I don't really like looking at abstract expressionism, or non-objective art, but I didn't completely hate some of the things I saw. I liked the Pollock piece that I saw simply because it brought back childhood memories of reading "Olivia" where she say a Pollock piece and recreated it on her wall. I respect him more than other non-objective artists because his concept of basically 100% splatter painting was pretty unique and hadn't really been done before him. I don't really like Clyfford Still's work though. It just feels to simple to me, and doesn't look like there was a lot of effort put into it. Despite my dislike of his artwork, I am intrigued as to how he created the texture of his artwork. It has lots of little bumps covering it and I can't for the life of my figure out how they were made. The Pollock painting was made with lots of quick rushed motion, with big flings of paint coming from the shoulder. The Still's painting in comparison was made with more careful methodical movements even though they both share a non-objective art style. The de Kooning piece was made with quick brush strokes in the background, but slower and more careful in rendering JFK's face and body. I was really surprised by the size of these works, I think it is because I usually work on a smaller scale, so really anything bigger than that is a surprise to me. I was also surprised by the fact that the presidential portrait of JFK was made by an abstract expressionist artist. All of the other portraits, with the exception of Chuck Close's Bill Clinton, were highly detailed and realistic. I still don't really know what I am going to do for my abstract expressionist painting, but I was thinking of either having a limited color scheme like Still's or just strait out having a giant rainbow as my painting. I am intrigued by the texture of Still's painting, so I also want to mimic it even if I don't entirely know how to. I think the process will be fun at least.

None of these works really relate to what I have been doing in my play pages. I've mostly just been drawing people in a variety of mediums, some of which I don't really ever use and some of which I uses a lot. These just have vibes that I really enjoy. I like the Sargent piece because there is so much in your face that you can't really understand what it going on. I also love the color scheme. I have found that I am drawn to browns and dark colors in general. I am also in love with the texture of this piece. It doesn't really show up well in the photo, but there is a build up of paint in some strokes that I desperately wanted to touch just to experience the piece more. I love the O'Keeffe painting mostly because I am in love with her, and because I think the comments on her artwork looking like vaginas are hilarious(I asked a few gynecologist-I was at a work party for my mom right after the field trip- if they though her work looked like a vagina and they said "sure" so I'm taking that to mean it does). I just love the femininity that it exudes with the soft lines and colors. One my my favorite pieces though, was the Pulse Room by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. It was beautiful and really calming especially after reading that it is supposed to mimic a scene where a character was in death's cavern. I especially loved how you could hear and feel the pulses. These works make me want to branch out with my artwork more and do things other than painting acrylic portraits, I want to experiment more with sculpture and I want to paint different subjects like flowers, backgrounds, or even light bulbs.

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
Mexican, b. 1967
Pulse Room
2006
Incandescent light bulbs, voltage controllers, heart rate sensor, computer, metal stand, speakers, custom software in Delphi
Courtesy the artist and bitforms gallery
Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC

I think I am finished my drawing. Overall I am happy with the way it turned out, but I regret adding the attempted parallel lines at he bottom of my drawing. I actually thought I had finished it on Saturday the eighth of December, but when I was taking a picture of it for the final post I noticed that I didn't include my irises, so I filled them in today and added the table line and the awful "parallel" lines to help balance the piece out. I kind of regret doing it, but, alas. I also had no idea what to do with my scarf thing since it was both black, hindering me from seeing any folds, and because my friend's hand was in the way of it.  I feel as though my drawing is more careful and reserved than Raphael's, so in that way I did not match his mark. My drawing is also a lot simpler.

I just inked some more of my drawing today so I won't have as much work over the weekend. I think I am progressing well, but I am frustrated because I am such a messy artist. I keep smudging the ink on my artwork. There is now a random blob on my face, so now I am going to draw a sharpie mole there for the rest of my life so it is no longer a mistake. Also I low-key noticed that my ear is way too low, so I guess now I need plastic surgery to move it down too.