English 2017

Formal writing

Euthanasia should be legalised everywhere

If you were lying in the hospital with an incurable disease, in absolute pain physically and emotionally, and you had the chance to end your suffering, would you? Unfortunately, in most countries, this option is not available. Euthanasia is the practice of ending someone’s life so they no longer have to deal with their intractable pain and suffering. Euthanasia is only legal in a few countries, such as Belgium and the Netherlands. Euthanasia should be legalised in every country because people have the right to choose whether they die or not under unbearable circumstances. It can protect one’s dignity and it ends pain.

I believe that humans have the right to die. When I say this I mean people with incurable diseases and/or unmanageable suffering. Assisting a terminally ill patient’s death is better than making them continue suffering. Giving a patient control over how and when they die could make their last days of their life free from the pain of anxiety. Terry Pratchett, a man diagnosed with a rare form of Alzheimer’s stated, “As I have said, I would like to die peacefully with Thomas Tallis on my iPod before the disease takes me over and I hope that will not be for quite some time to come, because if I knew that I could die at any time I wanted, then suddenly every day would be as precious as a million pounds. If I knew that I could die, I would live. My life, my death, my choice.” Pratchett was saying that if he could choose the day he died then he would make every day leading up to his death special, improving the quality of his life. When the day came that he would euthanize himself, he would die a happy man, having lived life to the fullest, with minimum suffering for himself and others around him.

The cost to live for a person that has an inevitable death in their near future is unfathomable. According to CNN, “one in every four Medicare dollars spent goes to the five percent of beneficiaries in the last year of their life”. The outcome of this is quite often debt for the families of the patients. The care of an individual at the end of their life has an estimated cost of $39,000. And is this cost really worth it if in the end, the patient would rather just be dead? Terminally ill patients don’t have the choice to stop suffering, they have to bear with it until they die their unavoidable death. As previously stated, people with a terminal illness should have control over when they die. They shouldn’t have to wake up every day and be scared of whether or not they could die. I’m not saying that they should be encouraged to euthanize themselves, but they should at least have the option. If you would rather end your suffering, then you shouldn't have to pay a massive expense to be kept alive just for an extra month or two.  

Many people argue that euthanasia goes against The Hippocratic Oath. The Hippocratic Oath is an oath taken by physicians; it requires physicians to swear to uphold specific ethical standards. The Hippocratic Oath states, “Do no harm”. People that oppose euthanasia argue that doctors who perform euthanasia on patients are going against their sworn by principles. These opposers say that doctors intentionally killing terminally ill patients is against the “Do no harm” rule. Although this is a good point and can be hard to argue against, harm is also done by making a patient live through their pain and suffering. What sounds worse, allowing a patient to die so they no longer have to suffer or forcing a patient to live with intractable pain? I think that any doctor that wouldn’t end a patient's suffering when asked would be violating the guidelines of their oath.

In conclusion, Euthanasia should be legalised everywhere around the world. Not only does a terminally ill patient’s suffering affect one’s self, it has a great impact on the people around them. Euthanasia should be an option. Give people the right to end their inevitable suffering. Would you rather spend your last days suffering and putting your family in debt with the medical bills keeping you alive for a short amount of time, or spend them living life to the fullest and having fun with your loved ones?

Reading Logs

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Tuesday, 18 July 2017

Reading Log #6

Text title: The Scorch Trials

Author/Director: James Dashner

Text type: Extended text
Submitted: 23/07/17

The Scorch Trials

From the New York Times best selling author, James Dashner, comes the second instalment in the dystopian sci-fi novel series 'The Maze Runner (series)'. 'The Scorch Trials' is the sequel to 'The Maze Runner'. The book follows Thomas and his friends after they've escaped a maze. They thought that solving the maze was supposed to be the end, but what greeted them outside was a burned and baked wasteland. The majority of the earth was inhabited by people that had gone mad due to an infection known as the flare; these people were called cranks. Thomas, along with his friends, had to face another trial. They had to make it across the Scorch to safety so that they could finally have freedom and peace. 

