Melanie's Academic Adventures

In Art class, we have recently finished our last unit of the year entitled, What is the Big Idea. This unit was designed to give us a taste of what we would be doing next year in IB. We started out exploring with doodling and rough sketches, discussing where creativity comes from. In our class we talked about what is creativity, and what isn’t. We also took some time to think about where good ideas come from.

A page from my notebook showing my brainstorm of the theme, ‘Friendship’

Then we started out choosing two themes from a list provided by our teacher, and brainstormed. Our brainstorm consisted of whatever the theme had connections to, or brought to mind. We wrote down nouns, verbs, adjectives, events, emotions, people etc.

Afterwards, we moved into research. We chose which theme we wanted to focus on, and then started investigating different artists that have done similar work, and those whose styles we might want to work in. I quickly found that friendship is a hard theme to find artwork on. Artists of course, don’t explicitly write, “This represents friendship”. Many art pieces might have underlying themes of friendship, but it is hard to find. So then I realized I had to go more into depth. I chose symbols that represented friendship and looked for art that contained these. I chose the standard symbols of friendship: holding hands, pinky promise, friends laughing and playing together. Most of what I found was the type of photography one can find on tumblr.

I did not feel like focusing my project and photography just yet, so I decided to move away from that, and instead look for artists whose work that interested me. After I surfed the web a bit, I was attracted to pointillism. I did a lot of research on artists like Georges Seurat, Paul Signac and Henri Edmond Cross and analyzed famous paintings by them. However after that, I did more research on watercolor, which I had been curious about from the beginning. I investigated different artists, watercolor techniques and different paintings. I decided that I wanted to go for more of a simple colorful style, like the art seen in children’s books.

Some rough sketches I came up when I was thinking of what composition I would do

I moved onto rough sketches of what I envisioned in my head. For my first piece, I was at first thinking of showing two friends laughing and chatting over two mugs of steaming hot chocolate. The hot chocolate symbolizes the warmth, and conveyed feelings of content and comfortableness, which is the side of friendship that I wanted to portray. Hot chocolate on a cold day seems to fill you with heat and makes you feel cozy inside. Just like a good friend comforting you in times when you are feeling down makes you feel better again. When I started on my final version, I came across difficulties and was frustrated with the decision I had made of making the two girls bleed of the page – as in they would be half cut off because I wanted to focus on the hot chocolate. In the end I decided to not include them.

I then ran across even more problems with the hot chocolate. If you look at my final piece, you wouldn’t even be able to tell it is hot chocolate since I covered the  top with cream. I was inspired by http://www.etsy.com/listing/53045963/angelina-paris-hot-chocolate. The first mug that I did (the right one) turned out pretty well in my opinion. The bright colors blended well together, and overall it gives a nice glowing, cheerful effect. However the other mug (on the left) was terrible. I wanted to save some white spots, so I used my white crayon in spaces. However then when I put my watercolor over it, it would act funny, and when I changed my mind and wanted to remove the crayon, I couldn’t. I ended up resulting to extreme means of scraping it off with my scissors – but this ended up damaging the paper. So the hues and colors are not as bright or diverse as the mug on the left. By this time I had gotten tired with the entire composition and my will to finish it off was gone. So I put it to the side and decided to advance onto my next piece. I am not satisfied with the outcome, but I think it helped me realize the need for further planning in advance, and further experimenting with the medium.

My second piece consisted of two girls sitting in grass, smiling whilst leaning onto each other. It may not seem to have a deep meaning for viewers, but I can argue otherwise. Friendship is not supposed to a complicated thing. Friendship consists of trust and love. So simple. It’s just that people nowadays make it so complicated, adding in hate, envy, jealousy and whatnot. So I wanted to represent friendship in its true and raw form.

I am happy with the way it turned out. I think that just by looking at it, it makes the onlooker feel happy inside. I am very proud of my experimenting with a dry watercolor brush to create shadows and convey size and roundness. Looking at it now, perhaps I should have made more areas darker, but I am still very happy with it. I took time to investigate different skin color tones and watched videos on how to create a beautiful blue sky. I must also point out the grass, which I am very proud of. I used thin, quick, vertical brush strokes, with different greens and browns. Then at the end I added a quote in black ink which reads “Friendship isn’t about whom you have known the longest, it’s about who came and never left”. When one reads it, one can’t help but go “aaaw”.

