Four steps to succeed

I heard someone said that there are four steps to succeed: Stand the loneliness,  withstand the temptation, understand how to give up and learn to choose. I was impressed by these four steps. Everyone's life is different, we cannot always stay together, someone afraid loneliness, so they decrease their moving speed or change their direction to stay with others.  Time is precious for everyone, cause it's limited. how to save our time?  We cannot always care about others, we need to find our own way rather than follow others. We should very clear about what what we really need, what is our dream. If we are clear about this, no temptation will seize us. We also will know how to choose, what we can give up, thus our lives won't be too stressed.

Paloma Picasso

She is the daughter of an artist, and yet she draws,” Buck wrote.  She is an heiress, but she neither dresses in couture nor belongs to the jet set, though the jet set claim her as a name to know. Her name is Paloma Picasso.  I remember that Paloma once said: “I always thought that you breathe, you eat, you go to sleep, and you draw,”  If I have to chose a idol, Paloma is my idol, not because of her outstanding design but her attitude towards design.  She views her jewelry as more than just decoration, she wants that women feel empowered by her design.

As a christian

I received a new crystal cross from my mother. It will remind me to keep my heart pure and holy like this crystal cross.  And it will always encourage me to help others, to be a good person. My spiritual birthday is 28, April in this year, I remember my church leader told me that being a Christian means that you are changed on the inside, not controlled from the outside. It means that your heart has been changed by the presence of God. It does not mean that you are required to go to church, required to pay tithes, required to be good, required to do anything in order to stay a Christian. It means you desire to do those things because you've been changed.

The fashion in the oil painting

I went to national museum for the "Princely Treasures, from the house of liechtenstein".  This exhibition helped me to have a better understanding of 18th,19th century. This oil painting is one of my favorite artwork--- Potrait of Alexandra of Denmark.  As we can see from the picture, Alexandra's fashion style reflected the times in which she lived.  The edwardian taste for opulence was largely inspired by the trends set during the "Belle Epoque" period in france. Woman's fashion favoured feminine, flowing silhouettes. In the 19th century, corset was very popular at that time, so the curve of her waist is perfect and tight.  Except this, sleeves were tailored to be tight at the top  but flare below the elbow, drooping over a tight cuff also a symbol fashion at that time.

ARCHITECTURE

This week I learned a lot about the development of the architecture from 18th century to 21th century. i prefer the contemporary style, which is more variety, make me feel free. In the 18th, 19th century, most of the buildings are in a similar style. Nowadays, you can see many amazing designs with creative outline, which break the traditional form. Yes, break the rules, only in this way we can renew and improve our life.  I think contemporary architecture could help us express our genneration's emotion and spirit, such as the picture below, the modern architecture from Valencia, Spain.

The fashion in Oliver Twist

OLIVER TWIST is a classic, popular Dickens tale that follows a well mannered, good natured young orphan boy in early 1800s England.  In this passage, I want to have a closer look about the fashion  part inside this movie.  The pictures shown how we can distinguish the different social statues of these people. Except their living environment and behaviour, the clothes and accessories are played a very important role. As we can see from the pictures, different person's cloth is in different design and the high classic person wears many layers, the patterns are very fancy in avictorian style.

What a difference God makes

Don't judge your chid's dream. I heard a story before, there was a father who  a successful merchant,  he wanted his son to go into the family grocery.  But his son loves art, he wanted to be an artist.  The father thought his son have no future,  but finally, his son become a brilliant and repitable impressionism artist, his son is Claud Monet.  The difference Jesus makes to children is that every child have their own special talent.  Someone may clever at music or painting, someone is good at math or science.  All of these are very worthy,  this is God's special gift to every child, this is our treasures.  Parents should help their children keep these precious jewels, help them make a difference.

My own way

I love traveling. The traveller now acts as an international shrink for me, as I can see the whole world through their eyes.  However, I don't have so many time to enjoy my trip, I am still a student, I have to find my own way first before aiding others.  When I was 14, I had a big mystical crisis and felt a desire for mentorship from people who had lived and were happy.  I wanted to know to be happy. I guess.  I find that to see the world is the way that makes me happy, it is likes a form of therapy, can heals all the unhappiness in my heart.

short story about little happiness

Happiness exists for those who cry, those who are hurt, those who have searched, and those whohave tired, for only they can appreciate the importance of people who have touched their lives.