Something that Thomas and his friends had to go through was the PTSD that the horrid maze caused. At the beginning of the book, Thomas and his friend Teresa were talking to each other. They expressed how they felt about everything that had happened. They couldn't forget the horrible things that they saw and witnessed. We saw this when Teresa said, "I keep seeing Grievers. Their disgusting skin and blubber bodies, all those metal arms and spikes. It was way too close for comfort, Tom. How're we gonna get something like that out of our heads?" I felt sympathetic towards Teresa and the others as they failed to recover after experiencing a terrifying event. After hearing what Teresa said, Thomas thought to himself "Those images would never leave - we would be haunted by the horrible things that had happened in the Maze for the rest of our lives." Thomas figured that most if not all of them would have major psychological problems, he even thought that they would maybe even go completely "nutso". This can relate to the world, as according to PTSD United, 70% of adults in the U.S. have experienced some type of traumatic event at least once in their lives and up to 20% of these people go on to develop PTSD. 

In chapter 11, Thomas and his friends were greeted by a man that works for WICKED - a group meant to fight the new problems of the world. The man explained to the boys that they all caught a disease. The disease is known as the flare and had ravaged the earth's people. Allowing the boys to have this knowledge gave them the ultimate incentive to work with WICKED to find the cure. It didn't matter what was behind the mission of WICKED, they would do whatever it took to find the cure and save themselves. The man's words are a reminder that all human beings have to work towards something. Before the man spoke to the boys they wanted nothing to do with WICKED and would have never helped them, but due to the man's revelation they had something to work towards that had relevance to themselves. None of them wanted to die, so they willingly agreed to help WICKED in finding the cure, no matter how hard it would be. This is a reminder of how selfish human beings can be and most definitely relates to the real world. This aspect also reminded me of my 'Changes' reading log where I spoke about the lengths that people would go to just to benefit themselves.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this take on a post-apocalyptic themed book. Although I was utterly disappointed in the movie adaptation that was released in 2015, it seemed as though the director just read the synopsis on the back of the book and went from there. Besides that, I really do recommend reading The Scorch Trials. Although it is a sequel and one would usually read the first book before reading the second, you could easily get away with watching 'The Maze Runner' movie and then reading the sequel, I find it better that way anyhow. 

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Saturday, 15 JULY 2017

Reading Log #5
Text title: Same Love
Artist: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Text type: Short text
Submitted: 17/07/17

Same Love

'Same Love' is a song that talks about the harsh issues of gay and lesbian rights. It was released in 2012 and was composed by the hip hop duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, and features Mary Lambert. In the song, Macklemore defends homosexuality, which is rare amongst the hip hop genre. 'Same Love' reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in both Australia and New Zealand. 

A topic that is talked about in the song is the stereotypes that are plastered on gays. "When I was in the third grade I thought that I was gay. ‘Cause I could draw, my uncle was and I kept my room straight" in this line Macklemore expresses that he had doubts about his heterosexuality, due to stereotypes of gays that were being fed to him. He thought he was gay because he was neat and excelled at artistic things rather than more masculine things like sports. Artistic things are considered to be feminine according to stereotypes. Stereotypes are a major occurrence in the gay community and won't be stopped for years to come. Stereotypes can make someone feel as though they have to be a certain way or that they won't be accepted if they are like a stereotype. "A pre-conceived idea of what it all meant For those that like the same sex had the characteristics" this line implies that stereotypes of how a gay person is and acts can even enter the head of the youngest members of society. 

As well as the stereotypical views against homosexuals, religious views and beliefs on homosexuality are talked about rather frequently throughout the song. "And you can be cured with some treatment and religion" challenges the idea that someone's homosexuality can be "cured" and is how some people think. "Man-made, rewiring of a pre-disposition
Playing God" in this line Macklemore expresses his opinion that homosexuality is controlled by biology and trying to change this would be like trying to be God. Conversion therapy is a therapy which tries to guide homosexuals away from being exactly that, homosexuals. The unjust therapy is considered torture. To this very day, the therapy has still not been made illegal, although many are fighting for it to be illegalised. "And 'God loves all his children' is somehow forgotten" this line argues with the fact that the bible preaches "God loves all his children", yet so many people also preach against love and acceptance of all people.

