Icarus

The Icarus Project is a collective organization/community for those with mental disorders, especially bipolar.  Their philosophy is based on the Greek myth of Icarus flying too close to the sun. 

I absolutely love this sticker they made. The flying birds, turning words, and concentric circles create a feeling of perpetual movement. The repetition and alternation of positive and negative space creates rhythm and unity. The white negative space in the phrase "you are not alone" almost mimics and is at least consistent with the shape of the birds. Although I love how much is going on, I can admit that it is bordering on too much. What component is the viewer supposed to look at first? The birds and the phrase "you are not alone" compete for space. Even the positive and negative space compete for attention. In the phrase "you are not alone" this is especially evident where the two Es meet and create a complex negative space shape. All in all I think this sticker is successful. I feel a sense of community due to the concentric circles and the handwritten text. In addition, the birds are uplifting. Balance and interest has been achieved even if element competition has created conflict. Maybe this sticker is not meant to have harmony. 

First Attempt at the Tablet

I'm embarrassed of this sketch. But then again, I have never been great at fast sketches. This is my first time using a drawing tablet. The tablet was more intuitive than I thought it would be. 

Photo Essay

Above are pictures of Squishy, Cinder, Ember, and Ash. Lately I have had a few pets get cancer. They won't last the year, so I have been trying to take as many pictures of them as possible. The pets with cancer are not these cats. In the process of taking pictures of those with cancer, I'm also trying to take pictures of those without. These pictures are of all the cats in my life. The top one of Squishy is black and white because she no longer lives with me. (Don't be sad, she is still alive and happy.) I tried to antique that picture as well as remove some cloth in the photo that didn't belong. The lower pictures were cropped, color enhanced, and blurred and sharpened. I did this to make the pictures appear more as portraits, and also to emphasize the cats eyes. 

Original Pictures for Photo Essay

Black and White

I decided to see why my roommate is obsessed with cows.












Obviously, it must be because they are so photogenic.

These pictures are black and white in more than one way. Sporting texture, high contrast, and shapely bodies, cows are the dynamicism black and white photographs are famous for. 

In the top photograph (by vasho on flickr), the subject is standing with his nose directly in the center of the image. His body creates a vertical line down the center of the photograph while the ground line cutes a horizontal line. The skyline creates a softer line cutting the photo into thirds. A cow ear makes the photograph heavier on the left side and breaks the symmetry making this photograph confrontational rather than static. The cow's spots, angles, and texture repeat in the landscape creating unity and interest. 

The bottom photograph (by John and Whitny on flickr) is a joke both symbolically and compositionally. A cross is meant to represent the word holy. Reading from left to right, this photograph says holy cow. The ground line splits the composition into a black and a white half. This restates the subject, a cow. 

Both of these photographs successfully portray their subjects. 

Alterations

   Before:

 

   After:

Wen di

To: B. Obama

From: former U.S. President- George Bush

Information status: Extremely confidential!!

Dear Barak-

It occured to me after I got back to Texas and warmed up infront of my fireplace yesterday, that I forgot to mention somethin I like to call ' Operation Wendy'.

Now, your not gonna find any information in the White House on this "op" except maybe a note or two that got wedged in that top drawer on the left, (you gotta watch for that, I lost a memo from Marget Thatcher in there one time and I'd like to never found it), anyways, oh yeah, operation Wendy. Your a smart man, but lemme take a minute and give you the story on this little girl...

It all started some time ago in Asia somewhere, I think it was in China, yeah, it was....anyways, this little girl is some kinda super hero.

Now, you may think I'm crazy by sayin that, but I'm as serious as a heart attack, and there is proof of this. Her actual name is 'Wen Di' which comes from some Dynasty name oh, couple thousand years ago in China, the Hand Dynasty.

Well, Dad told me that the Chinese folks were the first ones to make noodles and they had found some datin back to 2000 BC!! Boy I tell ya, I wouldn't wanna eat them! But they weren't even moldy! Anyways this little girl runs around, I think she flies actually, and feeds all these starvin children all over the world! Somehow, I think she has this secret magical bag kinda like Santa Clause, that she keeps a whole bunch of noodles in and she can 'sense' when theres some hungry kids somewhere, and she feeds them. I told Barbra she was a super hero cause she can sense stuff too, but she says its a 'womans intuition' or somethin. So, Wendy can sense when there is some kids somewhere and she flies out there to where they are and whips up some noodles for them in a bowl. She even has steak, chicken, seafood and somethin called tofu that she will mix for them if they want it and leaves them leftovers too!

Now here's the real super part I think, she can speak every language in the world! And when I say every, I mean to tell you EVERY, from anywhere. Can you imagine how much schoolin she had? How do you learn all that in one lifetime? Well, course she is a couple thousand years old, but she doesn't look it, no sir-ee! Get ahold of, oh, what's his name, over there at NASA and he's got a couple satellite pictures of her. She wears all green and looks like she has noodles for hair. I tried to make that as my Christmas card one year, with her and the dogs, but Barb and Dad wouldn't let me. There's also some pictures of old cave paintings the folks down the street there at the Smithsonian think is her. They said she wears green cause it's some kind of world peaceful color. Makes kids real happy and content or somethin. Well, they've got some real neat pictures of rock drawings in green berries or something, cause you know they didn't have paint back then. I wanted to chip off some of that rock to bring home with me when I was there for the Olympics, but I got caught doin that too. (By the way, did you see those openin ceremonies?? Wow!)

Anyways, you might find some pictures I drew that are also in the wedged-in spot in that left drawer I did of her. There's also some crayons I left for you that your gonna find comes in real handy during all those down times as President!

Hey, now give my best to Michelle and the girls, Barb says she wants to come up and do some shoppin with Michelle after yall get settled. Oh, and since this is what Condelessa likes to call a 'sensitive matter', you might wanna flush or even eat this email after you read it a couple times, that's what I always did.

Yours truely- Georgie

Hippo Hero

First Day

ARTE250 started blogs today.