Devil's Island

This clay piece is a sunken relief slab piece. Sunken relief is when you roll out a piece of clay and carve into it making it look sunken. I had sunken and carved out the water areas in the piece to make the sunken effect. First I sketched out my idea on a large piece of paper until it was perfect. I then folded it in 4 equal squares and cut it out. After that I rolled out 4 slabs and placed the papers on the clay. I moved the marks from the paper to the clay then carved out the water. Then it was time to fire the clay for the first time. After firing it, I painted it with glaze and fired it again. I am very proud of the design of the island and how the top left looks like a devil island design. This was a very fun yet time consuming project that I really enjoyed.

Safe Keeping Safe

I created this safe with white clay, hard work, and dedication. I had to create 6 equal slabs of clay and put them together with slip and scoring. after I put them together I created the key for the safe to get into it. It has a combination lock to get into it. I created a slit on the top that you can put money in to save up your money. Once I got it all fit together perfectly and let it dry I fired it. After the first fire I sanded the edges and painted it with glaze to make it shiny and look good. I painted multiple layers on it and fired it again. After the final firing I took a picture of it and used photoshop to put on the final touches. This bank will help me save my money to buy a car and other things. (The code is....3458)

Fishy Fish

This adventurous fish escaped form his habitat of the fish bowl and is searching the art room.
I created this clever fish but scoring and slipping two pinch pots together and using other clay to create the eyes fins and other accessories. I painted the fish after firing it and then photoshopped some parts to finalize the fish. This creature is now set to discover the world...until he needs to breather again.

Art Article II

Kyle Davis

October 24, 2013

Pottery and Sculpture 

Art Article

            Recently an old painting, painted by the artist Vincent Van Gogh, has been found in the attic of a Norwegian family that has been sitting in that attic for over 100 years. The old painting is called Sunset at Montmajour and shows the beautiful pastures and sunset of the countryside. They have found that Van Gogh talked about the landscape painting in a paper he wrote. Historians and artists thought he was talking about his famous painting, “The Rocks” in those papers because the two paintings are very alike in the usage of the colors green, blue, and yellow, but also in the way he describes the paintings. “A shower of gold” is how Van Gogh talks about his Sunset painting, but all the researchers thought he was talking about “The Rocks” because it also depicts the colors of a sunset. Another big reason they were mixed up is because of the alike brush strokes in the paintings. He paints rough strokes and doesn't hide his strokes, but embraces them. Many paintings can be determined as his painting by the very specific characteristics of his paintings. This beautiful painting of tress and the pasture was shown in a museum in Dutch City where many people saw this once in a lifetime painting. Many wonder if any other secret paintings are being held anywhere else in the world, none will ever know how many paintings Van Gogh created and how many are known and being held in museums, but I think that makes every painting more special then the last.

KickStart Your Day

I wanted the composition of my still life project to show all of the cans and all of the different sides of the cans. I also created a top vanishing point for the cans to all go towards so that hey would also stay in an exact line. I used a thumbnail sketch, a quick sketch to show different compositions of a drawing, to see which composition I would like to draw the most. To create the thumbnail sketch I used a viewfinder to be able to see only the cans and what I wanted to see. A viewfinder helps you see the cans like it is a photograph to where you can only see it in a rectangular box. My final choice was to make it lines to show all the sides of the cans. To make the items seem three dimensional I showed the curve of the cans and how the light reflects on the can making it lighter in some areas. Lastly I used a light source to show how the can makes a prism shadow. I created my light source by the light source when I did my thumbnail sketch. I made the light source visible by the shadows on the cans going to the bottom left corner; making the light source coming from the top left corner.

Day and Night

This is a drawing I created to show the Day and relaxing side of life with the smiling sun and moon, but also the Night and stressful part of life by the serious sun and moon. I created many vanishing points for the mountains and palm trees to vanish towards. I used a ruler to make sure all of my lines were neat and straight towards my vanishing points. I had three top vanishing pints, three bottom vanishing points, and two side vanishing points. After drawing the mountains I added the suns and moons to show the differences' of life.

The Dark Thinker

This is the Dark Thinker picture of me on top of the Apex High Softball Dugout. I had someone else take this picture of me, I downloaded it onto the computer then loaded it onto photo-shop. On photo-shop, I used the burner tool to darken my body and create a ring of darkness around my body. I then use the       touch-up tool to lighten all of the area around my body so I really stick out. My facial expression shows how I am just thinking about something, everything, or nothing...I am the Dark Thinker.

The Wave Landscape



This was my original sketch of the landscape I was going to paint. The

surfer is to show the depth of the wave and ocean behind him.

Once the sky was done I started creating the wave and background water

of the landscape. By where the light was I could tell where the wave

was lighter and darker. Then I used a quick light strokes to make the

wave look in the wave to show water quickly making a wave.

I used colors from white to dark red to make the light and dark of the

wave. I made the background of the wave first so you could see the color

difference of the wave better. The color difference shows how the light

is reflecting of the water in different ways and patterns.

Finally I added the surfer surfing the wave. It shows the stance and balance

riding a wave during the sunset. The darkness of the surfer helps you better

see how the light is coming from behind the surfer. To show atmospheric

perspective, I made the wave crazy and wild to show the wildness of the wave,

but then making the background ocean calm and steady.

Ceramic Pot Project

           The Ceramic Pot Project was a ceramic project made from white and red clay. It was fired towtimes; once to get the moisture out of the clay, and once to dry the clear paint covering the hardened clay. My bowl was approximately 9" wide and 3" deep; making the bowl able to hold about 9 oz. While creating my Ceramic Project, I wanted to make bowl abstract and the edges random. To make design of the bowl I folded a piece of paper into fours then cut out my design. The two sides are symmetrical due to the folding of the paper. I then flattened a slab of clay and put my cut out design onto it. After that I cut out my design on the clay and put it in a big bowl to keep its shape. Once it was dry I took it out of the bowl and fired it to get all the moisture out of the clay. I painted it, re-fired it, and finished the polishing. My bowl will serve as a holder for chips and snacks, and also as a piece of china in my mothers china set. The idea for my design came from the randomness of the bowl, and then the map in the bowl to help you find your way. I learned more about abstract designs and also how important it is to make sure your clay is dry before you take it out of your mold. If I would repeat the project, I would add more red clay to the project and thicken the lines of the arrows.