In conclusion, this song is a deep and meaningful take on the issues of gay and lesbian rights. The song plays a big part in making the issue of LGBT+ equality more understandable to mainstream audiences. I recommend this song to people of the LGBT+ community that are too afraid to come out to the world and show them who they truly are and I also recommend this song for people that struggle with accepting said people of the LGBT+ community.  

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Sunday, 2 July 2017

Reading Log #4

Text title: Changes

Artist: Tupac Shakur
Text type: Short text

Submitted: 7/07/17

Changes

'Changes' is an iconic hip-hop song recorded in 1992 and released in 1998. It is known as one of the greatest rap songs of all time. The song is by Tupac Shakur featuring label group mate "Talent". 'Changes' deals with a vast amount of issues circling around in America and other countries alike. Tupac thought he needed to shed some light on said issues and make the people of the world aware of them. Some of the topics that he raps about are; the war on drugs, the mistreatment of black people by the police, racism, and poverty. 

A lot of things can be taken away from this song, but a major factor that stood out to me in this song is Tupac's opinions on racism in America. "Cops give a damn about a negro, pull a trigger, kill a nigga, he's a hero", reading this line you may think he's being melodramatic, although police in America are infamously known for mistreating black people. To this very day, cops are still marked as being corrupt in America. In 2016 at least 258 black people were killed by the police in America, according to a project by The Guardian that tracks police killings in America. Tupac also talks about how he's tired of the harassment that himself and other black people receive from the police, which is expressed in the line "can't a brother get a little peace?" This song really made me think about how most of the things that Tupac raps about are still undoubtedly relevant even though the song was written over 20 years ago; this absolutely dismayed me. 

Along with racism, another aspect in the song was the theme of poverty. "My stomach hurts so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch" in this line Tupac expresses the unjust reality that low-income communities face in America. It made me feel upset that so many people have to result to crime just to survive and get through another day. Fortunately, I can not relate to this at all, but millions of people face this sort of stuff every day and I don't think it will stop anytime soon. "And I ain't never did a crime I ain't have to do" this line implies that most people resort to crime because they need to, not because they want to; it's saying that people are struggling to survive and have no choice but to commit these crimes. According to the Census Bureau, more than 45 million people in America were living below the poverty line in 2016. Therefore these lyrics really speak to the world more than ever right now. 

Besides racism and poverty, drugs are intermittently rapped about throughout the song. "Take the evil out the people, they'll be actin' right" in this line Tupac refers to evil as being drugs, he explains that if you take drugs away from people they'll act right in society. Throughout the world, drugs are a major problem among adults, teens and in some cases even children. "You gotta operate the easy way 'I made a G today,' but you made it in a sleazy way Sellin' crack to the kids 'I gotta get paid!' - well hey, but that's the way it is" this line reiterates that drugs are also sold to kids. Tupac doesn't agree or like that people sell drugs to kids, but he understands why it's happening; it's happening because people need to make money and they can easily do so by selling drugs to kids that are hooked on them. The line is also an example of how a lot of people don't care about others as long as they make money. 

Overall this is the most serious and deepest rap song I have ever heard. I strongly recommend that everyone listens to this song, as it is eye-opening and can easily send a strong message in under 5 minutes. It tackles issues that not only occur in America but happen internationally. Tupac Shakur was a truly inspirational man. He was a man with a dream and died in the constant hope for change.                                                  

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 Tuesday, 20 June 2017

Reading Log #3

Text title: Looking for Alaska

Author/Director: John Green

Text type: Extended text

Submitted: 23/06/17

Looking for Alaska

'Looking for Alaska' is a young adult novel written by John Green in 2005. The story is about a teenager, Miles Halter, who is tired of his predictable and boring life at home. Miles decides to attend Culver Creek boarding school to seek what the dying poet Francois Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps." As Miles arrives at Culver Creek a lot of crazy things are put into his life, including a girl named Alaska Young. Alaska takes him on a wild journey throughout his junior year and catapults him into the Great Perhaps. 

