Photos

Here are some interesting pictures I took over the semester in my photography class. Lots of times we just took pictures as exercises rather than for projects, and these are some of my favorite turnouts.

Final Painting Critique

I just finished a great semester with a wonderful critique. I can’t express how excited and happy I was that my teacher and peers both really loved my latest series.

Although I make art because it makes me happy, and I make it for myself, it is still great to have people support what you are doing and respond postivitvely to what you are making.

While I was hanging my work, my teacher was smiling, and he kept glancing at it, and he immediately jumped to my series, stating that it was incredible. He is pretty hard to impress, so I took this as a huge compliment.

One of my peers said that she could relate to my work, and she liked that I transferred my personal drawings to larger scale painting. That is what I have always wanted to hear, I want my art to have an affect and relatability to the viewer.

Although I still love painting portraits and more realistic paintings, I really enjoy this mixed media collage artwork. I have the most fun making this type of art, and I can actually see myself doing this with my free time. This collage work makes me the most happy and satisfied out of all of my work.

Perhaps it is the scrapbook lover inside, or the balance between muted and colorful chaos, but I think I’ve found my happy place making this type of art. I will continue to make work like this, and hopefully have a new painting once a month!

One of these collages I made for an art education class, to represent agency in art education. Basically, I believe that the brain is not made to read or think abstractly, and art can help us express thoughts and feelings in such a way that words may not be able to convey. The brain is an amazing system, adapting to think in a variety of ways over time. Brains were not made to read or think abstractly, so it is amazing that we have trained our brain to alter and evolve with different environments. In one corner, I have a representation of a person thinking, and linked to the brain is a collage series of abstract thoughts. This collage represents this thought process of the various ways our brain can evolve and think in ways other than what it was made to do. The clock represents how the human brain has been trained to change over time, as well as everyone’s mind alters and adapts throughout time as we get older and more experienced and knowledgable.

Another collage was based off of one of my collages from my sketchbook, and it is an almost exact replica of the original, with some minor changes. I still think I like the original the best, but it is very neat to see the translation from paper to wood.

The rest of the collages are collections of drawings, paintings, watercolors, doodles, prints, crayon, almost anything you can think of. The process of making these collages were just as rewarding as the outcome.

As one of my peers stated, the doodles were sophisticated doodles that not everyone can do, which I highly appreciated that comment. I like to think that as an artist, my doodles are slightly more refined than the average person.

What I like about this type of artwork, is it allows me to place my doodles and drawings that are in sketchbooks, or just paper, and place them on a surface that is more accessible and larger scale. I feel as though instead of keeping all of these doodles that I spend lots of time making trapped in a sketchbook, I should make them on a canvas, making them something bigger and better.

Update: I decided to take apart some of the collages and make them into a new one. My favorite surface was the large wooden drawing board I had previously covered. I will most likely add more to it, but this shall do for now. It is a little too busy, so I plan on toning it down a bit.

I added some photographs to further the multi media dimension.

“Selfie”

A self portrait for my photography class! I wanted to do something a little different than a typical picture. I had fun with this, and as I get more experience with the camera, I will shoot more self portraits.

A different type of sketchbook

For my Art Education Foundations course, I made an interactive “sketchbook” if you will. In this course, we have been reading various essays and books about education, reading, and how the human brain works. This prompted the questions, “What if reading had never been invented? What if books used solely pictures to transcribe a message, rather than words?”

So, I decided to record a day in my life in this sketchbook. Concepts, ideas, feelings, events, and people I encountered are visually interpreted in this book. I used a combination of old and new doodles, which are little drawings I do while listening to music, bored, or in class.

I also wanted this book to have lots of different art media I personally use as an artist. This book is supposed to be a unique experience by the viewer. Each person that visually reads this will have different reactions, experiences, and feelings while flipping through. This book has collages of my drawings, paintings, intaglio prints, photographs, crayon, pastel, and india ink. The book itself is also like a sculpture and performance, it is a three dimensional object with a unique aesthetic experience for each person. In my opinion, all art provides visual interpretations that allow individuals to gain a unique aesthetic experience that cannot be recreated by anything else.

I have been working on this for quiet some time, and will continue to work on it. I like taking old, useless sketches or doodles combined with new ones created to make an entirely different piece. I’m excited to continue adding and subtracting from this book. When it is completely finished, I will post more images!

I feel as though when I’m sketching, I never know what to do with them, and they never feel finished, but making them into a collage sketchbook feels more finished than if I had just left them alone.

I actually had lots of fun making this project, combining my love for scrapbook and art into one. I included photos of the pages I feel are finished, there are many more, just they are not ready to be photographed yet! I’m excited to add onto this book, it’ll be a better way to doodle or sketch!

Abstract Paintings

This semester, I decided to change my painting style to be more abstract, and this was the result! Here are my favorite paintings, and some of them I keep painting over.