My third and final piece was three paper lanterns, with little figures carved out on the sides. Through the lanterns, I wanted to convey how true friendship shines like a light in the darkness. A good friend is like a light. At first when I carved the paper, it turned left really rough edges. The three lanterns depict two girls in different moments of their time spent together. I also included pattern at the top and bottom. When one lights a candle and puts it in the lantern, I creates a beautiful effect.

This is one of the views of the first lantern I made. It depicts two little girls holding hands and smiling.

I had many difficulties and unsatisfactory attempts during this unit, however I feel that it has helped me realize that I need to

• Really take time to understand what it is that I want to convey
• Remember to think about color schemes
• Experiment a lot before the final piece
• Keep focused and motivated at all times.

To read about the trip in english, click here. As an assessment for Japanese class, we had to write about our field studies trip in letter form:

おはようございます。

めらに

In Japanese class we had to write about our field studies in letter form. To read it, please click here.

The Iya valley is situated in Tokushima Prefecture in Shikoku. While I was there the mountains, rivers and vine bridges were beautiful and I filled up my camera taking many photos of the area. The trip was one of three choices for the field studies for grade 10. I chose to go to Iya because I enjoy hiking and breathing the clear air away from the cities. My group and I stayed basically in the middle of nowhere which is always a great experience since we take time away from all the busy technology and other entertainment to just enjoy the nature and bond with each other. The point of field studies is to spend time with our classmates and teachers and get to know each other more.

The commute to get to Iya was a very long one. We took a shinkansen from Shin-yokohama station to Okayama, where we took another train across a very long bridge over to Shikoku, Oboke station. Then from Oboke, we took a rented bus to the place where we would stay. To get to our cottages, we crossed a long bridge across a river. There was hall where we ate breakfast and dinner, and then there were several cute cottages on the mountainside where we slept. All of us students were divided into 3 groups. Each group would cook 1 dinner and 1 breakfast. The cooking was entirely left to the students. It was fun to see our classmates cook us dinner and try and figure out how much of this or that they needed to make something.

This river ran throughout the valley. The trees were not only green, but yellow and red as well.

The main event of the trip was hiking up and down Tsurugi mountain. Yet we actually climbed across several mountains to get to it. I will always remember this hike. It was pretty strenuous and hard to continue when climbing up the mountain but I am very proud that I made it to the top. It was not like any hike we had done before. We climbed up on extremely narrow tracks that if one tripped, one would fall down the mountainside. It was a bit scary at some times. The air was very pure and clear though and there were very many trees and vines that rustled when the wind blew through them. To get to the little lodge on top of Tsurugi mountain took us about 5 hours (including stopping for lunch).

Halfway up, we stopped for lunch. The  view was breathtaking.

Here we are, hiking across the different mountains. Again, the view was incredible.

The lodge was very comfortable. We were served a wonderful array of different little dishes of fish, pickles, vegetables and soup. The room I shared with my friends on top of the mountain was surprisingly warmer than our cottage. In the morning we had been hoping to spot the sunrise, however when we peeked through our curtains, outside was completely full of fog we couldn’t see anything. A funny memory I have is of seeing an ad in the window of the lodge looking for new recruits/employees. My friends and I found it immensely funny as the ad was here on the top of the mountain. It then led me to think how did they ever manage to get all their supplies up here?!

Our group, at the top of one of the mountains, but not yet at the top of Tsurugi mountain. I am wearing a blue fleece jacket and a pink shawl, sitting to the right of the orange sweater wearing girl.

We had the misfortune of having it raining when we descended. We had gotten up especially early in order to perhaps avoid the rain. We left the lodge at 7 in the morning and it was pouring rain. I will always remember that day as being one of the most intense and unusual experiences (physically) I have been through so far. The wind was ferocious. It whipped us back and forth and it took all our balance to stay upright. The entire hike back down I was completely absorbed in not slipping on the wet rocks or falling off the tiny tracks. When you thought it couldn’t get any worse, it started to hail. Luckily it didn’t last the entire hike, but it was quite an experience. It was terrible when I was there, but now that I think back on it, if I could choose again which trip to go on, I would go on this trip.

