Here are the unpainted versions, I have just been too sick to paint them. I figured I should put my sketches up rather than nothing though. So here is what I was going to paint...

Youth
by Oscar Wilde

'BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE MOST MARVELOUS YOUTH, AND YOUTH IS THE ONE THING WORTH HAVING.'

...Someday, when you are old and wrinkled and ugly, when thought has seared your forehead with its lines, and passion branded your lips with it hideous fire, you will feel it terribly. Now, wherever you go, you charm the world.

Will it always be so? ...You have a wonderfully beautiful face. Don't frown. You have.

And Beauty is a form of Genius -- is higher, indeed, than Genius, as it needs no explanation. It is of the great facts of the world, like sunlight, or springtime, or the reflection in dark waters of that silver shell we call the the moon. It cannot be questioned. It has its divine right of sovereignty. It makes princes of those who have it.

You smile? Ah! when you have lost it you won't smile ... People say sometimes that Beauty is only superficial as Thought is. To me, Beauty is the wonder of wonders. It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible...Yes, the gods have been good to you. But what the gods give they quickly take away.

You only have a few years in which to live really, perfectly, and fully. When your youth goes, your beauty will go with it, and then you will suddenly discover that there are no triumphs left for you, or have to content yourself with those mean triumphs that the memory of your past will make more bitter than defeats.

Every month as it wanes brings you nearer to something dreadful. Time is jealous of you, and wars against your lilies and your roses. You will become sallow, and hollow-cheeked, and dull-eyed. You will suffer horribly...

Ah! realize your youth while you have it. Don't squander the gold of your days, listening to the tedious, trying to improve the hopeless failure, or giving away your life to the ignorant, the common, and the vulgar. These are the sickly aims, the false ideals, of our age.

Live! Live the wonderful life that is in you! Let nothing be lost upon you. Be always searching for new sensations. Be afraid of nothing...A new Hedonism --that is what your century wants. You might be its visible symbol. With your personality there is nothing you could not do. The world belongs to you for a season...For there is such a little time that your youth will last -- such a little time.

The common hill-flowers wither, but they blossom again. The laburnum will be as yellow next June as it is now. In a month there will be purple stars on the clematis, and year after year the green night of its leaves will hold its purple stars. But we never get back our youth. The pulse of joy that beats in us at twenty, becomes sluggish.

Our limbs fail, our senses rot. We degenerate into hideous puppets, haunted by the memories of the passions of which we were too much afraid, and the exquisite temptations that we had not the courage to yield to. Youth! Youth! There is absolutely nothing in the world but youth!'

- Oscar Wilde -

....below is the art work I did in response to this poem.

Being a designer?

Lately I have been feeling very frustrated with the work that I have been producing. There is not one piece that I really like. I have even been thinking about why I want to be a designer. Unfortunately I could not come up with a very good answer. I am double majoring in music and I suppose I would hope to incorporate the design into a music profession of some sort.
I think one of the main reasons that I am frustrated is because I don't know what my "forte" is yet. Like I mentioned earlier I attended Arizona State last year. The program there was so different because we were learning the "fundamentals" of design. In a way I would like to say that ruined me a little bit. When asked to create a composition, I am constantly worried about the measurements and whether it follows the "rules." I have also taken only one art class. As a result, I feel a little behind in terms of knowing myself as an artist. While people are being successful in their compositions, I am still playing around and learing what works. I guess I just need to step back and understand that that is why I am here.....

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These compositions were to deal with text. The first two do and the second two do not.
1. I liked this one a lot. However when I put it up in class I realized that the colors were too close together. I think the concept is a good one though.
2. I would have to say that this is in my opinion the most successful piece done for this class. It is made of the form s. I really liked how the colors turned out and they give it the look of actually having demensions.
3. This one was just for fun. I didn't even put this one up in class.
4. I hate this one. The form could be cool but the colors are horrid.

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These were the three color compositions.
1. I liked this one as a piece but it is not really a successful composition.
2. This one was done last. I really like it though. I did 3 first and then decided to try and do the same thing with 3 walls. I think that I could have made the floor a bit shorter.
3. I think this one is the most successful. Possibly because it is the most simple, yet it works very well.

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These are the color compositions... I missed the memo of two colors. I am not too attached to any of these.
1. I do like this one. It is a little hard to see in this picture, but it was done with pastels. I think of buildings when I look at it. Really it doesnt need to be more than one or two colors.
2. I have always really enjoyed cutting paper and placing it in an order. Actually it is nerdy to say but when I need to calm down or think, I cut paper :). I did this composition because I just wanted to show that side of my work. I didnt expand on it very much because I feel that I have already done that.
3.This did not have to final effect I had hoped for. That I why I didnt show it in class.
4. I hate this one.... enough said.

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These are all the black and white compositions that I made.
This assignment was a little difficult for me. I transferred from Arizona State this year. At ASU, the design approach was extremely different. Everyone was to do the same project and really focus on simplicity, precision, and accuracy. Coming into this class and being asked to create a compostion with hardly any boundaries was a shock. I still notice myself thinking too much about whether mesurements are right etc. I have found that drawing by hand helps with forgetting this obbession.
1. This is a representation of a torn jean. I did not put this one up in class because I dont really like it. It is too obvious and predictable.
2. I enjoy this one, but it was also not put up in class. When I finished it, it reminded me too much of Martin Luther King.
3.I really like this one. I realize it is not exactly abstract but I was looking through a book and came across a picture of muscle. I think that muscles are beautiful in a complicated way. I enjoyed drawing this one however, as a composition, it doesnt really work.
4. This turned out much better than I would have hoped. I looked out my window and drew the outline of the tops of the buildings. I then turned it clockwise.
5. This one was inspired by "Sleeping Woman" done by Man Ray in 1929:
I made it as simple as I could with just two tones. I like the way that it turned out. The figure ground work together really well.

The Yale School of Art