This is another painting I did this semester. My favorite part of this painting is the eyes, because they are very bright and sincere looking. This painting has a more concerned look, which I’ve haven’t done in a long time.

I don’t know why I added the dots, but I thought it was fun.

I feel as though lately in my portrait paintings, I add patterns along arbitrary colors. I very rarely do any “normal” paintings anymore.

Colorful abstract portrait! I had fun painting this one. I really wanted it to be realistic, but have abstract shapes and lots of colors, without being too crazy or overwhelming.

 I did an eye painting! I like how it turned out, but I will most likely work on it a little more when it dries up. I do doodles and drawings of close up eyes all the time, but I’ve never actually done a close up eye study before, so I wanted to do just that and add some color!

This painting was an experiment for me. I painted on bare canvas, because I liked the way the tan peeked through the painting.I like the colorful, sensual feel.

This is a painting I did for my art education course. It represents metaphors and how they lead into abstract thinking. The metaphor I chose to represent here is an iceberg effect, where on the surface, our thoughts are like icebergs, but underneath there are more interesting, abstract thoughts taking place.

I ended up painting over this painting, and now it looks much different. I liked some aspects of the painting, but as a whole the picture, it’s not a painting I want to keep forever. I’m going to continue to paint on this canvas and I’m excited to see the final result.

This is a painting I have been layering for about 3 weeks. I don’t normally do abstract work, and I really want to have one good abstract painting by the end of the semester, and this is the third time I’ve painted over this canvas. I will continue to work on it, but this is the progress so far!

I enjoy some of the colors but I need to calm it down.

Tangible Illusions

For my photography class, we were supposed to make “tangible illusions” by manipulating photos or creating a unique image without using photoshop. Basically, the point was to make an interesting effect on a photo by hand, rather than computer.

For this image, I wanted to take a photo looking at the sky, but I wanted a new perspective. I used mascara to draw outlines of eyes on my glasses, as a different way of “looking” at the sky.

For this image, I wanted to imitate a purple hue in a portrait. In photoshop, there is the option to change the hue of a photograph, and extreme changes can result in a different skin color. I used violet icing coloring on my face, as well as a purple vase over a lightbulb to create a purple glow to achieve an imitation of this photoshop process. I mixed the violet coloring in with liquid foundation, which proved to be too dark of a purple shade. While wiping it off, I discovered it stained my face the color I wanted, so it all worked out! Then I set up my camera & snapped away. I also hung a purple backdrop! Everything except my hair, which is too dark to change color, and my eyes, are purple. I was pretty pleased with the result! However, it was quite a pain getting all of that purple off of my face. I looked like a grape for a few hours!

Here are more examples of the purple portraits. I think I might like to do this again, but I’ll make sure I have plenty of time to scrub my face afterward 🙂

For this image,  I used blue crepe paper​ to create the illusion of water spilling out of a water bottle. I wanted it to look like a bottle of water had been dropped on blacktop & spilled out. I thought it was a fun little photo, and I think I will take some more photographs like this in the near future!

It was very fun and unique to create images that were “illusions” without photoshop. I knew I wanted to do the purple hue portrait from the start, however the other two images did not come so easily. After being stumped for some time, both ideas just came in a wonderful epiphany.

I hope to make more photos like this and think outside the box with my photography!

Social Media

Like many people, I partake in social media daily. If you are interested in following me on any of my social media outlets, please feel free to do so! I have twitter, instagram, facebook, and a tumblr along with this blog!

Follow my instagram accounts:

@Bailsofhaay: Includes art, my social life, and just everyday pretty things. My life in pictures essentially.

http://instagram.com/bailsofhaay/

@Baileydowlinart: ART ONLY. Paintings, photos, DAAP projects, and in progress/sneek peek pictures! Also #tbt posts of old work.

http://instagram.com/baileydowlinart/

Follow my twitter: https://twitter.com/Bailsofhaayy

@Bailsofhaayy: I use this as a mixture of spreading the word about my blog, artwork, UC events, and general thoughts, as well as my social life.

Follow my tumblr: http://bailsofhay718.tumblr.com/

Bailsofhay718: I rarely get on this, but this blog has all of the posts from this blog, as well as my instagrams.

“Like” my facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bailey-Dowlin-Art/594237533937689?ref=bookmarks

Bailey Dowlin Art: I will post more often here. I will post links to publications, links for this blog, and add many pictures of my completed artwork. You will also see instagrams from @baileydowlinart shared here as well.

I am constantly “instagramming” things around me, my love for photography and wanting to take pictures of everything I’m doing is more acceptable on instagram. I love how you can take artistic photos, as well as fun with friends. My goal however is to add more “in progress” pictures of my artwork as a sort of journal, this way I can see my work transform. So I will be posting to my second instagam account more often, including almost all of my work and in-progress images. Hopefully I can get some feedback, a sort of informal critique as I am working on various projects.