This book got me thinking of the "Great Perhaps" and what that truly is. The Great Perhaps is the great truth, the great meaning of life and death. In the first chapter Miles' father asked him what made him want to go to boarding school, Miles explained, "So this guy Francois Rabelais, he was a poet and his last words were, 'I go to seek a Great Perhaps'. That's why I'm going. So I don't have to wait until I die to start seeking a Great Perhaps." The way Miles thought as a teenager really amazed me. The pursuit of this Great Perhaps is what drove him to try new things and do better. Society should follow Miles' footsteps. I think that we all need to strive to have our own Great Perhaps, a sense of purpose and a connection to a greater cause. Miles' Great Perhaps was Alaska. She opened up a whole new world to him, and the tragedy that happened to her affected Miles greatly. This is why I believe someone's Great Perhaps should not be a person, as people come and go, and that's not something you can definitely stop or prevent from happening. Your Great Perhaps should be something that makes you do better, like a hobby or something that just keeps giving. So in this aspect society should not follow in Miles' footsteps, attaching yourself to someone so that they can give you meaning in your life isn't something that should be romanticised. 

A major event in this text is the tragic and sudden death of Alaska. After Alaska perished in a drunken car accident a deep sadness spread amongst her friends. The fact that Miles thought it was his fault that she had died saddened me immensely. We see this when he says to himself, "I knew she was drunk. Upset. Obviously, you don't let someone drive drunk and pissed off." He was so sure that he had killed her, but that wasn't true at all, it wasn't his fault. This kind of guilt can really mess with a person's head and can even drive them into depression. Blaming yourself for the death of a loved one is a very common thing in the world. You can not and should not take responsibility for someone's death unless you literally ended their life. This book does a really good job at making the reader feel sorry for Miles. All I wanted to do while reading this part was yell at Miles that it was not his fault. 

In conclusion John Green's 'Looking For Alaska' is a very funny, passionate and heart breaking novel. I'd recommend this to be read in secondary schools as it shows things that teens can go through everyday. This book outstandingly captures the impeccable painful joy of living and loving. 

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WEDNESDAY, 7 JUNE 2017

Reading Log #2

Text title: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Author/director: Ken Kwapis  

Text type: Visual text

Submitted: 23/06/17

The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants

'The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants' is a young adult film directed by Ken Kwapis, based on the novel of the same name. The film is about four best friends; Tibby, Lena, Carmen and Bridget, that come across a mysterious pair of denim jeans that strangely fits each of the girls perfectly, disregarding the fact that the girls are obviously all different in shape and size. As they spend their first summer apart they come up with a plan to share the jeans between the four of them. Along with sending the jeans to the next person, they also have to include a letter outlining the adventures they went through while it was their turn with the jeans.  

A big part of the movie is the kindling romance between Lena and Kostas, a boy she met while visiting her family in Greece. After their first meeting Lena told her grandmother that the boy she had met was Kostas, her reaction was rather unpleasant. Her grandmother expressed how much she hated Kostas' family and even went as far as to say, "You must never see this boy again!". Despite her grandmother's disapproval of Kostas, he still tried to be with Lena, he tried to tell her that their families issues should not matter to them, but unfortunately, Lena still refused, because she did not want to betray her family. As I watched this happening I couldn't help but feel that it was relatable to myself. In this case, I related to Kostas, as I too have been pushed away by someone that couldn't/wouldn't be my friend, due to their family not liking me and disapproving of me. Also, something that Lena said really made me think of something I had written about in my reading log about 'Django Unchained', she said, "It makes me so sad that people like Kostas and Bridget, who have lost everything, can still be open to love." This reminded me of how Django went through so much hardship but still loved and cared deeply for his wife. 

Another aspect of the film that caught my attention was the relationship between Carmen and her father. It got me thinking of how many children often feel much closer with their mothers than their fathers after their parents have split apart, due to mothers being more likely to get custody when parents divorce. We see this when Carmen's mum tells her to talk to her dad and tell him how she feels. Carmen tries to tell her mum, "I do. I do talk to him. I talk to him all the time." Her mum replies saying, "Yeah, like you talk to me? No." This conversation was used to show the viewers that Carmen and her dad were not as close as Carmen and her mum. I relate to this because I feel the same as Carmen and I experience the same thing. I never talk to my dad the same way as I can easily talk to my mum, as just like Carmen I too have always been with my mum. 

