Saturday, December 5, 2015

Troy D's wild beast!

For this assignment I located a stick near my apt and got some dirt which i mixed with water.  I call this "Fetch" and wanted to show caveman me playing with my sabre-toothed dog, :D

Summer's Epic!

I created the paintbrush using a stick (that I found outside) for the handle, some of my dog's hair for the bristles, and grass to tie the hair to the handle. The first picture that is shown is of my "cave painting." It isn't quite creative because I painted the scene on the stones by my front porch, and the "paint" didn't turn out quite as well as I had intended. I created the paint using the dark brown dirt in my yard mixed with water. I suppose you could say that I employed a watercolor-like technique because my images are loosely painted and created using more water than dirt. The stones tell a story of my large family! The stone on the very left includes my father-in-law, my mother-in-law, my husband, and myself. The "boys" are depicted with having upside-down triangular chests, which the "girls" have right-side-up triangular bodies. The stone directly to the right of this stone depicts a few of my animals. The first three shapes at the top are of my three dogs, Bear, Molly, and (our newest edition) Thor. Directly below them are my chickens (unfortunately we've had them for so long that I can't remember their names). The last stone contains images of the rest of my animals. The top three spots are my cats Wesson, Smith, and Timba. Directly beneath them are my ducks (Jack, Prim, Chuck, Lucy, Daisy).  I guess you can say that I have a pretty large family! I chose to depict my animals using globby spots because it was the easiest method with the paintbrush that I made and I feel that the animals are more abstract this way. 
The final two pictures are of my paintbrush that I made using a stick, dog's hair, and grass.

Cynthia B's Cozy home!

I decided to draw my house! I currently live on a farm with pastures and horses. I am on the top of a hill and there is a stream that runs down. I used mud and water as my medium and used a leaf to mix it on. I used a stick to draw on the rock.

Lucas P tears it up!

I used my hands with red clay and water and then brown mud and water.  I also used two sticks to help push the mush into the rock for a while.  But they broke and splintered.

Regina R's Cave Adventure!


I used the stick that you see in the picture as well as my fingers.  I tried several other items, but they were not successful.  I didn't realize that it was so difficult to draw on rock.  I also used honey mixed with the outer shell of black walnuts that I have from my walnut tree.  This picture depicts Chris and I as well as our three dogs.  I wanted more color but everything I mixed with honey just looked brown even the black walnut wasn't really a deep black as I had hoped.

Andrew M's Cryptic Cave!

There is my cave painting I mixed red clay, mud, and other dirts with water and used my hand to make this.

VuSean's Magical Mystery Tour!


For this art creation I used three different styles of cave people brushes. I sharpened the tip of one stick so that I could use it for more detailed portions of my cave painting. The other brush/stick I crushed the end repeatedly with a rock to give it the real brush feel and style as to paint with. The last brush/stick I wedged some grass in-between a slit in the end of the stick to use it to splotch in places. I created my medium by using black soil with fine rocks, honey, and water.
            My painting is a description of a family vacation. To the far right are our luggage and to the left is our minivan.

Patricia D's Giant Painting!!!

The first step in my process was creating the paint.  As I do have plenty of Virginia red dirt available on my property - I started with this.  I used a mere cup of dirt and practiced mixing it separately with tap water,  honey and milk from my sheep as well as an egg from my chicken.
     
     The medium that I chose was honey mixed with the dirt and drops of water added until I reached the consistency that I was seeking.  The milk "watered" it out too much and the egg made the solution too thick. 
     
      I made a paint brush out of the lemongrass growing in my yard (indigenous to my house anyway!).  I trimmed the grass to fit and wove a piece of it around the small bundle I created to stiffen it up and giving it less flexibility.  The finished look was similar to a fountain pen.  My secondary brush was made from a branch of an Eastern Fir tree, also woven with a piece of lemongrass and using this brush gave me the ability to make sweeping motions with the brush.

     As like my large handwriting - I knew that I would need a canvas large enough for me to paint.  I utilized the side of our shed or cave if you will.  I have convinced my husband that I will be able to completely remove the red dirt stains that I have created.  

     What I have created is a moment of time on the James River with my family, including my husband and two children.  We are floating in a canoe and observing the wildlife and fowl, flowing with the water and allowing the sun to soak our faces and the breeze to carry us along.  This could be any river at any time with anybody, but it is something that my family and I hold dear. To be able to be together, to be "one" with the river, and appreciate all that nature gives below the water, around us well and above us. 

Veronica C's Rocks the assignment!


Angel M's Mountain Dream!

I live in the mountains, so there was no problem making clay because thats all thats around. I broke off a tree limb from a oak tree and grabbed some shrubs from and old line tree to use for the bristles. As you can see I cannot draw, bu the cavemen did a way better job :)

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Meade W shows off the fam!


For my medium, the recent rain provided an opportunity to use some good old fashioned red clay mud.  Some slight mixing produced a consistent thickness to the shovel-full I dug.
For my brush, I broke a limb off of a shrub that was pretty flexible and a soft-type of green wood.  I then rubbed it on concrete to create a bevel so that I could use the edge for fine lines and then flip it and use the full width for thicker lines.  I think it worked pretty well.