Another goal is to keep up with my artist page on Facebook. I have fallen behind and not kept it up, and I would like to have recent work. I decided to link my art instagram to my art facebook page for easier posting, and hopefully keeping the page up to date. Facebook pages are great for getting artwork out there, and makes it easy to share pictures, links, and other media.

I absolutely love this blog and I love social media, so I will try to utilize these tools for my artwork. Although I use facebook & instagram for social purposes, I have separate accounts for artistic posts, and my twitter account is a mixture of the two. To be honest, I rarely get on Tumblr except to research artists or just to look at things for fun, but mostly they are posts from this blog or instagram. But hopefully I won’t get TOO wrapped up with social media! I will make sure to focus on school and art making, as well as enjoying life outside of the virtual world.

I am also going to try to make some videos of me painting in the studio, it will be a fun way to document my process. So be on the lookout for those!

My question for you: How do you utilize social media to showcase your artwork? What is your favorite form of social media? Leave a comment, I’m very curious 🙂

In this modernized recreation of a Dutch still life, I wished to include a variety of symbols portraying views of women that would be considered anti feminist or misogynistic today. Lots of these symbols have several meanings that can be misconstrued, just like women and feminism. Basically, this still life portrays a variety of misogynistic views of women who are not feminist.

I looked up symbols of what certain objects represented in still lifes, and found some interesting information. The objects in my still life include a stuffed cat, two apples, an unlit candle, an orange, two martini glasses, a ring, and various seashells. I purposefully chose these objects to represent female aspects.

Shells were symbols of sensuality, which women are often considered to be sexual objects by their male counterparts. The apple is a symbol of love and wisdom, which some women possess, especially those educated on feminism. Also it is a symbol of the female anatomy, such as breasts. The apples are representations of the impossible beauty standards women are expected to uphold to fulfill fantasies of men. The orange is symbolic in my own terms. It is peeled a bit, similar to the old lemon symbol of deceptive beauty, I wished to have the orange show the old adage beauty is only skin deep. The martini glasses represent a symbol of the inverted triangle, which was a symbol of femininity. And the ring represents the very sexist, dated traditional view of marriage and being a housewife.

All of these objects showcase opinions held about women that are generalized and not always true, and I hope that women will learn to rise above these views.

Classroom studio & in progress!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a little picture of my personal space in DAAP! Each advanced painting studio gets to share a room with a peer, and have their own little space that they can visit any time. I love my little corner, and I can bring lots of materials and paintings and work whenever I like. 

In case you’re wondering what I’ve been painting the past few classes, here is an in progress shot of a painting I am doing for a friend! She studied abroad last year and I’m painting a landscape for her. 

 

 

 

I’m putting my own personal style into the image. I’ve got a lot finished, but I still want to work on it more.

Plein Air Painting in Obyronville

August 14, 2014 I went plein air painting for the third time with the South West Ohio Plein Air Painters (SWOPA), this time it was in a cute little town in Ohio Obyronville. There were lots of cute shops, and this was something different to paint since it was buildings. Normally I wouldn’t opt to paint a store or building, but I thought it would be fun and something different. Since I have many paintings of portraits, I figure it was time to focus on painting a different subject matter. 

After meandering around a bit, I finally settled down in front of a place, I’m not sure if it was a restaurant or store. I plopped down, set up, and started painting! 

As I sat down painting for 2 hours, a lot of people passing by were curious to see what I was painting and I got lots of compliments. In the past while plein air painting, I have been surrounded by other artists, however this time the SWOPA painters were spread out, as well as being outside in the public walking area, so there were lots of people observing. 

I brought Gumby along to be my buddy on my easel 🙂 While I brought my french easel, turpentine, and plenty of brushes, I only had red, white, black, and purple! I completely forgot to pack yellow and blue! So I was limited to what I could paint for those 2 hours, so I decided to focus on the bricks and fence in the composition. I was able get quite a bit done surprisingly! I focused so much on the fence and making the lines perfect. After 2 hours in the hot sun, my mom and I decided to pack up and we got lunch!

We had lunch at The Bon Bonnerie Cafe, which I highly recommend! They are famous for their cakes, but their lunch was quite delicious! And the atmosphere is wonderful. I loved the fun decor in the cafe. I will definitely be going back there.

We got some cupcakes to go, here is my treat, a salted caramel cupcake! It was so yummy!

Later before going to bed, I added some detail to the painting (being in my room/personal studio, I had more colors at my disposal!) I’m pretty pleased with this painting, I hung it up on an empty wall space in my room. Normally, I don’t use turpentine and I apply paint very thickly, but because it was plein air painting, I wanted it to be a little more thin application. With the flowers I did thicken the paint application however. I like the mixture of texture and thickness. 

I intend to paint outdoors more often, it’s very fun!