The final week of my independent project has been completed! During this project, I had ups and downs. There were times I felt accomplished. There were times I felt defeated. Overall, this was one of my favourite projects. I remember sitting there one day and, I couldn't sew properly. Every time I would start, it would just turn into a knot or fall out. I got so frustrated I had to give up. I waited out the rest of the class as I had nothing else to work on. The next day, however, I tried to sew it again and managed to sew it perfectly. It was moments like those that kept me going. Some days were hard, and some were good. In the end, I feel that the project came out exactly how I wanted. Although I wasn't able to use marbles to create the eyes, they still have emotion. I couldn't use the marbles because they stuck out too far. I tried to file them down but, they ended up shattering. I decided to make them using hot glue. I was worried they would be misshapen but, they actually came out really well. As I mentioned previously, the faces caused me some grief. The fabric would lose fuzz and, I had to create a hole at the back to stuff it. The hole at the back was easier to cover up on the animals with more fur such, as the sheep or the brown bunny. On the blue and pink bunny, however, it became quite noticeable. This was because there was less fur to hide the seams. I was also unable to use the wool as a thread. This was because I didn't have a needle big enough to fit it through. Other than that, there were no major issues. This was some of the most fun I've had on a project all year. It allowed me to be independent and create something I wanted to create. I felt creative freedom as if I could make anything I could dream of. I would encourage everyone to allow themselves to make something. Just allow yourself that creative freedom you will thank yourself in the end. It can be anything. It doesn't have to suit your theme or typical style. The photos of my project will be in my gallery and on the independent project page!
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As some of you may know, I am currently working on an independent project for my academy. It has been three weeks since I started, so we have officially reached the halfway point! This week is the turning point for many people. It means you either need to hurry up, or you need to slow down. I happened to need to slow down. I finished sculpting and firing my faces already and am working on painting currently. I am adding the base colour and putting the shading and details. So far, this project has been enjoyable. I am enjoying the independence and freedom given to me. I am also really happy with how my faces turned out. One of the faces, however, dried crooked, so it doesn’t lay flat. Other than that, everything is working out nicely. Hopefully, the next update will be the final one! I cannot wait to be able to showcase the final project.
When Life is Chaotic, Make a Goal!
We are back at it again, with some S.M.A.R.T. goal planning for semester 2. Goals feel impossible to focus on right now with all the work that is coming up, all the chaos in our lives because of the changes in schedules, etc. That is all the more reason to make a goal! Goals can help keep you focused. They help remind you of where you want to end up. Personally, it helps outline what I need to do and helps calm my nerves when I get stressed. Previously, I had stated that I would get my learner’s license… That didn’t happen, though, so I am going to try again! I have found the smallest amount of motivation. I am desperately clinging to it. That, however, is not my goal for this semester. I have made a goal for my L.A. class and I made another goal for V.A.M. For my E.L.A. goal, I would like to keep my mark at a certain percentage or higher until the end of the year. This goal could be tricky to achieve, or it could be easy. The difficulty of this goal is dependent on how well I understand the subject matter that will be assigned. S. Specific. For my English goal, I would like to get my mark to stay at 85% or above until the end of the school year. I know that this goal may be tricky to achieve because this semester has a heavy workload. Lots of the assignments that I have to complete will be difficult and hard to manage. But, I believe that this goal is something that I can achieve. M. Measurable. This goal is measured by marks. This goal is based on how well I do my assignments and how well I meet the standards. I just have to keep my grade at 85% or higher. A. Achievable. This goal should be achievable. I just have to put in the effort. Given my average percentage for my grades, this goal should be easily attainable. I am willing to refine my work until I feel it is the best I can get. R. Relevant. This goal is very relevant to my current situation. I will need