Skip Schumaker

This painting is once again from my junior year painting class. This was our final painting, but it isn’t my best. I used water color on a very big piece of water color paper. The subject is Skip Schumaker, who was my favorite baseball player for many years. He played for the Cardinals until this season when he was traded to the Dodgers. I am currently without a favorite player because I can’t root for anyone who isn’t a Cardinal. This painting is not finished like most of my others. I would like to paint more Skip Schumakers on both sides and add more lines to simulate motion. If I ever return to this painting to refine and complete it, I’d love to frame it to hang in my parent’s restaurant or in our basement.

Skip Schumaker:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skip_Schumaker

I Want a Wife

In Judy Brady’s essay called “I Want a Wife”, she rants about all the things wives do for their husbands and tells of how everyone could benefit from having a wife. She characterizes the 1972 wife by listing all of the duties wives were responsible for at that time. Very much of the essay describes modern wives, too. She talks about how wives take care of the children, wash the clothes, keep track of appointments, and clean. The wife in the essay also cooks, hosts guests, stays faithful, and meets sexual needs. This description of duties also applies to today’s wives, but to a lesser extent because modern women have to go to work, too. Today, there are more equal roles between husband and wife because women are being considered more and more equal to men. In the average family, both husband and wife go to work, and also, both take care of the home.

Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions

Elizabeth Cady Stanton said this during the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848: “The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman…” She then went on to list several areas where women were not treated fairly. In modern times, we have overcome many of these issues. Currently, women can run for office, have women representatives in the government, earn wages, and own property. Women today can also stand up to their husbands, have a fair divorce, and obtain an education. Even though our country has made many advances, women are still not equal to men. Women lose job promotions and elections just because of their gender. They also cannot be prominent church figures in some religions, and they are still thought of as inferiors by some men.

Essay #4 Topic Ideas

I am having a little bit of trouble deciding on a topic for Essay #4, but I think I have narrowed it down to a few choices. I’d rather not talk about the death penalty, gay marriage, the right to bear arms, or the legalization of marijuana because most of the class will be writing about these topics, and I’ve written about them already in high school. I am leaning towards recycling, the emphasis on standardized tests, or embryonic stem cell research. I would argue that recycling is effective and worth our time and effort, or I would argue that colleges do place too much emphasis on standardized testing. I am not sure of my stance concerning embryonic stem cell research, but I’d like to read about the topic and learn more. I think that the recycling topic could easily relate to Lindenwood because we barely recycle here and that should be changed. I work in the cafeteria, and it is shocking to see all the recyclable items that we throw in the trash. The standardized testing topic would also be easy to relate to Lindenwood because we are a college that has a specific ACT score that must be met for admittance. The stem cell topic would be more difficult to relate specifically to Lindenwood, but it really affects the whole world. I will keep thinking about the pros and cons of each topic and try to make a final decision soon.

Gas

This is the biggest painting I’ve ever attempted. During my junior year painting class, we had to pick an artist to write a paper about, and then we had to re-create one of his/her paintings. I chose Edward Hopper as my artist, and I chose his painting called “Gas” (1940). This painting appealed to me because of its simplicity. I like how the subject is a small gas station surrounded by nature. The setting is quiet and calm, and it reminds me of a place I would like to visit. Before beginning, I was very intimidated by the size of the canvas board I was given to paint on, and I was unsure of how I’d be able to get it all finished. I think my painting turned out okay considering that I ran into a lot of difficulties throughout. I ran out of paint and was unable to match the colors of what I already painted. I had to paint over parts that I already completed, and I had to rush through most of the left side in order to meet the due date. To this day, my painting is not 100% finished. It could really benefit from a touch up and addition of details. Someday, I plan to return to all of my high school paintings to improve them.

Dove Real Beauty Sketches

I have seen Dove’s “Real Beauty Sketches” ad before today, so I already had an opinion before watching it again and reading jazzylittledrops’ post. I think that overall it is a harmless advertisement that simply meant to make women feel more beautiful. In my opinion, this ad does not discriminate against race, age, or certain features. It might have been more effective to include a wider variety of women, but I do not think the ad is offensive in any way. Though most of the women are white, there are some African American, Asian, and Latino women shown, too. This ratio properly represents the target audience. Because the ad is televised in the United States, most of the viewers are Caucasian.  I believe that jazzylittledrops is overreacting. Dove did not mean to anger anyone or hurt any feelings. They meant to do the opposite. The ad’s sole purpose is to make women feel better about their appearances. It succeeds in making women believe they are more beautiful than they think.

Melted Crayon Art

This is a piece of artwork that I made sometime during my senior year of high school. It was a ton of fun to create, and I recommend the project to anyone looking for something fun and easy. I started by looking up an image of a couple standing in the rain on Google, and then I drew the silhouette on a canvas board using a Sharpie. Then, I searched my house for crayons until I had enough to cover the top of the board. I glued the crayons across the top, let it dry, and then, I got out a blow dryer and used it to melt the crayons using the warmest setting. I taped plastic wrap over the silhouette so that crayon wouldn’t melt under the umbrella. The melting took about 5 minutes. I think this turned out okay, but I will make sure to use a different technique to protect the silhouette if I repeat this project.

A different take on the project: http://randomosityblog.com/2011/09/melted-crayon-art-tutorial.html

Essay #3

Last Friday, I submitted my rough draft for essay #3. I thought the finished product was my best essay in this class so far, but the comments made me think otherwise. My paper is good overall, but I do need to make some changes. I need to figure out a way to better organize and separate my last criterion without causing my paper to have too many criteria. I also need to limit my counterargument to only one statement because I wrote it before the instructions in class, and I included two arguments. My biggest struggle will be correcting these mistakes while still keeping my paper at least 5 pages long. I hope I can find the time to edit my paper and implement these changes, so I can receive the grade I desire.

Gargoyle Still Life

This is a picture of a still life I completed in my 10th grade drawing class. My teacher set up a lot of random objects on a table in our classroom, and we were assigned to pick a portion of the arrangement to draw. I chose what I thought to be the most challenging aspect: the gargoyle. This was the first time I had ever worked with the conté medium, so it really was a challenge at the beginning until I learned all the tricks. (Conté is similar to a mix between a black crayon and a charcoal stick). This drawing took me a very long time and because of this, I had full intentions of just finishing the left side and cutting the paper to crop around the gargoyle. My teacher encouraged me to complete the entire piece, though, even though it made me fall behind in the class. I’m glad that she urged me to continue on because this artwork was displayed in an art show. I am very proud of this drawing.

HOPE

During Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, a specific poster emerged to become one of the most widespread and recognizable political visuals in recent American history. This HOPE poster successfully represented everything Obama wanted to stand for and most likely played a role in his winning of the election. It was an effective visual for the campaign because it presented Obama as a great potential leader for our country. He is posed like a hero with the viewers looking up to him. This angle creates power and depicts Obama as a strong and capable candidate. The colors that make up the poster also play an important role. It is entirely red, white, and blue, which represent the U.S.A. and give the picture a patriotic feel. Since Obama’s skin is also red, white, and blue, this poster eliminates the racial controversy. It shows that skin color should not matter when it comes to being an American President. The poster was very influential because it represented Barack Obama well and is such an interesting design. Each component is simple, yet meaningful, and the word “HOPE” at the bottom tells of something that we all desire.