Like I mentioned, I missed the deadline for the trip and I got stuck to Mr. Wickett's class for the day. Thankfully, my mom and dad said that they could drive me there by car (thanks mom and dad!). It didn't seem like I missed much as the group was still in the first room when I got there. Now, since I've been to the Neilson Creative Arts Center before, I've got a pretty good understanding of how the program would run. Still, I was hoping to be surprised.
The program starts like how my foggy memory remembers it, which is the introduction of the staff and the program. Though I was thinking in my head "Can this go any slower?" But hey, some people actually need to listen to this stuff...right? Okay, to be fair, it was a bore as we obviously know not to touch the paintings and artwork.
Despite that, the paintings were actually pretty well done; not trying to say that I didn't expect them to be or anything of that sort. There was one painting that I actually really liked (who knew?) and it seemed like the northern lights from my angle. I stared at it for what I thought was just a minute, but apparently, it was all I looked at as Debbie thought I just passed out standing up. As you'd expect, when they told us to choose a painting, I chose that one. As they told us to focus into the painting, I inferred what it would be like if the painting was a landscape. I think that it would be fluffy and warm, but I think that's just me. The next part of the activity was they had us draw what came into our heads with those painting with some guidelines.
The rest of the day went as I expected, which was basically a repeat of the beginning without the intro. We did another painting, discussed it and that was it. Except our second painting had to be inspired by our first painting. Obviously, you can see I took the circle shape in the middle, however I'm beginning to think that that wasn't the smartest option. Do you think I should've taken the colour scheme instead?
Below are the two drawings that I did for the day. I don't think my second one was as good but what do you think? It just didn't seem to pop out in terms of colour to me.
I like the top one, it's really well blended and I just like the colours. The black and white goes more with the "Ying Yang symbol". anyways, I really like it! Your blog was really well written as well!
ReplyDeleteHello Ming Wei
ReplyDeleteSo glad you made it to the program!
You wonder why the program stays the same each time. The reason is that we are interested in students seeing how they change from year to year, if they come more than once. We made a video of interviews with grade 7-8 students from North Kipling last spring. They talked about how their pictures changed over the years and how they themselves have changed. Perhaps Mr. Cornell can show you the video.
Austin Clarkson, The Milkweed Collective
Well... One thing you definitely learned from this experience is to set you alarm clock. Imagine if it was an Interview, or a university exam that you missed. That would of been a lot worse.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I really like your blog. It contained humour, questions, inferences, and information about the painting you selected in the gallery. Only a few people actually included info about that. That was definitely interesting to hear about. One thing I definitely wanted to see was you standing looking like you passed out in front of the picture. That would of been one for the yearbook, if we had one :(.
I also felt that the beginning intro was quiet boring, as I do know not to touch the paintings. But I was also trying to keep my pants from getting dirty as there was a lot of mud on the floor.
The first painting that you did, in my opinion, is the better one. It has a really good background colour scheme and the shape in the middle, that I think is an upside down apostrophe, is really cool because it has darker purple on the outside, then lighter purple on the inside. One thing I really notice about the background, that I really like in your first painting, is the fact that on one corner of the picture is warm colours, red and orange. But on the opposite corner of the picture are cool colours, blue and green. Both types of colours fade into one another in the centre of the painting in what looks like an upside down apostrophe. This makes me think of two things. One of them is that the picture is a swirling vortex of good and evil, and in the centre is something. Something that I do not know. Another thing is it could also be the start of a battle between good and evil where both sides are lining up to fight. What about you Mingwei? What explanation seems more realistic? Or do you have one of your own?
The first thing I am going to say about your second picture is you should of used the colour scheme, not the shape (saying this in an answering question way, not a judgemental way). The colour scheme on your first was amazing and I think you should of carried that over to your second and then made different shapes and images. When I look at your second one I see ying-yang symbol with white and black shapes around it. Almost like a chessboard. The black being one player playing chest, and the white the other. It also reminds me of pokemon black and white, the circle shape being the poke ball and the colour scheme is black and white:). One thing I don’t get is how you made completely different images, I mean, they almost have no connection. Were you trying to do this, or did it just happen? And I’m guessing that you purposely drew the ying-yang symbol on your second image. But for you, what does the picture symbolize?
Yes I agree, why do we always use pastels? I think some reasons are is because it is less work to clean up, less expensive to buy new materials, and as Austin said, you get to see yourself improve. I also agree that the print making was really cool, and I, as well, would recommend the program to anyone.
Until next time, BYE.
Sorry for the long post:)
DeleteYo Mingwei! That was amazing! I really see the connection and how you were inspired to make the second. I can almost feel a story of how how the world was once black and white, but as time passed, the alpha took the lead and the world is restored once again into color and compassion. I see the similar format you used and I do have to say that you really expressed your feeling in the blog. Did you ever make a story with these two pictures and if so, what would it be? i would love to know how you feel about your painting because I really admire this one.
ReplyDeleteThank you
Baarath Sritharan
Mingwei,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your blog. It was very well-written. I don’t know how you managed to sleep past a trip though…
Anyways, I kind of agree with you that the introductions were slow, but sometimes being away for a year, people forget who Austin, Brenda, Patricia, and Ina are. Also, you never know, some people might actually touch the paintings if they aren’t told not to. The paintings were very well done, indeed.
In your first picture, I see a tear drop in the middle of an “egg” I guess. The tear drop is being protected by the outer shell of the egg, as the fiery side and the nature side try to access it. The tear drop might have something important to do with humanity, and the two sides are clashing to achieve it. I really like the colour scheme, because it shows how red and green still mix, even when they don’t.
For your second picture, I don’t think taking the colour scheme would be a good idea. Your second picture stands out because it doesn’t have colour. I really like the background, because it makes the “Ying Yang symbol” stand out even more than it already is. The second one was as good as the first, because it makes you think of what is happening in said picture.
I disagree with you saying the program was bland, because I still enjoyed it, even after four years of the same thing (well not really, there were different pictures). I do agree with you about only pastels though, we should be able to use other art medians to create a better picture and to use our imaginations to their fullest extent.
Thanks for your blog post, I enjoyed it.
~Adrian