project evaluation

I think beauty is anything you put your mind to making believe is beautiful. I expressed one view of beauty by doing a Japanese painting; I tried to make the cherry blossom stand out the most due to the fact that it has many symbols. The Japanese symbols I chose to put onto my painting were all ones that I thought were very important to life and how people should look at life. (courage, hope, wisdom, loyalty) I went through a long and interesting process beginning with researching and finding different ideas to use for my painting. I then started by sketching the design onto the canvas using pencil and then went over with my basic base colors (black and brown). I then added a bit of yellow to the bark to add a bit of a textured look to it then began to use green to make the leaves. I applied the leaves by dabbing the brush onto the canvas that way the leaves had a textured look to them. I then added the blossoms starting by making some what large dots on the branches of the blossom tree. I added a white curved line in the centers of all the blossoms to add a more 3D effect to the image. The items used are based on the fact that I have friends from all over the world and they mean a lot to me no matter where they are. Everything I wanted to work eventually did work out in the end. I used a number of different techniques to create this piece and they all worked out perfectly. I had difficulties finding the right types of paints and brushes but me and my sister looked in many different places and managed to find all the stuff I needed to finish the project. All I did to decide on how the painting was going to turn out was I used the techniques I had learnt over the years in my previous art classes and put them to use in making this one plus I looked at many examples of paintings done in the Japanese culture and decided to just do that with a flare of Canadian culture. That is my evaluation of my project.

my final project pics

IT IS FINALLY DONE!!!

My Town Mural

            I believe that this is a modern way of representing Golden Prairie. It shows how our town is old but has much chance to become new once again. Its stranger how towns that were once very large and powerful can end up being at the bottom of the food chain. The person sleeping on the bed is a representation of how quickly things can change around us, so fast it can happen over night. The confusion of how it all happened is shown in the “What happened here?” statement. I just hope that if this ever was a real mural for our town that people would understand the frustration and struggles our small town has gone through and is still going through. I hope that our prayers of a new beginning will be answered as the years go on and that our little town will thrive to become a great town once again.

stop and reflect #3

i have finished my painting now that my sister has found me some proper paint brushes for my flowers so i hope to have pictures put up by next week (as long as my laptop behaves)

what is beauty?

Beauty

        Are there objective standards of beauty? Or is beauty in the eye of the beholder?  Must art be beautiful to be great art?  What is the role of the experience of beauty in a good life?

Is beauty in the eye of the beholder? I define beauty as that which brings enjoyment to the person who looks or contemplates. I define subjective properties as properties that require subjects of the right sort to make a difference. When we say something is beautiful, are we recommending to others that they should take delight in it? Beauty may be intersubjective, but is it objective? Can we argue rationally about whether something is beautiful? Ken introduces Alexander Nehamas, professor at Princeton. Is beauty both skin deep and in the eye of the beholder? Nehamas distinguishes between surface beauty and deep beauty. 

Kant thought that if we think something is beautiful then we want everyone to agree with us. Ken proposes the idea that perception is a skill. Would the world be better off if everyone agreed on what is beautiful? Nehamas thinks the world would not be better off because what we find beautiful is a reflection of our personality and individuality. What can we learn about ourselves from what we find beautiful? Nehamas thinks that it illuminates our style. Is taste a function of education and economics? 

Is natural beauty ever better than constructed beauty, like in art or music? Do beauty and happiness go together? What is the relation between beauty and the sublime? Nehamas says that the sublime is our reaction in the face of something so overpowering that it consumes or obliterates us. There is a saying that truth is beauty and beauty is truth, but is that correct? John thinks it is false. Why does beauty matter?