Nothing really happened this week except for work, work and more work. However, I was able to fit in some painting time and start a new piece. I am trying to work on it a little every day. The only problem is that it is in acrylic. Don't get me wrong I like acrylic, but so far I've only used acrylic and water color this summer. Maybe when I finish this painting I will buy some drawing paper and actually draw using colored pencils or something. I have a picture from Canada that I thought about doing, but I think it would look better as a painting so I'll save it for later.

I just got back from CANADA!!! and there was inspiration everywhere there for me! I took numerous pictures of everything (which is mostly trees and water) so that I can hopefully piece them together and paint a really pretty picture :) During my trip, however, I was able to paint using watercolor pencils in my sketchbook and I actually love how they turned out! So here are two of them; one is of a crayfish claw that was a purple-blue color and the other is of a bobber because I spent 6 hours of every single day for a week fishing. It's sideways...I have no idea how to fix that.

I found this picture when I visited http://www.scholastic.com/. It's digital art done by 17 year old Grant Leung in Ohio. I have no idea how to do any kind of digital art and that's why this picture really interested me. It looks so real that when I saw it I was completely grossed out! Though I don't have the technology (except for photoshop) that I could do something like this with, I hope to learn/try digital art in the future.

The drawing of the girl was so realistic same as me. This picture came up right after the digital one, but I couldn't help but post it. The way it was drawn- subject slightly off center, the extreme contrast of light vs dark and its source of light along with its realism- made me want to practice drawing people so that I could draw something like that.

From this site I learned that I could have entered a drawing in seventh grade to win scholarships. It's too late for that now but maybe I could enter in something this year and try and win some money. I also learned that they recognize writing as art which is kind of nice because people don't often put those two together. What was really nice is that they listed and then described how they judge each piece; originality, vision, and technical skill. Perhaps these are what the AP art test graders look for as well.

I couldn't really find any images on this site except these two, which are by John Emil Stevenson. The first one portrays a mood through the use of all the blue and natural colors. The majority of the piece is blue but he kept it interesting by adding texture through his brushstrokes and some other subtle colors. I like it though, because the girl is so realistic, but everything else is very blurry and not as detailed. I think the brush work is really good as well.

While I was on www.arts.state.wi.us/static/ I learned that Walker's new budget plan is also decreasing the state's investment in the work of the Wisconsin Arts Board by about 73%. I'm not exactly sure what this will mean, but I am guessing that the presence of Art being supported by the board will also decrease. I also learned that commissioners rarely look for paintings/drawings and would rather have sculptures. What really interested me however, is that there are 11385 businesses that are somehow related to art that employ about 45,206 people in Wisconsin. This shows me that art is more popular for a career choice than I thought it was.

I just finished looking at the portalwisconsin website and thought that it was a great way to find ways/events to get involved in. I was expecting it to be relatively simple, like when I clicked on opportunities I thought it would list a bunch of different careers you could go into, but it didn't, they were actual job opportunities. It's nice to have access to something that tells you where art galleries are that are looking for artists' pieces instead of searching for them yourself. I also liked how the gallery consists of artists from the area. I loved some of their work and knowing that they live near me reassures me that I have the potential to paint really good pieces of art.

I absolutely love this painting because it reminds me of my land up north and the brush strokes aren't tight, but loose. The fact that she used so many colors on the ground makes me think of a reflection in water!

I posted the one of the light house, because it's so detailed and realistic. I tried/ am trying to paint a light house and....it's not working out too well. I also like that it's not a typical lighthouse. People usually don't think of something like when when talking about one.