 

A little rabbit wants to know what is happiness , so she asks a lion, the lion says:"happiness is you are always with your family." She asks a leopard, "Happiness is the one you live is also loves you", the leopard says. Then the rabbit see a fox, she goes to ask the fox, fox says:"happiness is chasing your dream". The little rabbit is very happy and go to tell her mom about what she has done. Then, she asks her mom what is happiness. Her mom says:" happiness is you are still alive after this experience."  

Where is the balance in my life

Recently I am so stressed cause submission week is near, but i still got a lot of works didn't finish.  Is it my fault? What do organised people do with their time?  I spend most of my days to do my projects, and I also have to balance my life.  I try to find balance between body, spirit, and soul. For my body, I go gym twice a week, and I spend about half an hour to enjoy my breakfast. For my spirit, I go church every Sunday morning, and every saturday night I have to meet my cell group for bible study.  For my soul, I've chosen the course i like and spend a lot of time on it, yes, it's a lot of time , not whole time. I think that's the problem.  Maybe I cannot find the balance point in my life. I only can focus on one thing.  In another words, I have to give up my body for my spirit and soul~

starry starry night

With the melody of the "starry starry night" I look out of the window.  Even now cannot see the starry summer's night,  I also can feel what he felt at that time.  This song bring me into another peace and melancholy world, which is painted by Van Gogh, deep blue and grey, clouds in violet haze, reflect in my eyes.  It also remind me the shadow, misunderstood and regrets on my life.  While, now, standing under the starry starry night, I know all the shadow will leave me.   Nothing will stay with me forever, thus I want look up and let them free, go with the breeze and the winter chills.  Maybe all the things will change better in one day.

How art can express feeling

Last Friday,  our teacher invited Stella Kon as our guest lecture.  The topic of her speech is: How art can express felling.  She showed us some examples as the evidence to prove that art can express our feeling.  She shared her line drawings, watercolours, and conscious symbology. I think the best "take away" here is that every time when i  draw something, I should to draw what I see, each stroke is trying to catch the essence. However, what we draw is more than what we see, we can add more personal emotions inside. Last but not least, she said drawing is a sense of meditation.  The key to successful meditation is getting and staying "in-the-zone" for extended periods of time.  Drawing is the same, we need to find the peace land in our deep heart.

How to tell bad art and good art

Nowadays, there has been a widespread phenomenon that more and more artworks express in different styles.  It's very hard for us to distinguish bad art and good art. This issue also has been widely debated in the world.  Some people think that good and bad are personal distinctions, it's depending on the quality of the viewer's taste.  However,  others believe that there is a "line" to divide bad art and good art and no one is clear where is the "line". In my opinion, when we to judge an artwork, the viewer's taste is very important, we need have the ability to tell which one is crap art.  The decision is based on our knowledge. If we want to have this ability, we need to read art-related books and go museums and galleries to appreciate more masterpieces.

Character Heads

Franz Xaver Messerschmidts was a German-Austrian sculptor. When I first time saw Franz Xaver Messerschmidts's work I can't believe these sculptures were made in 18th century.  I was totally attracted by his "Character heads"series which is a collection of busts with faces contorted in extreme facial expression.  His works are very different with other sculptures in 18th,19th century, they always come with strong contemporary character, free in spirit, daring and self-confident. We can see the other sculptures in that time is more Baroque and serious. In conclusion,  Franz is very creative, and he didn't follow the trend, the old style which is the very important spirit we should learn from this artist.  

"Perseus and Andromeda" VS "Cupid's kiss"

Sculptures can divided into 3 deferent types---sculpture in the round, free standing sculpture, and various types of relief.  In Baroque sculptures, there was a  dynamic movement of human of human forms which is my favourite kinds of sculpture.  In the 18th century much sculpture continued on Baroque lines.  One of the picture below is Perseus and Andromeda, which made by Pierre Paul Puget,1715.  Compared with Psyche Revived by Cupid's kiss, both have a   beautiful Greek mythology behind the artworks.  But I think Psyche received by Cupid's kiss is more emotional, and romantic.  I prefer this work, it represents the god Cupid in the height of love and tenderness, immediately after awakening the lifeless Psyche with a kiss.