Coming back to Kostas and Lena, an important point in their journey to be together, was when Lena finally stuck up for herself and Kostas. Lena had a sudden strike of confidence and went up to her grandfather and declared her strong feelings towards Kostas and how happy he made her feel. She asked her grandfather for a chance and she got one. All because she stood up for herself and actually spoke to her family about how she was feeling, she got the chance to be with the one she loved. This scene showed how much she truly cared for Kostas and how much she wanted to be with him. She had no idea what would happen after saying those things to her family, things could have ended badly, with them being angry that she would even ask to be with him, but she put all those potential consequences aside so that she could have a chance. It made me feel sad, as I wish more people would stand up to others for what they believe in, even if it is your own family that you are standing up to. I myself have been in a situation where someone could have stuck up for me, but they didn't, and it resulted in myself and that person no longer being friends. So I think that what people should take away from that scene, is to always stand up for yourself no matter what the circumstances and consequences are. 

To conclude, 'The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants'  is a film jam-packed with journeys and stories about the four girls as they go through a very eventful summer. I recommend this to teens and young adults, as it is a fun and heartfelt movie. 
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SUNDAY, 16 APRIL 2017

Reading Log #1

Text Title: Django Unchained 

Author/director: Quentin Tarantino

Text type: Visual text

Submitted: 25/05/17

Django Unchained

'Django Unchained' is a film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino and was released in 2012. The western drama is set in the Old West and is about an African-American slave, Django (Jamie Foxx), that is freed by a German bounty hunter, Dr Schultz (Christoph Waltz). After Django is freed by Dr Schultz, they team up through the winter. Django becomes his apprentice and they complete a vast amount of bounty huntings. Dr Schultz also helps Django on his mission to find his wife, Broomhilda, who is being enslaved by a brutal Mississippi plantation owner. 

Throughout Django Unchained the display of pain and torment that black slaves actually experienced was seen rather frequently. This aspect made me feel sympathetic towards African Americans that were once enslaved and were subjected to this cruel mistreatment. In the first 2 minutes of the film, a group of black slaves are seen walking through the blazing hot desert half naked, with chains around their ankles and with bare feet. They even continue walking into the cold of the night. You literally see their chilled breathes escape their mouths, and all they have to cover themselves with is a tattered old blanket. I think that these portrayals of pain give the audience an insight into what black slaves went through back in those dark times.  


As well as the theme of enduring pain, oppression against black people is featured throughout the course of the film. The way that white people acted back then dumbfounded me. They acted as if black people were the scum of the earth. A little bit into the movie, Django and Dr Schultz pass through a small town. As they both ride through on their horses, a white man and woman look up at Django in awe, and the man utters, "There's a nigger on the horse" in such a shocked tone. In the same town, they enter a bar and the bartender acts hysterically, he yells, "Whoa whoa whoa! What the hell do you think ya doing boy? Get that nigger outta here!" The bartender even runs away screaming for help. The way that people used to think, and many even still do, really just disgusts me. We are all human, just because someone is a little different than yourself, does that mean they deserve to be put through this discrimination and hatred? 

Even with going through all this pain and oppression, black people did not lose their sense of humanity. As seen in the film, Django still had the ability to love another, even through all the heartache. It really surprised me that he put his wife Broomhilda's well-being before his own. In the film, Django has a flashback of his wife about to be whipped. Django pleaded that they stopped and did it to himself instead of her. He said, "If anyone should be getting whooped, that should be me!" He keeps begging for her not to be whipped, even getting down on his knees and begging. This really shows what Django would do for the person that he loves. He would go as far as to risk his own life in the process of her not being hurt. 

Overall Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained, is an eye opening film that attacks the cruelty of slavery. As well as it being a staggering insight in to black slavery, it is also a rather comedic take to the topic. Although the film does deal with some oppressing issues, it does not shy away with sneaking in some humour. Therefore I deeply recommend this movie, as it has an interesting take on black slavery and the old western times. 

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Art 2017

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Below are all of my pages from my art book this year. It includes planning and ideas from throughout the year. 

This is my brainstorm page. This is where I wrote down all the possible themes I could have for my folio. 










