Blog #1: So It Begins...

(wow look at this stunning resolution!)

It's only Week One, but I've already made two important revelations in respect to the Genius Project.

1. Glitter is pure evil.

2. I may be slightly in over my head.

Number 1:

I conducted a test to make sure that glue and glitter will stick to each other (it's not like that's already common knowledge or anything, but I really wanted to make sure it would actually create a tangible image). And it worked! For better or for worse.

(I would use Elmer's Glue Sticks again for the actual paintings but I don't think that'll look very professional.)


I went to hang it up (because it's obviously a masterpiece), and that's when the glitter nightmare began.


(And after I'd have cleaned up all the glitter, I'd bump the paper and more glitter would fall. Just what I wanted!)

But yeah. It works! About as well as can be expected with an Elmer's glue stick.

Myth--



Number 2:
As I said in my pitch, my art is very amateur-looking. My handwriting could be better, I can't draw a straight line, proportions are completely foreign to me, and my coloring kind of hurts to look at. That's part of the reason why I chose glitter speed painting, so I could speed paint without worrying about shading in color and painting all the colors of someone's face (which I bet is a lot!).

And in case you missed my pitch, here's one of my artworks from my short-lived art career:

Oil drawing by Katie when she was like 9 and had delusions of being good at art

(I used a reference photo.)







So a lot is riding on this Genius Project! I want to see if art and other creative outlets are not strictly based on natural talent, but can be taught and improved through self-learning. I also want to see what the differences are between creating art for weeks on end, embedding meaning and depth with every line and shape (in most cases anyway) vs. speed painting, where the goal is putting on a show for the audience. More specifically, I want to produce three portraits that exhibit the growth of my artistic abilities, and three accompanying videos producing the artworks.

With these goals in mind, let's take a look at my timeline!

(Again, what a stunning resolution!)

I mean I can barely read it. So here's a recap!

Week One has come and gone: I've pitched my idea, planned out the journey I am going to embark for the next 6 weeks, and laid out some goals to strive towards. 

Week Two: I'll be building fundamentals for drawing portraits. The method of glitter speed painting allows me to learn these fundamentals from more of a general standpoint, and I won't have to spend hours perfecting each eyelash of an eye, or the shading of one's teeth. I hope to be able to produce some improved sketches of portraits. Perhaps the people I intend to actually paint?

Week Three: Now that I have a (hopefully) stable foundation for my portraits, Week Three becomes applying those fundamentals to glitter speed painting. This means planning out where I am painting the liquid glue, and the sequence in which I paint them (which does matter according to some glitter speed painters). 

Week Four: This is the testing and revising phase. Since my project revolves around the performance aspect, this means testing my efficiency in painting the glue and throwing the glitter, (which will hopefully be under a reasonable time).

Week Five: By this point, I expect that I'll be proficient in a few decent portraits. This is the time where I will record and edit videos of my two (maybe three) portraits. This is also the time to focus on my presentation (of course)!

Week Six: Presentation Week. I can feel the anxiety already oh lord.

I am worried about several things. But namely, this project relies on a lot of things, mainly my drawing and painting abilities, which are not the most dependable. If teaching myself how to draw and paint doesn't yield good results, then I don't have anything to fall back on and won't be able to meet my goals. And in any case, I'll be able to measure my goals and my progress by different medias in the form of gifs, images, and videos. These will show the process of learning how to draw portraits, painting on the glue, and completing the speed painting, documenting how I improve at it each week.

Well, this entry has been droning on long enough! I won't keep you any longer! Next week I'll insert a poll of who I should draw/paint for the Ted-Talk! Stay tuned for that.

I'm off to pick glitter out from under my keyboard.

-Katie

(URL Creds to Emmie)