Brian Patterson

[brianpatterson]

For the nature portion of my final I tried to make as perfect of a circle as I could with sticks at Gargoyle Park. To me this is symbolizing the circle of life, and how we must keep moving.

[brianpatterson]

For the first section of my art project I left an encouraging message to my fellow graduates on the bike path!

[brianpatterson]

My piece is called "What Now?" Inspired by the fact that I am graduating in a couple of days, and the next few years hold so many unknowns. Generally, my life seems to be pretty good and promising for the future, represented by the bright colors blended in unison. The dark cloud of brown, black, red, and purple represents the future and the negative possibilities within it. I think things will work out, but when I thought about an abstract for my life right now, this came right to mind.

[brianpatterson]

For the Keith Harding inspired piece, Wyatt and I went to the path and created a piece heavily inspired by a silhouette that Harding has previously created. We flipped it to create a union of 2 beings holding up / pointing to a heart. We thought this was a great fulfillment of the prompt, as it encapsulates peace, love, and harmony.

[brianpatterson]

I decided to use a Triangle as my shape for this week's assignment. The triangle is a strong shape, which has been used to create structures throughout time, both physical and spiritual. The shape has been used by astronomers to study the sky, and measure distances between things. The most recognizable triangles we know are the Great Pyramids in Egypt, some of the most stunning structures ever built by humans. Personally, the pyramids were a large influence on me choosing to use triangles for this assignment.

[brianpatterson]

For my feminism homework, I created a stick figure of a women out of chopped wood on the grass. This represents stability, and toughness to me. I think feminism is about equality and respect, and this piece means that to me. If I had flowers I would have put them on the bark over the eyes.

[brianpatterson]

I chose to base my artwork off the 3rd option from the class lesson. I did this because as I have mentioned before, I used to always doodle random lines in class, and then interpret the lines to make a larger piece. I can already see multiple objects in this piece, and I hope others can too!

[wyattschunk]

For my Art Povera Piece I found an empty water bottle and painted it white then splattered blue, purple and black paint on it.

[brianpatterson]

I really like how you covered the entire bottle in white paint first, then began making your art. The splatters give it such a cool look, and makes me see it as a higher class piece of art from the water bottle it started at

[natenatecole]

For my art povera piece I painted a on old bottle I found in my basement. It was very old and trash so I thought it would be interesting to paint.

[brianpatterson]

I really like the simplicity of your painting on such a cool medium. It oddly fits with the original packaging.

[brianpatterson]

For my assignment this week, I painted on water bottle out of the returnable bin at my house. I used acrylic paint to paint lines and flowers on it. I think flowers were a nice juxtaposition to the canvas they are on. Plastic pollution is a big issue in our world and the antithesis of that is flowers in my eyes.

[brianpatterson]

For my Pop Art assignment I asked my friend Ashley to be my subject. Ashley is one of the most confident people I know so I thought she would be perfect for this.

Question 1: "It's really about finding your own niche, if everyone is just a copy of Kim Kardashian, there is no beauty in that. You have to find where you fit in and find out who you are, which creates confidence and true beauty."

Question 2: "Trying to look too much like everyone else takes alot of power away from you. when you find out what makes you feel like yourself and you feel confident, you gain power. I have spent time learning what makes me look beautiful."

Question 3: "I definitely have people that I like, and I have mentors in spiritual ways, but if you try to fashion yourself like someone else you're not really being yourself."

I had a lot of fun doing this assignment and I hope people can gain something from Ashley's outlook!

[brianpatterson]

For my midterm, I created a piece using snapchat, then used acrylic paint on canvas to replicate it. I don't feel like I could be super creative using the paint feature on snapchat, but I tried my best. I created several abstract(ish) images that sort of mean different things to me. I also used a sticker which said "Exhausted" but shifted it off the page to only include the first two letters. I had fun making this, and just drew what came into my head. Nothing has a definite meaning, but in the moment they each symbolized something to me.

[elizabeth-gent]

Abstract Expression

For the background I seeped a teabag for a couple hours and then dragged it across the background. Then I splattered yellow paint on the background for the abstract mark because it seemed fun. Then I created an abstract shape that reminds me of a flower. For the abstract line I chose white so it stood out and did squiggles around my abstract mark and shape.

[brianpatterson]

I really like the off-grey background you used, and the subtle but powerful yellow splatter in the right side. Overall, the watercolor work really well together, especially with your shape in the middle!

[anshupunreddy]

For the background of my abstract piece, I started by placing random dots and streaks of acrylic paint straight from the tube onto the paper. Then, I took a paint scraper and scraped the paint to the bottom of the page. For the abstract mark, I used black acrylic paint and a paint brush to make the curved line. I did the same for the abstract shape which looked kind of like a leaf and the long 1-minute line.

[brianpatterson]

This piece is so cool, I tried to figure out your process in making the background before reading your caption and what you did is so creative and unique!

[paige-king]

Abstract Expressionism

I made my experimental background by dropping the paint on the paper in random places and spreading it around randomly with a big brush. Then, I added a gold abstract shape at the top of the paper. The red was the 1 minute line and I just kept moving my brush around without thinking about where the line was going.

[brianpatterson]

I reblogged your piece because I love the colors you used. The light red and gold go together so well, and the dark red line over the whole thing jumps off the canvas to me, it's like an abstract crime scene to me, or something.

[brianpatterson]

For my background I was inspired by the idea of a splattered background and used towels to make a blotted background. My abstract mark is in the top right, and took me back to my middle/high school doodling days. In class I would often just draw and connect lines in random patterns then try to make an image out of what I mindlessly wrote down, this symbol is a microcosm of that, it can be seen in different ways by different people. The shape I created is in red, and looks kinda like a flower but also a nuclear fallout symbol. The line in purple was drawn at random but draws attention to the new shape and connects with the symbol.

[brianpatterson]

For my piece this week I went a few different directions. I included a couple of my favorite things, including the Steelers, nature, and golf - as I see these as things that I strongly identify with. I also included a quote I saw, which I really felt connected with me. From a young age I have pretty much thought about the world in that way, and have tried to do good by people, in hopes it comes back around. I included a dollar sign I saw because I have been, and am motivated by money, unfortunately. I don't like that about myself, but I think that it is a product of my upbringing, how I was raised. Finally, I included the Bona's logo given how much it has changed my life, and how much I've grown as a person since coming here!