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My first idea this year was something to do with animals. I came up with the idea of having my theme about the four seasons. I didn't end up doing this theme, obviously, but I think it would have been really cool if I had proceeded with it. Although I feel like it would have been a lot more work than my actual theme (poaching in Africa). To the side, you can see some of my planning for this theme. I was going to take a photo of the same tree each season and see how it changed and put the pictures on my folio.








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These are my ideas of when I wanted to do my board about surrealism animals. I wish I had done some surrealism art pieces for my folio.

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These are my first ideas of when I decided my folio was going to be about poaching in Africa. 



At first, my theme was just going to be about poaching of zebras. I even made up a story that the folio was going to be about. The theme was going to be about a poacher that kills a zebra and is turned into a zebra and has to see the world through the zebra's eyes. Although I decided to have a story as my theme might be difficult because I would have to have my pictures in a certain order and I might not have enough ideas for pieces. 




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This was my first idea of how my board was going to start. It is a flower blooming, signifying new & precious life. This 'new life' was representing the zebra's new life and how precious it was.  










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These are all my ideas for pieces of art after I decided my board would be about the poaching of Zebras, Rhinos, and Elephants. 




































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These are the images of the planning of the layout of my folio. At first, I drew a quick sketch of each image on the layout plan, but I found that this took too much time. I later just numbered each of my ideas so that when placing them on a layout plan I could just insert the number. I also colour coded each piece, orange being a rhino piece, green being a zebra piece and blue being an elephant piece. I also added a tally chart so I could keep up with the amount of pieces I was completing.

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For my first three pieces on my folio, the zebra, rhino and elephant faces, I planned put which colours I would use. For these pieces, I used watercolour pencils. Originally, I was going to make a stencil of a crosshair and spraypaint it onto each piece, but I ended up not proceeding with it because I liked the way they looked without it. 
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This is my planning for piece 6 (fourth piece on board). I tried out different shades of black watercolour paint. I also tried out some black charcoal.
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This is the first drawing of piece 9. 



















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This is the woodcut that I did. At first, I put it through the press but I didn't like how dark it was. So I did it again but this time I didn't put it through the press. Instead, I used a spoon. To the lef, you can see how it turned out through the press. _____________________________________________________________________________
These are my lino cuts. I really like how these turned out. I found that cutting onto lino was a lot easier than wood. The pieces in the image below were complted with a spoon. I did do some pieces with the press but again they were too dark.




















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This is my first and only drawing of piece 4. As you can see it is not completed and did not go onto my board. I don't like this piece. Drawing the zebra was difficult and no matter what I did it looked very bad. Although even though I hated this piece, the only reason I didn't put it on my folio was to make room for my two lino cuts. I am very pleased with myself for replacing it with the lino cuts. The lino cuts really suit the board. 


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This is the planning for the backgrounds of pieces 21 and 19.


























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Here is my planning for piece 11. 


















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Tuesday, October 17, 2017
Folio complete

Today I completed my folio!!! I glued every piece down with spray glue. My favourite panel is the first one. 


















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Tuesday, October 17, 2017
New piece

Today I replaced a piece that I didn't like. I replaced it with a poacher holding a rhino horn. I coloured the man with watercolour paint. I made the background the same style as the elephant piece that a redid. It's shades of blue ar the top and it fades into shades of red. I put a blur of charcoal over his face. 
















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Thursday, October 12, 2017
Background added

Today I added a background to one of my elephant pieces. I used different shades of blue. I was going to use red but I thought it would take away the effect of the red blood down the trunk. Also blue suited the colour theme on the second board. 




































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Friday, October 6, 2017
Two new linocuts complete

Today I completed two linocuts. One is a zebra with rhino horns strapped to its head. This was more of a rhino piece because the message of it was "nothing we do will bring them back". But since it consisted more of a zebra I included it in the zebra section of my board. When I first did the print I used the printing press. The printing press made the ink too dark. So I tried again with a spoon. It turned out much better. My other linocut was a zebra and a baby zebra. I also used a spoon for this one. Ultimately I like how these turned out.
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Friday, September 22, 2017
Eleventh, Twelfth and Thirteenth Piece Finished
I've been a bit slack on my art blog lately, but I've created some new pieces since I last posted. 

