I want to blend my intricate detailed style of drawing with minimal more minimal styles with watercolor. To integrate the two styles I want to create soft environments with certain elements in great details. After creating this teapot and vase I experimented with the different variations in size and shapes. I used other interesting minimal designs such are the spout of the teapot like a milk cartoon. I also wanted to make the sides different. One square for the thumb and 4 shallow squares for the fingers. The vase was put together so that the two sides are mirror images of each other. Both can hold water and are made out of slabs. I want to continue building these sculptures and incorporate them into more of my 2D pieces.

I have been busy with my portfolio and have been working on a still life of an animal skull. After working on this piece I was inspired to look at life and death. I believe this can fit closely relate with architecture and how skeletons are similar to the frames of buildings. I have a few sketches of some animals with bones and mechanical elements. However I need to do more research to make sure they will look anatomically correct. I want to play with this idea of what is manmade and what is natural.

First Ideas

I wish to capture nature and harsh lines architecture melting together. The first picture I took was at the RPI campus. Here I saw the glass EMPAC building fade into the sunset and reflect the natural beauty. I  was amazed that the modern building so effortlessly flowed into landscape. I wanted to compare these geometric lines of modern buildings to the organic free flowing lines of trees. I have decided that I want to play with scale and create a landscape on canvas with a normal scale with different Plexiglas object and play with the refection and scale of different objects in the painting. For example painting picture 2 and other pieces from picture three and arrange them outside the painting.

Picture 1: RPI EMPAC

Picture 2: A tree in Suzhou 

Picture 3: Landscape Suzhou

Project

I have started to sketch out ideas on how to fit the different elements together, however I am currently working sketches for a more traditional landscape in watercolor. I want to do this piece in a traditional Hudson River School style, but with a more modern twist that will allow me more freedom in the subject matter. I still want make this piece realistic and bring in some of the soft colors and strong composition that Hudson River School is famous for. I want to explore watercolor because it will allow me more room to experiment with new techniques.

Project Proposal

For my project I would like to combine paintings with sculpture. I would like to blend the natural world into the architecture and create a piece that starts on canvas and then is pulled into 3D components. I would like to create a tree inspired sculpture with plexiglas leaves or lanterns. This way I could merge the organic shape of the tree with the industrial feeling of modern society. I would use acrylic paint on the plexiglass to make different scenes of animals and nature combined with architecture. I wish to paint on the plexiglass because it shows the different layers of the paint. I want to start by exploring different mediums for sculpture and see how the different elements work together. I hope the viewer will be able to connect to the piece and feel as if they are standing in a dream.    

Inspiration

Over the past summer I went to the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburg, MA. I came across a painting that spoke to me. I found this piece surrounded by an intricate gold frame that complimented the masterpiece within. This marvelous painting is A Forest at Twilight, Alsace painted by Gustave Doré c.1865. This piece brought me out of the museum's cold white walls into a peaceful forest basked in the last rays of sunlight. I was inspired by the beauty of the piece that leaves you in awe, yet makes you fearful to disturb the serenity. I wish draw out the same feeling of wonder my art, and work on creating a scene full of mystery. 

A Forest at Twilight, Alsace by Gustave Doré