Catalina

A few photos from a trip to Catalina Island.  It was cold and rainy when we were there, but we made the best of it.

Deconstructed

I had my Advanced and AP students do a project recently, which I titled Destruction Portrait.  The idea was inspired by some artists I had seen who added meaning to their portraits by doing something to them that would otherwise seem destructive-- like burning, tearing, or cutting them up.  In hindsight I think Destruction Portraits isn't the right name, however, because the pictures aren't actually destroyed. Ok, they're destroyed in the traditional sense, but they're much more than they were when they were whole.  I'm thinking De-Construction might be a more accurate title.  By deconstructing their subject the students were able to convey much more than the original photo ever could.  It's definitely way outside of most people's comfort zone, so many students had trouble getting started--they didn't know what to do to their picture. I figured I'd put myself right in their shoes to get a feel for the process so I could better advise them.  Here is my Deconstruction Self Portrait.  I had SO MUCH FUN creating it!  The painting part was created during class with the creative assistance and guidance of several of my students. Here you go... Mrs. V Deconstructed...  see if you can guess the meaning behind it.

Coco

This is Coco.  My mom recently started fostering dogs with a rescue group, and Coco is one of her fosters.  She's a Pit Bull/Shar-Pei mix, and is about the sweetest most loving dog you'll ever meet.  But Coco's picture on the rescue group's website was not very flattering, and made her look kind of mean--not what you want when you're trying to get adopted.  So, while visiting my mom this summer I set out to capture Coco's sweetness in a couple photos, and here they are.

Photoshoppers In Training

It's hard to believe, but my boys turned 6 a couple weeks ago.  For their last homework assignment for Kindergarten they were asked to do a report on an animal.  They wanted to include a picture on each page, but couldn't find just the right picture to match the information on a couple pages.  Not to worry, boys, I know a thing or two about Photoshop :)  I started creating a composite image from Creative Commons licensed photos and graphics I found on the Internet, when I realized that this was pretty basic Photoshopping.  I decided to see if they could handle doing the editing themselves.  Turns out they could!  We learned about layer masking, stretching and shrinking (while holding shift, of course!), Ctrl J for duplicating layers, adding text, the magic wand tool, and drawing straight lines.  It's crazy how quickly they picked it up.  I realize these aren't professional quality masks, but they're pretty awesome considering this was their first time... and did I mention they're 6?!  Once, while masking the Woolly Mammoth's background Emerson accidentally masked a circle right through his torso.  Ansel chimed in quickly "X to switch your color."  Emerson did, but after his first paint stroke with white a small bit of the mask remained, to which Ansel replied "Oh! He has a scar."  Below are the pictures with excerpts from their reports.

American Alligators weigh up to 550 lbs.

Woolly Mammoths were up to 13 feet tall.

Male Woolly Mammoths weighed as much as 6 cars.

Oil and Water Macro

Becca Pop Art

Yes, I'm rehashing yet another old picture for a new project.  I'm on quite a roll here, aren't I?  I give you.. Becca: pop art style in complementary colors. 

Dictionary Art

Trying out another new project with my Advanced group--Dictionary Art (or at least that's the title that will give the best search results for similar images.)  I was looking for a way to do some creative interpretation and storytelling.  Here's what we're going to do:

1.)Select a "page" that inspires you (sheet music, dictionary pages, book pages, newspapers, vintage advertisements, maps, etc.)

2.) Figure out what it means or could mean and how a face could tell that story or convey that emotion.

3. Shoot, overlay, done.

So simple, but open to so much interpretation.  So here are my practice versions.  Being April (my busiest month with multiple art shows, a fast-approaching AP test, and two very important little boys turning 6) I didn't have time to shoot new photos for this project.  This first image is a former student named Jason.  He took my classes for two years many years ago, yet is still one of those students that I can almost always count on seeing at the school art show.  For all I know Jason may love math, but for my image I wanted to convey a sense of being overwhelmed or stunned by it.  I overlaid two images of calculations on a desaturated chalk board and flipped one of them 180 degrees to make it extra confusing.  After being inspired by the watercolor versions of dictionary art I wanted to include some faux paint representing Jason's mind leaking out or overflowing, so that's where the pop of color came in.

 For demonstration purposes I wanted to show my advanced group a project that is "pretty" on the surface but that lacks the storytelling depth that these images could have.  So, after hunting around for another low key emotive portrait of mine I found this more recent one of Brittany, a friend of my sister.  I overlaid a page from a French dictionary and voila! (P.S. completely unintentional use of an actual French word... nice!)  Brittany's picture was quick and easy but I'm just not feeling a story in it.

Looking forward to seeing what my awesome advanced group will do with this!