This piece I started and completed in one day. It is of five rhino horns. The horns have been painted with a range of brown watercolour paints. I liked how the shading turned out on the horns. I was initially going to leave the background white, but it though it looked rather plain. So I decided to paint around the horns with red Indian ink. I really like how this turned out. I was going to continue filling in the white with the red Indian ink but I thought it looked really good not filled in. 

This piece is of a rhino from bird's eye view. The rhino has just had its horn cut off. The rhino's shadow has been filled in with charcoal, but I think I'll have to go over it again to make it darker. The rhino has been painted with grey, white and black acrylics. The rhino was originally a dark brown but I didn't like the way it looked, so I went over it with grey. 
The blood of the rhino has been done with red Indian ink and some black charcoal. The background, which I kind of hate, has been painted with dark green watercolour paint. 

My next piece consists of two poachers holding an elephant tusk. After I drew this piece I played around on some scrap paper of how I was going to colour this. I decided on using black charcoal to colour it. I wanted to try something different so I put the picture into three sections. I then coloured the background of the first section with charcoal. In the second section, I coloured first man and half of the second man and also the middle of the tusk. In the third section, I did the same thing I did with the first section. When I had finished all the charcoal I wasn't sure if I should leave it or not. Now believe me I wish I had just left it, but I added some red Indian ink to the tusk, the Indian ink being blood. I hate how this looks and I need to fix it somehow. 
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Friday, August 18, 2017
Tenth Piece Finished

While I was on holiday I completed my tenth piece, which is a young elephant and its dead mother. I did the elephants with grey and black pastels and the background with charcoal. 

I also started on 3 new pieces. 

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Saturday, August 8, 2017
Ninth Piece Finished
The other day I completed a piece in just 2 daYyyys!! Definitely my fastest piece. The piece is an elephant that has lost its tusks. The elephant has blood running down its trunk from the wound of the tusk being removed. I coloured the elephant in with charcoal which I reallyyyyyy liked!:) The blood is red Indian ink, I also like the look of that a lot too. 

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Tuesday, August 1, 2017
Eighth Piece Finished
I hate this piece. 

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Thursday, July 27, 2017
Seventh Piece Finished
Today I completed my seventh piece for my board. It is a part of a series, there are two other pieces that go with it. It is a zebra eye and the other two pieces are of an elephant and rhino eye. It's kind of like a close up of my first pieces that I did. I painted it with water colour paint and water colour pencil. These pieces will be the last pieces in my folio. They'll go at the bottom of the second panel. 

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Friday, July 21, 2017
Sixth Piece Finished
Today I finished painting my sixth piece which will go on my second panel when I get back to school. I used acrylic paints, except for when I painted the elephant i decided to switch to watercolour paint as I though it would look better and be easier to do.

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Monday, July 17, 2017
New Piece of Work
I have recently started on my sixth piece for my board. I got sick of doing pieces about zebras, so I moved on to one of my pieces that are about an elephant. This piece will go on my second panel. The piece is of an elephant, there is a line down the middle which is showing that the animal is in two different places. On the left, the elephant is in his natural habitat the savannah in Africa. On the right side, he is in a regular human city. You can see on the right side that the elephant is missing his tusks, well half of his tusks. This gives the idea that people (poachers) from the human city have cut off the elephants tusks and have bought them from the elephant's natural habitat into the human city. I began to paint the piece with acrylic paints. 

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Monday, July 3, 2017
Fifth Piece on Board
The past few weeks I have been creating my 5th piece of artwork for my folio. It is my 3rd piece that consists of a zebra. It is of two poachers holding up zebra skin. This piece took me longer than I would have anticipated. Although as of late I have began drawing my art for my folio at home and this has been really helpful, as I am getting more work done. 


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Thursday, June 15, 2017
Fourth Piece on Board
I've stuck my fourth piece of art work on my board, its of the Zebra that I talked about last week. I completed it the other day. I painted it with black watercolour. I wasn't totally happy with the outcome of the zebra's face after I painted it with the watercolour, but I really liked the look of the stripes on the right of the page. 