Hiking up the different mountains was the main event of our trip, however we did several other things as well. We made soba traditionally, from scratch, and then we were able eat it as well. We visited a famous old house/cottage that is around 100 years old and had been bought by an American man, Alex Kerr. We had the pleasure of briefly meeting him. At the old house we also made different japanese crafts, such as a rope made out of hay/grass and a japanese screen from wood.

This is the giant knife that is used to cut soba. Since the knife is so heavy, one doesn’t need to use any energy to cut, one just needs to position the knife to the thickness of the noodles.

This is the group that went to Iya. I am wearing beige/white and am the third from left. We are all standing in front of the 100 year old house.

Another interesting yet dangerous incident was our encounter with the　スズメバチ　(suzumebachi), which is a type of large hornet. On the second day as we set out for hiking and crossed the bridge across the valley to get from our cottages to our buses, two boys were stung by the suzumebachi. Luckily our mountain guides were already there and had the equipment with them to immediately take the sting out. The suzumebachi are very dangerous so we immediately drove to a clinic and waited for an hour while the boys got checked. Luckily the boys were fine and received medicine. The next day when we returned back from hiking to the cottages, there was a sign across the bridge warning of the suzumebachi. Another day we also saw a man come to take away the nest of suzumebachi that was underneath the bridge. If you ever happen to get stung by these hornets, seek medical help immediately!

This is the long bridge we crossed every day to get from our buses to out cottages. This is where the suzumebachi nest was.

All in all it was an exciting and fun trip that I will always remember. I was able to become closer friends with my classmates and have a good time.

This is the river beneath the bridge. The water is a wonderful blue.

Travel Agent & Customer Dialogue

One of the assignments that I had to do for my spanish class was to make a dialogue between a travel agent and a customer that wanted to book a flight. We then had to rewrite the dialogue in class as an assessment. Feel free to read it!

For our final piece for our unit on painting, we had to paint a picture of either a scenery or still life. I chose scenery, however we could only paint from a photo that we ourselves had taken a picture of. Click here to go to the site where my artwork is located. Click here to see my Google Document that contains the research I did before I started painting.

I began researching the many different styles of painting and learnt the difference between impressionism and postimpressionism, what expressionist painters try to convey in their painting and much more. I was attracted to such impressionist artists like Claude Monet and Alfred Sisley as their paintings showed the many different strokes of the brush and yet the entire painting came together and had life and seemed to move. I also love Paul Signac’s work as the lakes and seas in his paintings show ripples and reflections and seem to be almost moving.

I was soon absorbed with the work of Ando Hiroshige, a famous Japanese yukiyo-e artist. I loved how fresh and simple his works were, but when you looked really close one could see the fine detail on (for example) the branches of a tree. For my summative piece I wanted to copy the style of Ando Hiroshige, even though he used wood block printing. For the subject of my piece, I wanted to draw a snowy landscape as I had found such paintings done by Ando Hiroshige and Armand Guillaumin.

I started experimenting by roughly copying one of Ando Hiroshige’s works. It was hard to paint the precise thin black lines. I ended up not doing a snowy landscape since, even though I wanted to, I did not find any interesting winter photos in my collection. Instead I chose a photo of a Japanese porch/pathway that I took somewhere in Japan, in a place filled with nature.

When I was a ¼ of the way through my painting I realized that I was not doing it in Ando Hiroshige’s style. I did not have the right brushes or the time it would have taken to outline everything with thin lines of black paint. What I think made things difficult for me was that afterwards I did not establish what style I actually was painting, so I was constantly unsatisfied with how my painting looked.

Even though a good painting is not about making it look ‘real’ (photorealistic), I think subconsciously I kept trying to do just that, so I came across many difficulties. The gray pathway in the middle of my painting had big flat rocks and gravel. The gravel was hard to draw as it was made up of many small stones, so instead I just layered different shades of gray and then on top I went over it slightly with the same color as the rocks with an almost dry brush to create some texture.

