San Jose Municipal Rose Garden

Free things to do are probably one of the best things in life. For my grandma's birthday, I took her to the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden and fell in love with some of the roses with unique colors.

Trying my hand at photoshop...
The roses were originally purple!

I think roses need to be at least two colors to be considered legitimate.

Polka dot roses?! So beautiful

I love my grandma! (:

I think it's definitely worth checking out, although it's not like you can spend hours of your day here, you can still be amazed by how many different kinds of roses there are and enjoy the sunshine.

Art Inspiration: Native American Pottery

I went to Stanford University's Cantor Center for the Arts the other day. Although the exhibition for SFMOMA's Pop Art Collection was still under construction (such a bummer! I really wanted to see it! Hopefully, I will get a chance to see before I leave...but it's difficult to schedule in), the closing gave me a chance to become very inspired by the geometric designs in the Native American pottery exhibition. I love the harsh edges and super modern patterns.

Asymmetrical, minimalist feel. Use of negative space very effective.

Typically, circles don't really work well in an art piece because they draw so much attention, but this somehow manages to complement the other rectangular elements.

Contrast with solid colors, repetitive lines. Varied Textures.

Love how they added a fantastical geometric shape in the center of the animal. You can still tell what it is, but the diamond makes it unique and interesting.

I think I'm often so caught up with modern or post-modern pieces that I forget to appreciate the more rustic roots of where a lot of these artistic ideas come from. I can't wait to add some of these geometric patterns into my future sketches! 

A Self Portrait: Six Months

I dislike drawing self portraits (or collections surrounding self portraits, unless you have an extremely distinctive look) because it either ends up similar to other portraits, or a super cliche way to express how you feel. However, with my baby pictures, I feel a slight detachment to them. I know as common knowledge that it is me, but I don't feel anything when I see the pictures. I have no idea what I was thinking or feeling at that time. I didn't even know the picture was being taken. I think that detachment leaves room for exploration and a good opportunity to draw non-adult proportioned faces.

Sometimes I wish I still had that mohawk! 

Art Inspiration: Anthropologie Window Display

I have basically stopped shopping, but I had to go to Santana Row yesterday because the rest of my family enjoys walking around the area.

What caught my eye was the window display art at Anthropologie! They're so beautiful. 

My mom hiding in the corner! The reflective glass creates a cool effect, but makes the art harder to see.

I love the use of the drip technique that allows the 3D string to flow and continue the unity within the piece. Mix of textures (contrast with thin paint and thick cloth attachment) and bright colors (orange/blue/green) make this piece pop!

Young Che Guevara Portrait

Loved this photo of Che Guevara. He has the most intense eyes at 22.

WIP process, sketch out the most important lines and shadows.

I think the portrait is alright, but doesn't look quite like the original ): Perhaps if I extended his chin it would be better? Onto improvement! 

I should also stop drawing faces. I don't even like faces in art because I find most of them super cliche. It's like humans celebrating themselves! A face can only say so much. Gestures and animals are things I need to work on. 

Architecture Inspiration: Stone

Went on a trip to Jiuzhaigou, Sichuan, China last month.

Sedentary rock pattern good for enhancing texture for exteriors (or if you're daring, interiors!)

Pattern of large and small stone bricks on the little house to the left.

Joseph Bueys Portrait

Joseph Bueys.

German.

Fluxus.

One of the most unique faces I've ever seen.

Work in Progress.

More progress.

Final Product. Photo Enhanced and Sharpened.

Reference Image Here.

4B Graphite Pencil on Paper.

One Hour Fifteen Minutes

I haven't drawn in a long time, but through this experience, I realized that I like the act of drawing in itself, another addition to my intrinsically motivated activities. Hopefully this will let me know what I want to do in the future.

Architecture Inspiration: Alvar Aalto

Finnish.

Romantic Functionalism.

Aalto.

Curved ceiling design for acoustics. Municipal Library in Viipuri, Russia.

Aalto's own studio in his home. I love exploring how architects design their own houses. 

Aalto's self-designed living room.

Villa Mairea in Noormarkku, Finland. Simple design that is just so appealing. Love the black accents.

Baker Building in MIT. Actually got to live in here when I came to visit! I love the curves of the building, which create ample study/social space. The rooftop views at night are also gorgeous.

Experimental House. Interesting how they actually took the resources to make an experiment. Super avant-garde, but very beautiful. 

Municipal Library in Viipuri, Russia. These door handles are so beautiful! 

Photos taken from book "Aalto" by Louna Lahti. 

Art Inspiration: Satire

I think the best art induces a strong reaction from the viewer. Although most pieces in the Triton Art Museum event were good or fun to look at, they lacked a "shock factor" that drew me in. 

The few works that made me stop and laugh inspired me and made me think of the deeper message behind the image. Although silly, I think these pictures raise larger societal issues that we have.

This is a part of a larger piece by David Canavese (who is awesome and super friendly, by the way) compares the media to a circus. I love the juxtaposition of Osama Bin Laden and blatant sex appeal, as Mother Theresa looks on in the background. Genius. 

Aphrodite and the barbie doll. I keep wondering what caused me to laugh at this image. I guess the absurdity of the contrast between the supposedly epic/culturally significant/historic painting and the everyday awkwardness/cheapness of a naked Barbie was quite amusing. It's funny how our minds react and pick up so much information at the same time, yet we don't even consciously process much of these things. 

I've actually never made satirical art before. Perhaps now it's time to give it a shot?

Triton Night at the Museum

Yesterday, I went to Santa Clara's Triton Museum's event, Night at the Museum. There were pieces by local artists, live drawing/painting, as well as slam poetry readings. I had a really good time at the event because I felt like it really exhibited the best of the community. Artists had a time to show their pieces while residents had an opportunity to appreciate the talent all around us! This event really inspired me to pick up art again.

In high school, I did art very intensively, especially the last two years under the IB Art program. I feel like that really burnt me out for a while because it was so high pressure to just keep dishing out pieces in shorter and shorter amounts of time. Now, I think I'm ready to do some work just for pleasure. I'm also really getting into art that serves a greater purpose such as poster designing and architecture with a fine arts inspiration.

Some really detailed charcoal work

Portrait Drawing

Free expression wall! (Look bottom left for my geometric design!)

Live metalworking - They gave the cutest metal fortune cookies as business cards! Didn't take one - gotta be a good aspiring minimalist (: 

Me! Doing a dramatic reading of an excerpt from "The Land" by Mildred D. Taylor - I was a bit nervous but the audience seemed to enjoy it at the end. I did the same piece for a competition a year earlier, so I was able to practice a little beforehand. 

 

My watercolor quick sketch - complementary colors? My fave!

I would like to get to know these artists more. How did they decide to pick fine arts as a career? Why do they choose ____ style? 

It also opened up more philosophical questions about my art - whether sticking to one style is better than trying to break out of your shell and trying very different things...or if the message behind the art is more important or the aesthetic quality of it...what makes art significant...among other thoughts...