series on Nintendo handheld systems.  These are important to me because I have played the games my whole life and something I can always find fun through.  It also symbolizes a sort of childhood for me because playing them was what my brother and I did when we were little (and still do).  

The contents influence the structure off my vessel through the story line of the games and a timeline of childhood.  The story line influences the vessel shape in a timeline way.  The story would begin where the lid is lowest on the box and more right.  As the shape goes from left to right, the height becomes greater, and box becomes wider, and the bottom touches back down to the ground.  The height rising symbolizes the challenges the player faces through the game.  The higher the box gets, the tougher the challenges become.  The main point of the game is to interact with all the Pokemon (small monster like creatures) throughout the game.  The width represents this because is starts narrow, showing that the player has not met many Pokemon, and then at the end of the game, the player has met all the Pokemon, represented by the widening of the right end.  The bottom edge represents the game on a personal level; it shows my understanding of the games through the storyline.  The left base is to the ground, showing that I know what I am doing because each game starts pretty much the same.  Then, the base leaves the ground, showing that I have no idea what I am doing in the game.  Then, as I continue to play, the game flow becomes readable and I understand what to do, which is symbolized by the base touching down to the ground again.  

The concept of childhood also influences the structure of my vessel.  For the childhood timeline, the box is meant to be read right to left.  During childhood, the imagination is endless and playing is all the time, but as a person grows older, an imagination starts to be limited and playing declines.  The right section of the box is childhood, large and full of imagination and play, and the left section is adulthood, small without as much imagination or play.  But, the box touches down again at the end, showing that as one grows older, they sometimes go back to playing again.  For example, I played the games and other things all the time when I was a child, and then I started to grow up and out of them.  Then, I realized how much I loved the games and other childish things, and have brought them back into my life. 

My vessel symbolizes both concepts of the storyline of the games, and the overall concept of my childhood. 

Assignment 3: Written Description of the Project

The project was to create a vessel to hold something that has a special meaning to me.  The something special had to be small and have a connection or symbolism to something personally meaningful.  The vessel, or box, would be created out of wood.  To create the box, we were to glue and clamp pieces of wood together to create a solid block.  Then, we were to take the block, attached patterns we made to it, and cut it into pieces of a vessel.  Next, we were to sand the pieces and glue them together (without the center) to make a box shape.  After lots of sanding, we were to use a clean finish on our final vessel.  Then, create a process notebook in In-Design to display the process in which we went about creating out vessel.