good grades to get into the classes I want to take next year, and next year is coming soon. T. Time-Bound. I would like to have completed my goal by the last day of school. This gives me until June to achieve my goal. The other goal I would like to complete is related to the academy. This is most likely going to be something I have a hard time managing time-wise. Another struggle may be material issues. I am not sure if I will have enough materials or the proper materials. S. Specific. I would like to make a series of abstract buildings out of clay for my independent project. If I cannot make buildings, I would like to create a series of tea accessories such as teapots or teacups. M. Measurable. This goal is measurable because I know I will have completed my goal when I am done with my independent project. A. Achievable. This goal may be achievable with the right time management skills and the proper amount of materials. R. Relevant. This goal is relevant because our independent projects start in March and will need to be done by June. T. Time-Bound. I will have until June to complete my goal. This sounds like plenty of time but firing clay and making sure it is perfect takes a long time. There you go! That is what I have outlined for myself for this semester. I will try to keep an 85 or higher in L.A., and I will make abstract houses or tea sets for my independent project. These goals both have a deadline around the same time, so I should be making equal progress on both of them. I am genuinely excited about my independent project. However, the question of whether it is achievable or not is what worries me. Oh well, that is why we all need to learn how to be flexible. Independence!! What a glorious feeling. I feel full of ideas that are begging to be expressed. This is the perfect outlet. For my next upcoming art project, I have a series planned. It is a bit macabre but has an influential meaning behind it. I would like to take plushies, cut their faces and possibly body parts off, and replace them with clay. The clay faces will have different emotions and will represent the idea of hiding behind masks of emotions. This project will be challenging because I have little experience with clay, however, I have had lots of fun while working with it in the past. The faces are going to be more wrinkled in appearance to emphasize the emotion. The eyes will be made of marbles and will be colour-coded to the emotion they are hiding. To colour the faces, I will be using acrylic paint once the clay has been fired to give the clay faces even more affectivity. I would like to complete up to 7 different plushies with different emotions. For this series, I have been given 7 weeks to complete my project. I would like to finish sculpting the faces in 3-4 weeks, fire them and then get them painted in the 5th and 6th week. I want to sew them on during the 7th week. This is a pretty tight schedule, but if I work efficiently, I should be able to complete the series in time. I will post an update on how it is going about halfway through. I hope you stick around until the end!
Let’s talk about copyright. Copyright has been a cruel way for companies and corporations to control people and the media. They do this by getting producers to sell them the rights to their songs and products. Then, when anyone else tries to sample that producer’s music or use their products, they get huge fines. There are some exceptions, however. People can still use little bits of products and not get in trouble due to free speech. I am not going to go in-depth about the logistics of this, though. I am here to talk about my opinions and where I stand on this topic. I would consider myself a copyleftist. I would place myself in the middle of that scale. I am not centred, not to the right and not entirely to the left. What is a copyleftist? A copyleftist is someone who believes that ideas should be shared and expressed. That ideas are not products, and therefore should not have a price. In my opinion, there are still boundaries that should be in place. I believe if you use someone else’s product on your own, art, for example, you should credit the original artist. Part of sharing ideas is respecting who shared them. This idea means if the artist were to say, “I don’t want my art included in this piece.” you should take it out. An artist should also never make art entirely out of someone else’s pieces. If you were to make a mixed media project but only used someone else’s photos, that wouldn’t be fair to the original creator. I would say that at least 50% of your product should be your work. The other 50% should be credited to the original artist or artists. This system helps prevent people from completely stealing other people’s work. That is my view on this topic every individual, is entitled to their own opinions.
Why are goals so daunting?!
