Black and Blue Masquerade

Mandala 
this is a square design that I created with a yellow and blue color scheme. This was done with color pencils with the help of Roman Murray. The parts that are a little rough were done by him;)

Tree

Paper Mache
This is a sculpture of a tree. Originally, it was supposed to be a regular tree with a character on it, but I realized that someone else was doing the same character.  I, then, decided to just do a tree with a face on it. The biggest challenge I faced in this project was Roman's harsh criticism. 

Eiffel

Bas Relief
This piece is inspired by Roman Murray,so he says... The only "inspired" aspect compared to Roman's bas relief is the moon, but this piece was actually inspired by Robert Delaunay's Champs de Mars: The Red Tower. His painting of the Eiffel tower was rustic and had excessive lines. 

Peace

Metal Tooling
This piece shows two fish wrapping around a sun. The Japanese hiragana in the middle means love. 

Plaster sculpture

             This is my plaster sculpture of whatever animal you want it to be. The dent in the middle of the forehead was done by Roman Murray, my rival. I decided to do an animal because my starting shape was really small and limiting.

Art Critique- Maya Laws

    This painting is called “Arnolfini Portrait” and the artist is Jan Van Eyck. It was done in 1434 during the Renaissance era. Jan Van Eyck used his canvas, a full length double portrait, and transformed it into an oil painting. This piece was well known for its use of space with the mirror in the background. Van Eyck’s name is signed on the back wall next to the mirror. There is a dog in front of the two people standing in the bedroom. The woman is suggested to be pregnant and the bed on the right side is red. If you zoom in, you can see Van Eyck in the mirror. The man is holding the woman’s hand while she is gazing at him. The woman’s hair is up and she is standing near the bed. On the other hand, the guy is standing near the window. There is only one candle on the chandelier hanging above the two people. Lastly, the crucifixion story of Christ is painted on the outer frame of the mirror.

                As far as proportions, the painting is balanced on both sides. The guy stands on one half while the girl stands on the other. The color of the faces contrast in color from the rest of the mood so that you focus on the emotional aspect. Showing emotion in the face was big at the time because artists always wanted to show skill. Jan Van Eyck used the mirror to show skill in making perspectives in one perspective. There is a repeated use of red in the background and the woman’s dress adds a very bright look that is also something to focus on. There is a pattern in texture in the clothing and bed sheets.

                The artist is trying to convey love and relationships. The amount of red in this painting creates the idea of love and resembles the virgin Mary’s choice of color. The man and woman are probably married because the woman’s gaze isn’t down. It’s almost eye level which meant that she was an equal to him.  The dog in front of them means loyalty because that’s what they were incorporated for back then. Something that was considered attractive in the Renaissance era was being pregnant, so the lady held her dress up to where it looked like she was pregnant. We don’t know if she was, but Van Eyck was known for putting woman in his paintings that were suggestive. The color of her dress means hope and her hair is up which suggests that she is married. Married women wore their hair up instead of down like the non-married women. There is also only one candle on the chandelier which could mean that it was a part of a wedding tradition in consummating the marriage. All in all, the message was to portray a loving couple that, most likely, commissioned Van Eyck to do this for them.

                This piece is very well thought out and I can see how much effort the artist put into creating this piece. I really like this piece just because the artist seemed like he had fun with it. He even signed his name so that it read “Jan Van Eyck was here”. Everything connected so that it was all just one piece and not just a bunch of stuff lying on the ground. The craftsmanship is great and very neat. I wouldn’t say that I’m moved by this art, but it definitely communicates something to me. The “Arnolfini Portrait” is worth a lot, in my opinion, and it proves to be very valuable.