Monday, February 28, 2011

write-up for project (read this 1st)

 I made the original shape (found on the first 8" x 8"), with old-fashioned wooded close-pins, glued together using a glue gun.  I colored each close-pin using markers, and tied on a multi-colored yarn at the top, for the object to hang from.  Please note that this is a Christmas ornament that I made awhile ago, without this project in mind; so I decided not to color my drawings of the object, so that all the lines can be seen clearly.  After printing off a picture of the object, I copied it onto a piece of tracing paper.  This I used on each of the eight compositions; by pressing hard as I went over the object on the tracing paper, I made an indentation of the object on the sketch paper, and then just went over it with a thin marker.  The tracing paper was essential to keeping the same shape(s) and very helpful on the abstraction compositions in being able to place parts of the overall object in a different position or area, than it was originally.  Also, the seeming center circle of the object, is not an actual complete circle, I marked where the glue bulged when it dried, in order to keep the close-pins together.  As you will see in some compositions, if the heads of the close-pins are moved, there is not a complete circle left behind.  Variety in these compositions is hopefully evident.  As far as unity between them, I strived to keep the orientation of the overall object the same (the yarn at the top, as if the object was hanging down from it), as well as, staying with the same general circular shape of the object, and usually keeping the placement of the proposed center circle, with the other shapes streaming around it and branching off of it.  I am pretty pleased with this project overall!
1st Composition:
I drew/traced this using contour line.  I experimented with the thickness of the line, forming it on the bottom for the left half of the object, and on the top for the right half of the object.  It seemed to definitely give some volume and depth to the piece.  (I think it makes it look like a ship's steering wheel, although I didn't intend it to).
2nd Composition:
Here, I added ovals and incomplete triangles (alternating) to the ends of the object, for embellishment.  It seems also to just add shape to the whole composition.  I drew lines diagonally across the close-pin shapes to give it a Local ttexture, which seemed appropriate for something that's made of wood.  Notice that the lines on the close-pins with the ovals on the ends, go down diagonally, left to right, and the ones on the close-pins with the incomplete triangles on the ends, go up diagonally, left to right.  (Although I didn't intend it, I think I made the close-pins look like striped frogs doing synchronized swimming.  I put a face in the object's center circle to be as if a huge frog was sticking his head up, out of the water as part of the performance.  I was tempted to put a face on each of the "little frogs", but I thought that would deviate too far from the original). 
3rd Composition:
Keeping just the head of each close-pin, I closed the circle and drew, coming down from each, geometric shapes- a triangle, a smaller circle, two triangles off of that and then one triangle off of each of those.  I didn't calculate a specific degree(s) measurement for the angles of the triangles; I wanted it to be varied.  The tip-top point of each of the triangles on the left, on the outermost part of the object, connect with the bottom right corner of the triangle above it, and the tip-top point of each of the triangles on the right, on the outermost part of the object, connect with the bottom left corner of the triangle above it.  There is an exception to this.  The two parts of the object that are hanging down, across from the yarn; their tip-top points of their outer triangles meet their above triangles at various, different points.  (This composition reminds me of a Native American dream catcher).

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