Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Hair Chronicles/Study
What inspired me about this picture is I wanted to recreate the hot pink wall, the checkered floor, and the hairstyle on the canvas. First I did a sketch of the design on the canvas of a picture that like Victoria and Dean inspired this
painting.
Then I painted the top portion of the canvas neon hot pink. I tired to create a color using yellow, lavender and hot pink that would be as close to the wall on the picture as I could get it. Next was the Checkered floor that turned out to be a total pain in my butt when it came to the level of detail and patients it takes to reconstruct the tile without the white and black spilling over onto each other. After the floor I need to release some tension built up caused by the tediousness of the floor so I created the exaggerated brushstrokes inspired by John Dean. Although the figure is in a hair salon I could not imagine including the apron, so I started to play around mixing the whit and black colors and out popped this grayish silver color. For me I thought the mixture of colors would mesh well with the figures soon to be brown skin color.
Now
all needed was to paint the body and I can start on the head, well I couldn't
wait so I started on the head first that turned out to have both good and bad reproductions.
One being the fact that I should have went all the way and finished the head
and doubled back on the body, because after I put the net on I could not get to
the color all the way on the neck. Two; because I sewed the ball on first I
have to figure out a neat and clean way to hide the white spots that I could
not reach. At this point the ball is on and I have just finished applying a mixture
of red, green, purple, pink, black, and white to create a rich dark brown skin
pigment. In the same way I did my model's sew in extensions, I used an over,
under, and threw method on the head. After sewing, covering up mistakes, and re-sewing
I got the hair on the freak in head (Sigh of relief).
Lastly
I teased the hair a bit at the top and slowly began my in braid, which I
finished off with a hair thread bow at the bottom.
Although I enjoyed making the painting it was trial and error and in this fact "In Braid", as I titled it is a study for all other Hair Chronicle painting to come in this series. I think of In Braid as a study because I felt like I rushed some of the detail, as well as poor calculation on my part as to the position of the most important part the ball. The top of ball sits right on the wood block on the back of the canvas making it difficult to sew on to the canvas. Also I used watercolor to create this painting because I had to be careful to pick a substance that can be easily removed from any surface since I have a roommate and two little girls that I have no control over.
Keya's Hair
In the environment that I grew up in hairstylist were and still are prevalent. My mother is a hairstylist and has been every since I was 6 years old. I watched her create hairstyles on her clients so many times that naturally I picked up this ability and begin to practice on my sisters. Very quickly I was emulating my mothers designs and slowly finding my own. Nonetheless I have not had the time or the clientele to perfect my styling abilities, so for the purpose of my Professional Practice class, in effort to demonstrate a technique, I asked a member of my church to be my model. I asked her to wash her hair and blow-dry it as well. My models hair is very short because up until about three months she ware a short hair cut for the last ten years. Before weaving the extensions in her head I parted out sections of her hair that will ultimately cover the extensions to create a natural look. 
I use synthetic braiding hair in order to securely corn roll her natural hair down. In her hair I used Bobby Boss 1B Silky 16" hair, which matches the color of her hair. I use the beehive style of corn rolling my models hair because it helps make the final product look flat instead of bumpy, and in my opinion is the sturdiest way to attach the extensions.
I sewed the hair onto her corn rolls, with hair thread, using an over, under, and threw method, in which I wrap the needle over and under the corn roll and threw the extensions securely fashioning the end and beginning of the thread with at knot.
Lastly I curled the hair loosely with the flat irons and feathered the front and sides with smaller flat irons.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Video Games As Art
Conceptual Art Installation on 5th floor, of the Fine Art Building
Monday, April 16, 2012
Painting in Progress
I started a painting on February 13 2012 but I couldn't figure out what I wanted to make because I had no inspiration. I wanted to do something innovative and edgy but I had not decided in my head what would that look like. So the canvas lay slathered with a bright pink background waiting for my hands to complete its meaning. Day after day as I sat in class listening to my professors I tried to find inspiration in their words, as well as the reading assignments and as my life has been confined to room 196 at San Francisco State for 80% of the week I sit on the left side of the room in the left hand desk, and stare at the light fixture that so often has entranced me with its sleek design that creates such an alluring pattern on the wall. There I sit week after week searching in the corners for my inspiration and yet I found nothing. When I least expected it to happen bam it happened like magic I was inspired, but not in room 196 as I expected it to happen I was inspired to add hair to the canvas in my Professional Practice class. I was captivated by the guest speaker Victoria May as she talked about utilizing the earth to die her garments different colors and also adhering to the possibility that the earth would not do as she expected and still accepting those mistakes as a positive. I also was interested in the way she used symbols and colors to represent other things as in using red yarn to represent blood in her installation called “Collateral Damage” commemorating the fallen solder’s. Also Soldiers have to deal with the pros and cons of such a vital material. In her piece titled “BDU Battle Death Uniform” she used the organza material to symbolically illustrate how solders have to wear this heavy itchy material to keep warm, but on the down side it can’t get wet because it is not soluble in water. In listening to her talk while presenting her work, like a light bulb going off in my head, I got the idea to sew actual hair on to the canvas creating a 3D element. In doing this I will mix my love for painting with my ability to create various hairstyles and mount the two together on one canvas. In the very act of listening to her I could visualize every element of the process as far as how I would sew a Styrofoam ball on to the canvas and begin the process of weaving synthetic hair right on to a net securely fastened to the crescent ball that will hold the weaved hair on to the ball which is holding all the other elements to the canvas. Later it became to clear to me that I wanted the paint to be 2 dimensional and as I had seen Jim Dine work “Blue Clamp” I realized that I wanted to have thick slabs a paint protrude from my canvas as well. I also realized that I need inspiration to create work when before I didn’t, and partly this is true because I don’t keep busy creating because it’s as if I lost the drive and it took my Professional Practice class to help me understand that I must and should always be aspiring to make something or I won’t desire to make anything.
Collateral Damage
Blue Clamp
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