Perseus and Andromeda

Cupid's kiss

What I've learned this week

This week I learned a lot about the development of architecture from the 18th century to the 21st century, from Rococo to contemporary style. I think this is a process to free our taste about our living environment. Thus, architecture has become a way of expressing different emotions and spirits.
From the design of the buildings and structure, in the 18th, 19th century, the style always follows a basic element of design. For example, "Solitude Palace" in Stuttgart and the "Hotel de Soubise" comprise restrained patterns, the curved crowns of window openings, and low relief, these are very common ways to decorate the building at that time. Modern architecture doesn't have so many restraints of taste. Modern architecture could rotate like "Da Vinci Tower", also can sophisticated like "Aqua Tower" in Chicago. However, because of the lack of land resources and air pollution, modern architects focus more on the usage of the limited space efficiently and eco-friendly.
The most common materials used for the 18th and 19th century buildings are stone, brick or wood. however, after the industrial revolution, there are many new materials emerged, such as glass and iron. One good example is The Crystal Palace. I think this is the symbol to renew and improve people's perception about architecture.
In the18th, 19th century, most of the distinguished architectures are built for royal private palace or town houses for aristocracy. But nowadays, there are variety of purposes for the building, such as factories, shopping mall, office building, hospitals, schools and so on.

In conclusion, comparing the18th, 19th century against 21st century architecture, we can see the improvement, and the gradual change of every generation's taste. 

AQUE TOWER

SOLITUDE PALACE

Funny things made by PHILIP KARLBERG

These works are photographed by Philip Karlberg, who is a swedish photographer. The artist has carefully positioned over a thousand wooden pegs on several boards complemented by strategic lighting in order to hint at the faces of well know public figures wearing sunglasses typical to their dress in his new series 'PIN ART'.  As we can see from the pictures, the effect of his works are very 3D, it's not hard to identify every famous faces including Lady Gaga, Elvis, Karl Lagerfeld, Je Dirais Jackie Kennedy, John Depp and John Belushi. Except the the way he arranged the wooden pegs, how the lights  illuminating the works also plays a very important role.The artist says"it was a real challenge to sculpt the faces of some classic wearers of sunglasses, it took me 6 days to shoot the six faces and around 1200 sticks were used'.

My favourite artist

Cloud Monet is one of my favourite artists. He was born in 1840. His father was a merchant, he wanted Monet to go into the family grocery, but Monet wanted to be an artist. From his teachers we can see he also somewhat influenced by neoclassical style. JACQUES- FRANCOIS OCHARD is the first art teacher of him at his high school, and OCHARD had been a student of JACQUES-LOUIS DAVID. In 1862, Monet became a student of CHARLES GLEYRE in Paris where he met PIERRRE-AUGUSTE RENIOR, FREDERIC BAZILLE and ALFRED SISLEY, they shared new approaches to art, painting the effects of light with broken color and rapid brushstrokes, in what later came to be known as IMPRESSIONISM. After that he studied the works of JOHN CONSTABLE and JOSEPH MALLORD WILLIAM TUMER, both of whose landscapes would serve to inspire Monet's innovations in the study of color. After his wife CAMILLE left, he began in earnest to create some of his best paintings. 

Impressive Day

Yesterday is a very impressive day cause after the 2D fundamental class, we did the group project until the school closed- 11pm.  Submission week is near,  so everyone is very stressed with their project, but the atmosphere was not heavy. Many students spend most of their time studying, with no time for playing. They find it hard to cope with the high stress levels and pressure in school.  I think study is a happy thing, especially for our NAFA students.  As our course is chosen by ourselves, what we learn is all from our interest, our passion.  So, when we are stressed, maybe we should change another way to study, like what we did yesterday. We played the music we like and it also can make us relax. When we paint we can also share jokes to keep our minds off of painting.

"Oliver Twist" review

"Oliver Twist" is one of my favourite movie. Oliver was born in a small town about 70 miles from London. Like other orphan, Oliver was always abused by Mr Bumble, who is an overlarge

 tin-pot Hitler.  After Oliver escaped from the town he came to London, but he never knew he entered another terror place. He joined a child gang of thieves, which is run by Fagin.  But because of this he met with his relatives.  But Fagin afraid he will betrayed them, so didn't let him go.  After the last fighting with the gang members, finally, he lives a happy life with his philanthropic uncle. I like this story because it reveals various contemporary evils, including child labour, the recruitment of children as criminals, and the presence of street children .  This movie give us an impression of the social situation at the first half of the nineteenth century. 

This is a very famous episode, he walks up to the the stern authoritarian, Mr. Bumble, and asks for more. For this impertinence, he is put out of the workhouse.