Final Reflections

1. What were your expectations for this course and where they met?

I had expected to learn a great deal about current and past visual arts and learn how to analyze and communicate pieces of work with my peers, yes all these were met in the past semester.

2. Now that you've been through this course, What is art? How would you define it now compared to your intial posting?

Now that I have gone through this course, I would like to define art as the human exploration of the elements and principles of design as well as a creation that can explore one, more or all of the 5 scenes. My initial posting was much more broad and non specific.

3. Who was your favorite artist in your original posting and who is your favorite visual artist now? If there is a difference, why do you think so? If you have the same favorite artist, why do you think so?

My favorite artist then was Salvador Dali and it still is today. Yes I have come to appreciate more artist but still am inspired most by Dali. 

4. Now that you've completed this course, how do you feel about taking an online course? Is your answer the same as it was in your first posting? How is it the same or different?

I feel as though I still would rater take a classroom based course because that is how I learn best. I knew this class was going to be a different environment for me as I had never taken an online class before. Now I feel more confident but this all still isn't my favorite.

self portrait questions.

1. Why did you select the inspiration pieces?

I selected these pieces for y inspiration because they were similar in style to what I was looking to see come out of this project

2. Why did you select the media to create your self-portrait?

I selected this media because I had been wanted to use my toned grey paper and pastel colored pencils compliments it well.

3. What challenges did you face in creating your self-portrait and how did you overcome them?

I was challenged with wanting to create more than just a portrait, I wanted to add more to it as I have learned a lot this semester.


4. How does this piece represent you?

This piece has many colors and different flowers to show how I have grown and come out of my shell more mentally in the past year.


5. What elements and principles of art did you apply in this work?

I used the elemets and principles of color and  contrast in my work.

6. Did you enjoy working on this project?

Yes, I did enjoy working on this piece.

7. What do you think of your final artwork?

I think I put out work that I had envisioned at the beginning and  I enjoy this piece and plan to add more to it or make more in the future.

Self Portraits

Answering Week 15 Questions

 This work by Pablo Picasso, Guernica, from the 1930's combines many elements and principles to form a successful piece of art. Picasso uses line and shape to show different things such as horses, people and different doors and windows to paint the scene. He also uses color, or lack there of, this piece is monochromatic. Picasso made this piece only using blue, black and white and what appears to be mimicking newspaper or letters. He also utilizes the dark black areas against bright whites to create contrast, making the scene more dramatic. All of these create a well balance over the piece, not making one side heavier than the other. The Guernica is a large oil painting  created in the 30's around the time of the Spanish- Civil War and the aerial bombing of Guernica. This piece is seen as highly political due to the different symbols such as the meaning behind the bull and horse in Spanish culture. The fact that Picasso claims that the horses represent the people of Guernica and the creative hints toward the attack of Fascism. This could persuade and emotional response due to those the controversial topics throughout the culture at the time in this work. I believe a strength of this piece was the size and the use of shape to convey a concept and story in the final piece. It seems as though this painting has a personality and a whole life story and it. The only weakness I can see in this work in the clearity in the center of the piece. The outsides of the piece seem to have clear images of the different people and things in the work but the center seems to be more random shapes that makes the piece look less important and more cluttered in the middle.