Set sail for the kingdom

I'm looking forward to bringing everything I experienced in my first year at UMaine into various projects over the summer. I will definitely be making art in my free time as per usual, and I have been getting some comic-drawing books at the library to work with, but I am excited to see what I can do with some of my new or increased skills gained through my art classes! Especially in terms of my glacier sketches when I head out to the North Cascades for the 4th consecutive year in August!
Below is a progression of glacier sketches from the 5.5" x 8.5" sketchbook I have brought with me the past 3 years, as well as some of the works I have completed once at home!

Talus and cliff view from campsite at Columbia 7/27-28/09

Lupine by Columbia 7/28/09 - Day 2 of my first glacier trip!

View from ridge above Columbia campsite, looking towards Blanca Lake. I started and did a lot of this my first field season, on 8/29/09, but I continued it my second year, on 8/3-4/10!

Rock with flowering heather growing up the back, at the Easton glacier campsite.

View from our Sholes and Rainbow Glacier's campsite on Ptarmigan Ridge.

Camp Kaiser, near Mt. Baker, on Ptarmigan Ridge. I started this my first year on he glaciers, and continued it on the second, although there was much more snow and ice the second year!

Mokey Paw sketch at the Columbia campsite, 8/2/10.

A sketch I started off our tents in the foreground and Mt. Baker in the background, at the Rainbow/Sholes campsite.

Michael's Sword, a pinnacle on Daniels, I observed it from the Iceworm Glacier.

The third field season I experimented by bringing up a small set of watercolors instead of colored pencils. I liked it more for some subjects, such as flowers, and showing snow, ice, and water, but showing the rock and trees with paint was more difficult for me.

After we worked on the Lower Curtis Glacier on Mt. Shuksan I painted some of the flowers nearby - some variations of small, purple Phlox, narrow, purple Penstemon, and my favorite, the bright orange Indian Paintbrush!

I painted this from Lyman glacier, the area surrounding the water is actually rocky, but I liked the form of the ice on the water on its own.

Below is artwork I completed for my AP art drawing portfolio (the concentration section) my senior year in high school, in random order.

Enjoying Mt. Baker from a nearby ridge, the beauty and serenity one feels in this sort of place is represented by the magical flowers.

The same hiker returns, but now the glacier has receded greatly, and exposed bedrock and blue ice, as well as run-off streams, have resulted. The mountain and its glaciers are still incredible, but their dwindling power and presence decreases the natural beauty, and thus the magic that causes the flowers to grow.

The glacier's on Mt. Baker are all gone, and although the mountain is still awe-inspiring, it is nothing compared to what this hiker saw as a girl, and the same magic is no longer there.

I painted this after my first field season in the North Cascades, looking up from just below the base of Columbia Glacier. 2009

I didn't end up including this in my AP concentration, but I did put it in the breadth section. It is a view of what Columbia glacier may look like once it has melted away, with two lakes, and bedrock that has not yet begun to  grow much plant life. It is beautiful, but not in comparison to the glacier. I like the contrast between the top one done in acrylic paint and this piece done in watercolors. 

This piece was also in my breadth section, it is a cropped view of one of my crampons that I wear over my hiking boots while climbing on glacial ice.

An illustration of me, jumping over a crevasse! I showed the layer of snow accumulation seen in the crevasse, but this piece as meant to be more illustrative than exact or scientific in any way.

I painted this  for my dad's birthday in October after my second field season! It shows him in the foreground, making his way up the Lynch Glacier on Mt. Daniels! In the background we can see members of the documentary film crew that followed us around that year!

My nordic skis, their Peltonens, gliding through the snow like magic!

Snow girl! she represent me, seeing snow as beautiful, represented through the magical plants around her. On the bottom the growth is shown: as the snow picks up, the plants grow taller and bloom.

Snow girl walking through the new fallen snow. The idea that she and the snow together form the magic is shown through the growth the of the plants which spring and then bloom as she approaches.

Snow girl portrait

She is painting the snow back onto Mt. Baker, giving its glaciers life and a positive mass balance!

This year at UMaine I was taking all the beginner art courses: Drawing I and II, 2d and 3d design. So, I didn't do much art that wasn't observational, or pretty regulated by my professors, but I learned a ton. Our last project for Drawing II, which we worked on in and out of the classroom, was a landscape diptych or triptych. I chose to do two views of glacial spots that went well together!

Iceworm Glacier

Camp Kaiser

The diptych!

AP Art : Breadth Part 1

The following works are all pieces that I created either my junior or senior year in high school and submitted in the Breadth section of the AP Studio Art Exam!

Columbia's Future
After my first visit to the North Cascades, I painted a view of Columbia Glacier from its mouth. This year, after my second visit, I decided it would be an interesting challenge to paint the mountain once the glacier is gone. In the future, two small lakes fill the basins, and the uppermost lake feeds the lower lake. The rocky bed which was previously covered in snow is beginning to host plant life.

Crampon
I drew this observational view of a crampon after my second season in the North Cascades as well. A crampon is an object that people are often either familiar with because they use them, or it is a complete mystery. You basically strap it onto your hiking boot for climbing on ice!

Deception
The calligraphy assignment in Advanced Art my junior year was one I loved. We were able to combine any type of calligraphy with an image. I actually had a song and concept in mind, but ended up changing the song to better fit the image. Both the words and the scene imply that the character is deceptive.

Deserted
This piece was my first experience using oil paints. The only specified instruction was to use indoor lighting, and I decided to try to create a story with my scene. I included different elements, such as the abandoned tabled and fallen chair, as well as the person in the background. I like how the blue in the background gives the impression of sky.

Introducing Marble Boy
I created this for AP Art during the summer. Our assignments were marble-themed, but with one we were allowed to illustrate whatever we chose. I created a superboy, who has the strength to lift this super-marble.

Measuring Marbles
This was the second marble piece, with the instruction of "marbles in a container." I chose to try a more interesting composition by arranging the marbles in measuring spoons.

Mary-Kate
I created this piece after my art class ended junior year. I worked in whatever free time I had for months on her face. I worked directly from a photograph, which I had chosen because I loved the composition and lighting. Because I love to draw faces, I wanted to challenge myself to drawing this face, before continuing to create my own faces, or drawing them from observation.

Waiting for the end

The work station

I'm pretty sad that all our snow is being melted by sudden warm weather and rain... I'd prefer it slowly melted, and that I could continue skiing! I'm going to Sunday River to ski all weekend, it'll be one of my last times downhill skiing this winter! But I am excited for track season and practicing the hurdles again, and I am getting slowly closer to graduating!

I have so much to do for AP Art and AP Calc that I'm not able to post as often as I'd like! But, here are a few new things

Snow girl.. up close (in progress)

Peltonens through snow

Beginning stages of Violet Baudelaire

Violet Baudelaire complete (secret eye symbol in corner)