My original photo did not have leaves scattered across the top. I decided to add it because when I thought I was done, my painting was not very interesting to look at. It gave my painting movement, and the different flecks of dark and light green blended very nicely together.

The first thing I worked on was the grassy part on the left side of my painting. I think I spent almost a whole lesson on it! I kept layering different colors of green, lighter greens closer to the pathway, and darker greens towards the end of the paper. All the people who have stopped to look at my painting have said it is their favorite part. The different shades of green give it shape and I think is very pretty. However my favorite part is what is supposed to be a glass door with a reflection of the pathway and the greenery, on the very right side of the painting. I really like it because I was able to create a sort of blurry effect, as reflections in glass are like that. However I should have angled it better as the white part in the glass does not line up with the wooden frame underneath, which kind of throws things off a bit.

I was proud of the piece of wood type of platform beneath the glass, as one can see the individual planks of wood and it gives off a smooth look due to long periods of continuously painting over and over it. However I also needed to adjust the angle to fit with the rest of the painting.

For next time I definitely have to plan out my painting in advance. As I was painting sections I would realize that I should have painted what was underneath or around it first. And other times halfway through painting something I realized it would have been best to layer several different colors first. Next time I need to spend more time deciding where it would be best to start, and in what places I first need to do several layers of colors.

While I was painting, I often was absorbed in painting something an entire solid color, that afterward I would get frustrated that it looked so flat. I realize now that instead of concentrating in painting the entire thing, I need to paint bit by bit adding in different colors, so that in the end it will have texture and shape.

A next step I could take would be to organize my piece so that objects that are supposed to be far away, are smaller in dimension, and pieces that are close, be bigger. I also need to work harder to make sure that everything in my painting is in line with each other

While I do not think this is one of my best art pieces, overall I learned a lot from my mistakes and I cannot wait to do another painting so that I can try again and do a better job.

What have I achieved so far this year?

Overall I think I have become more organized with more homework. I am less distracted and get my work done much quicker. My iCal keeps me organized and aware of deadlines. I have also spent more time reviewing past material and taking more notes in class, so I feel more comfortable and aware.

What are my goals for the last quarter?

My goals for the last quarter is not to stress too much and to start reviewing and studying way in advance so I do not panic right before the tests. I want to keep up a positive attitude and get enough sleep. I want to work harder to review verbs for Spanish and to keep up with my kanji so I do not forget them. I also want to review more for Chemistry to understand better what we are doing.

This is my powerpoint presentation on the geographical background of La Casa de los Espiritus.

La Casa de los Espiritus – Melanie

Looking back at semester 1, I did great in some areas, while in others I need to work hard to improve.

My best subject is Spanish. We often have oral summative assessments which require us to memorize our speech or presentation. It is very easy for me now, to present without any script or notecards as I have been doing it for a long time. I also work hard to practice verb forms and understand everything we write down in class, which is probably why Spanish is currently my best subject.

The subject I need to improve in is Math. I understand everything we do in class, however when it comes to test I often make little mistakes here and there in my calculations that lower my grade. I am happy to say however that I am already  improving, as I have put more effort and time into reviewing for my tests, my recent test’s grades were probably the best I have had in 9th grade. I will continue to work hard to improve even more.

Click here to go to the site where my artwork is located.

My oil pastel drawing consists of a lake, a canoe with people, trees, sky and a few houses. I had some difficulty finding a photo that I liked, however in the end I got advice from Mr. Curkovic and chose a photo that had a lot of color in it and was interesting to look at. I chose oil pastels because I liked the feel of it, and the strong look of it on paper. It stood out compared to soft pastels, which I found hard to use since they smudged too easily. In class we researched different techniques one could use with pastels to create different textures, which definitely helped me a lot throughout the unit.

