Imagination Explored

             Hey kids!  On Thursday, November 29, 2012 our class went on a trip to The Neilson Creative Arts Centre.  Have you ever been there?  After the quite tedious bus ride, we were warmly welcomed by the staff; Austin, Brenda, Ina, and Patricia.

            We then took part in an exercise where we grabbed all of the imagination around us and put it right into our heads!  After this, we went into the gallery.  This gallery was definitely unique.  Not only was every illustration special in its own way but the entire gallery is restocked weekly!  In the gallery we were told to sit in front of and study an illustration that we found attractive.  The illustration that I chose is quite difficult to describe.  It was an abstract piece, with straight rigid edges, and done exclusively in warm colours.  In a way, I think it resembled cliffs. 

            With the illustration that we chose in mind, we were told to create our own oil pastel drawing.  I titled mine, “Unfinished”.  This is because, while I was making it, I planned on adding more to it.  However, when it came time for small group discussions, my title was received as quite a surprise.  Others said that it looked like I had meant to leave it just the way it was.  Do you think it looks finished?

            After this, we were told to make another oil pastel drawing based off of our first.  I titled mine, “Defiled”.  At first I planned on making a tree in the foreground the emphasis of my painting.  Then, taking up a large majority of the picture, a large green hill.  I tried to colour this hill in a way that made the grass look long, and like it was moving with wind.  Behind the hill, I planned on showing a little bit of sky, in order to express the fact that the hill was not limitless.

After I finished this and look at my painting, I thought that it looked very cliché and mainstream.  My solution to this problem was to put a fairly small but very distracting ‘something’ in my illustration. Yes, a ‘something’.  I don’t know exactly what this ‘something’ is, however, I do know that its sole purpose is to catch the attention of observers, and from what I have heard...it’s working!  What would you liken this ‘something’ to? I've heard a vortex, a parallel world, death, the sun, and a chasm.

All in all, I have found this trip to be... amazing.  Not only when it comes to learning how to express ideas through art, but also, and perhaps more importantly, to always be willing to let your imagination roam free.

           ~Debbie

P.S. The white line across both illustrations is just light, not part of the composition.