If you are anything like me you feel unmotivated to do anything, and I mean anything. There has to be something you want to finish something. This is one of the reasons I find goal making so daunting. It feels weird and pointless at first and then you start to think about the outcomes. That makes you a little bit more motivated but you still don’t know where to start. This is when a skill I learnt in English class helped me. I was taught how to make goals that I care about enough to accomplish. This method is called SMART goal planning. Let me tell you what that means. S. Specific. Is this goal specific enough to keep you motivated and to create guidelines for? M. Measurable. Is the goal measurable? Can I set time limits? Can I choose how much of something I want to accomplish? A. Accomplishable. Is this goal something I can accomplish within a time limit? R. Relevant. Is this goal something relevant to my life currently? Is it attainable? Do I get something I need from this goal? T. Time-Bound. Can this goal have time limits set? Is this something I can accomplish within a certain time frame? Now that we’ve covered that, what are my goals and how did I make them something I wanted to do? For V.A.M. I have created a goal that I want to achieve during my time in the academy. This is something I hope I am interested enough in to do. S. My goal is that I want to get better at sketching. Don’t get me wrong, I know the basics of creating a sketch. It’s a lot of fine lines and redrawing. I would just like to improve on that ability. I want to be confident in my ability to create base sketches for works of art. I also want to learn how to create art pieces made with just drawing materials. Examples would be charcoal, oil and chalk pastel and graphite. Every time I do a sketch it feels too empty and basic, I find myself just giving up or forgetting what my base sketch looked like. This is why I have set the goal. M. My measurements for this goal aren’t something that can be measured specifically. This makes it kind of tricky but I believe I have found a way to measure it. I have decided to measure my goal with my opinions. I told myself that when I feel comfortable in my sketching ability, that is when I know I have achieved my goal. Sounds simple, and hopefully, it is. A. This goal is something I can achieve in the academy. I am given new techniques and skills to improve my work. This is possibly the best time for me to achieve my goal as well. I can get help and feedback from my teachers to help me and guide me if needed. R. This goal is the most relevant it could possibly be. I need to learn how to do base sketches and complete drawings for art. This will hopefully help me as an artist and will help me succeed within the academy. T. The timeline I have chosen for my goal is a pretty big one. I feel it is the most relevant and achievable one, however. I have given myself the entire year to improve on my goal. A full school year. I have done this to account for other goals and tasks I have yet to complete. This gives me until June 25th. I will always have homework from other classes as well therefore I cannot spend all my time working on just this goal. I have also created a personal goal. This is something I know I am going to struggle with the most. This is because I have already attempted it and lost interest. It has just become more urgent that I complete this goal. I have almost no choice but to plan it and complete it. My personal goal also follows the SMART outline. S. I want to get my learners license. That’s it. It sounds simple but as I had stated previously I had tried before and lost interest. Not only do I need it, but I also want it. This is a small goal, but I must achieve it in time. M. I’m not sure as to how this goal would be measured. I suppose I could say, when I get my license I would have completed the goal. Which makes sense as it’s not a goal that can be measured in amounts or distance. A. If I push myself, this goal will be achievable. All I have to do is study flashcards and booklets when I find the time. This is easier said than done, however. The amount of school work I have been given this year already is more than last year. Homework, social life and personal life are all really hard to balance. This is why I have planned my goal around this. I will explain more in the time-bound paragraph. R. This goal is so relevant it scares me. My mom has recently started a new job and can no longer drive me to school in the morning. For this year, my sister was able to convince one of her friends to drive us. This is an issue though because, both my sister and her friend are graduating this year. My house is out of the bussing zone, meaning I can’t take the school bus either. This leaves me with the option of taking the city bus or learning how to drive and getting a car by September. I’ve never taken the city bus anywhere, so the idea scares me. I’m probably overthinking it though. It can’t be that bad, right? T. I have a short amount of time to complete this goal. I have given myself until October 25th. This ensures that I have time to get a job, complete driver training and get a car before I have to drive next year. This also includes time for homework and spare time for me to take a break. Getting my license should be easy but learning to drive scares me. That, however, is a different goal. That might even be my next one… So in conclusion, the SMART outline has made me motivated to accomplish my goals, and to stick to the plans I have outlined. This means I should be able to drive and create the best sketches of all time by the end of the year! Well, maybe not the best of all time but they should be pretty close. If this interests you then I would like to invite you along my journey as I learn who I am as an artist and as a person. |