Before I started actually drawing, I roughly planned my drawing with a light pastel to see what went where. Then I started with the sky since I figured I should do the background first, and that it would be the easiest aspect of my artwork.  However I immediately was confused as to how to do the sky. I was thinking of just rubbing the blue and white pastel across the top, but I knew that would not look good. I looked at another classmate’s artwork and used her technique of slowly going from one side to the other mixing in blues, whites and pinks. The effect of the pink being added gave it more color and depth. However several weeks later, when I was finishing off my drawing, I had to redo my sky as soft pastel had been blown onto my sky from my classmates around me. My sky was tinted a weird greenish color. I could not color over it so I had to scrape the layers of soft pastel off with a ruler. The second time around drawing my sky, I added more white clouds and spent less time blending in the colors, which is why I think I prefer the way my sky looked in the very beginning.

After I finished the sky I moved onto my trees, which took up most of my artwork. I used clusters of dots of different oranges, reds, yellows, and greens to create the effect of many different leaves. The technique was time consuming but worth it in the end since all the dots put together gave off  a beautiful effect. For the tree trunks, I smudged and blended together a variety of dark and light browns with dark reds to show the twisting of the wood in the trunk, and to show its shape and color. I used a white pastel to put little highlights here and there, which does not seem like much, but really made a difference in making it look realistic.

I am very happy the way the house on the left side of my drawing turned out. For the roof and walls of the house, I blended together gray with dark blues and browns. At first I just colored the windows in with white, however it looked really flat and unrealistic, so I experimented and I found out that if I mixed in a bit of light blue around the top edges of the windows they looked like they had sheen and the reflection of the light bouncing off of it.

For the canoe in the foreground of my artwork, I blended together reds, oranges and yellows in a way that one can see the groove of the canoe. I also put in a few strokes of red in the lake so that one could see the reflection of the canoe. Drawing the two people in the canoe was a bit hard since with oil pastels one cannot show details very well. I was worried their pants would blend into the lake as they were blue as well but I made it a shade darker so that one could tell the difference. To show the shape of the life vests and the shadows, I used a darker red and purple at the edges. To make it look like the two people in the lake were swimming and moving around, I put a lot of white pastel around the two swimmers.

I had been dreading to do the lake, as I was unsure of how to make it look realistic. I remembered seeing a work from a student last year who added a lot of white into his water that made it look like it had waves and was moving. I really liked the effect it gave so I used it in mine. I layered different shades of blues and greens with a bit of pink on top of each other and then made rapid white flicks over everything, which also helped blend the colors together. Parts of the water were darker so in some places I did patches of green and brown with only a bit of white on top.

For the rocky wall I combined blues, browns, grays, yellows, pinks and whites to make the stones have shape and color. It was very time consuming and hard to do as sometimes when layering with oil pastels they will rub off some of what is already drawn on the paper. I think I could have done a better job to make them look more realistic by not making them fit so perfectly together.

Another area that was difficult for me was filling in the blue of the sky in between the leaves of the trees. I was considering just drawing more leaves everywhere so that there would be no empty spaces, however it would have taken quite a long time. I liked the way the clumps of leaves looked so I left it like that. I lightly shaded blue and white between the branches and then sprinkled more dots of orange and red over it, which made it look more natural and prettier. On the right side of my artwork I made it look like there was a hill behind my tree to hide a big mistake I made. It worked out well but took a long time, since to make that particular color, I had to layer greens, blues, browns and whites together, wait for a while, and then scrape some layers off. The green bushes near the houses were easy as I simply drew in a circular motion with different shades of green and brown to create the effect of round bushes. I added in some white pastel for highlights.

To create the texture of the sand, I first drew many spots of grey and light brown, and then layered strokes of yellow, peach and light brown over it to blend the dots together and give he effect of grains of sand. I also added some blues and greens here and there to create the shadows casted by the trees.

I think I improved on mixing and experimenting with colors to get the exact shade and feel that I want to have. The two drawings we had to do in class for practice also helped me to get used to pastels and the way they feel and work. I also think I did well with using the white pastel to add in highlights and bring out color in my artwork. I think I still have a lot of work to do to make my sky and stones better, to make them look more realistic. One of my goals is to manage my time better. Always towards the end of a summative piece of work, I get very tired of my artwork and cannot focus on it very well. I want to work harder and press on till the end to make my work look the best it can.