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Friday, June 9, 2017
New piece of work
I have started on my fourth piece of work. It is of a zebra with only half of its stripes drawn on and its other stripes are drawn next to him. The concept is that the zebra is losing its stripes, like when a zebra is poached for its skin. 

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Tuesday, May 16, 2017
First Work on Folio
Today I put my first pieces of work onto my folio 

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Tuesday, May, 9, 2017
Planning board

Today I planned how my folio would potentially look. I drew up the two sides and chose from my drawings of animal poaching and inserted them where I best thought they suited. I numbered each drawing first so that I could just put the number down while planning the board instead of redrawing it. I also colour coded the pieces of work on the board plan so that I could easily tell what each piece was about (either zebras, rhinos or elephants). A picture of the plan is on the right >

I've also done a full page of ideas for drawings, 3 of which I have almost completed which I spoke about in my last post. 

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Friday, March 31, 2017

First Piece of Work

I've been working on my very first pieces of artwork for the beginning of my folio for the past 2 weeks. My theme is poaching in Africa, so my folio is going to be a series of works that show what endangered animals in Africa go through. My first pieces (shown above), are introducing the three main animals I'll be focusing on in my folio. First I drew the animals then I painted them with watercolour pencils. My next step is to create a stencil which is the crosshairs of a gun. I'm going to apply this stencil to each of these 3 pieces with either paint or spray paint, to show that they are being targeted.

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Saturday, March 18, 2017

Art History

Pablo Picasso

Mediterranean Landscape 1953

Mediterranean Landscape is a cubism style, oil on panel artwork, created by Pablo Picasso, in 1953. It is 125 x 81 cm. The painting represents a place he visited, and the vibrant and bold colours like green, blue, yellow and red, portray how he felt being in this place; happy. I think that these bright colours set a scene of happiness and summertime. The high vitality of diagonal lines allows your eyes to keep moving along the composition. The oil paints were a good choice for this piece, as the colours are so eye-catching and powerful. The use of shadows can be seen a bit, using a rather dramatic black or a contrasting colour, the shadows make the scene with the houses more bright. The dark blue in the background makes it seem as so it's a hot late evening. 

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Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Theme Thought Process

I've had a lot of change in my ideas for my art this year, at first it was just going to be about animals, but like I obviously need more meaning to it than 'just animals'. So I then spoke to my mum she gave me the idea of doing it about the 4 seasons, which I did like at the time, but I honestly wasn't really feeling it, so I talked to Mrs Clemence and she told me that I should check out some surrealism art and surrealism artists, so I did and I really enjoyed the looks of the art, it was so outgoing, and not plain and ordinary like a lot of art.I then began to draw surrealistic pictures of animals (to the left).Although still wasn't sure what my art was going to be about. I still wanted it to include animals, cos' animals are great dah. So I spoke to another teacher, Mrs Cairns, I told her how I wanted it to be about animals, and she gave me the idea of poaching in Africa. I researched animals in Africa that were being deeply affected by the poaching, and I began to think of how I could make the art (ideas below)

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Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Artist Research 

Pablo Picasso Research

I've done some research on the profound artist, Pablo Picasso. I actually looked at a few surreal artists, but Picasso's work really popped out to me. Picasso has the most distinct style and eye for creation. Picasso used many colours in his work, with not only warmer colours such as beige and pink but also greater dimensions. This is what I'd like to do in my work throughout the year, use many colours and make my pieces of art come off as warm, except for the more darker pieces, with a meaning of sadness behind them, these will not include as much colour. I also like the way Picasso puts his art together, with all the shapes and different angles, such as the way the eyes in both of the drawings to the left are positioned. 

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Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Year 11 Art Ideas

At first, I wanted my portfolio to have something to do with animals, as I am rather passionate about the well being of animals, I even want to be a vet when I finish high school. But I had to adapt to that idea, build more to it, have a better concept. So I came up with the idea of making my portfolio about the seasons (e.g winter, summer), including the changes within animals and nature. I spoke with the teacher about my ideas, and she suggested I do surrealism, and gave me the artists Rene Magritte and Frida Kahlo to research. I'm pretty confident in this idea, I'm going to make surrealism art about animals and nature 

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