If you have been following my blog throughout the last year, you would know that I have a previous post on the Ebola Crisis in West Africa from April. It was actually my first blog post, because it was a opinion column I wrote for my high school newspaper. Basically that post was about the lack of attention on medical emergencies in foreign countries.
Medical experts haven't found a safe cure for the virus yet, but there have been promising signs in containing it. When I wrote my last article about Ebola, I had never even heard of the virus. I just remember looking at headlines on USA Today and thinking 'I should bring attention to this issue because it sounds pretty serious', and serious it is. When I wrote the article I had researched about the number of deaths caused by the virus (because there had about a 90% mortality death rate) and found that there were about 90 deaths in Liberia, which was the main location of where the virus was. According to the World Health Organization, there have been 113 deaths since Thursday. That's four days ago from today.
Health workers in Liberia are currently working on an experimental drug. But, naturally, there are consequences of experimental drugs. This drug is called ZMapp and medical experts are saying that it's unclear as to whether this drug is absolutely effective or not, because it has never been tested on humans. There have been reports in West Africa with resistance from using the drug, which has caused conflict among family members and people in the community. People are trying to take their sick relatives away from health centers where they are being treated, and mobs have started rioting in the streets.
A new problem of this virus is also emerging; the issue of quarantine. All of the countries that are exposed to the Ebola virus are under strict and careful watch. In order to detain the virus from spreading even more, the official in Africa have been limiting travel of sick individuals, which sometimes results in the shutting off of entire villages. The UN World Food Program is currently preparing to deliver food to one million people over the next three months, because access to food, water, and basic necessities have been severely restricted.
My questions are, now what happens to these quarantined areas? How often is the UN World Food Program going to be able to supply these people with necessities? If these areas are being completely shut off from outside interaction, how soon will it be before they are completely neglected and ignored? Are we going to let a million people die because there just isn't enough resources to provide them with food and water? I think the biggest challenge of this issue is the fact that medical officials are so uncertain about this disease, and also that they don't seem to be very willing to update people on the process of recovery.
As of August 13, 2,127 cases of Ebola have been reported and 1,145 people have died.
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Sunday, August 10, 2014
A Colorful Passion
As I'm about to start this new adventure called college, I'm sitting here thinking about how I want my life to turn out. I'm the type of person to plan out every little detail. Will I make friends in college? What will my classes be like? What kinds of things will I be doing in ten years? Twenty? Who will I marry? Where will I live? It's typical for me to constantly worry and stress about the unknown. It's just who I am. I can't help that I'm nervous and scared to start a new chapter in my life. I'm programmed to be afraid of the unknown. Aren't we all?
No matter how freaked out I am, my passion for art is one thing that has always been set in stone. When I was in second grade, I realized that I was good at drawing. Mrs. Lewis, my art teacher at Marlatt Elementary, gave us an assignment to draw a close up of a butterfly. I wish I could remember my thoughts when I was drawing this, but all I know is that it turned out to actually be pretty good. I still have this drawing too, it's on a shelf at the top of my closet. I got it out a little while ago and I was reminded of the simple beauty of art. No matter what life throws at me, I will always love art.
I came up with a list of reasons on why I love art. So please, take a peek into my passion and I hope you get a better understanding of why I do what I do:
1. History: Just saying, "I love art because I love to draw and paint" hardly even scratches the surface of why I love art. There are so many levels of styles and techniques that, throughout history, have infinitely changed (and is changing) how art is made. Leonardo DaVinci was one of the leading painters in the Italian Renaissance. Along with DaVinci, Michaelangelo is another prominent artist of the Italian Renaissance. They studied the human anatomy, giving them insight on how to paint/sculpt more realistic people, opening a completely new door in the world of art. With Realism, which is one of my favorite styles of art, artists took a scene and painted it exactly how it was portrayed. One artist, Jan van Eyck, painted the Arnolfini Portrait. In this painting there are so many crazy details. In the back, there is a little mirror that actually shows the reflection of the back of the couple. He also painted himself in the mirror, painting these people. It's like a whole new level of art-ception. After Realism, my absolute favorite style of art is Impressionism. Claude Monet may just have been the most brilliant man to ever have lived on this earth. With Impressionism, artists would paint a scene how they perceive it to be. You can tell that it's an impressionistic painting because it has almost a blurry feel to it. My favorite thing about Claude Monet is that he painted a lot of water scenes. His most famous ones are probably his paintings of the lily-pads. Monet had a house that was surrounded by gardens and ponds, which is where most of his inspiration came from. Most of my paintings are based on the style of Impressionism. I love the fact that it doesn't have to be perfect, whereas in Realism the goal is to have everything look as it should. There is more freedom in painting impressionistic. A modern painter that also does impressionistic work is Leonid Afremov. He uses probably almost every color imaginable to make his paintings vibrant and amazing. I would probably do anything to eventually have one of his pieces hanging in my future living room. Surrealism is another really cool style of art, brought about in the 20th century. Salvador Dali is a prominent name in the surrealist world. A lot of surrealism is based on dreams, or alter-reality. I love looking at Surrealist paintings because there are so many small details that work together to make the painting whole. A big thing in Surrealism is optical illusions. Dali painted a lot of objects that look like something at one perspective, and something completely different at another. M.C. Escher is another famous surrealist. He did a lot of pencil drawings of optical illusions that I find fascinating. These are just a few types of styles throughout history. There are so many more like Cubism, Post-Impressionism, Post-Modernism, Pointillism, Abstract, Pop-Art, etc, which are all super cool to study.
2. Color: I think one of the most under-appreciated things about this world is color. If you look at an apple, your brain registers that it's red and then you move on with your day. Have you ever stopped to look at how many different types of reds are in that one apple? All of the bruise spots are a darker red than the rest of the skin. The sheen of an apple in the light is a different red than that. No two apples are the same shade of red. We've been taught since we were little that trees are green and brown. Go outside and look at a tree and I dare you to try to count how many different greens you see in the leaves. There is dark green for the shadows and yellow-green where the sunlight hits the tops of them. In the trunk there are deep, rich browns in the ridges and lighter highlighted browns on the top bark. If the tree is next to water, you might even see a little blue being reflected onto it. I love having the artistic license to put color basically wherever I want to in a painting. Let's say I'm painting a sunset over a mountain that has a lake in front of it. There are three major parts to this painting; the sky, the mountains, and the water. My favorite part about painting a landscape is making it have a really dramatic sky, meaning lots of bold clouds and mixed colors. So, I'll start by painting a light blue sky. Then I'll enhance it by smearing a little yellow around. Then some orange will go on top of that to make it bold, followed by bright red to accent where the sun is hitting underneath the clouds. My favorite thing about color is contrast. To contrast the warm colors already on my paper, I probably will start adding some deep purples and blues to create depth in my sky. Since it's theoretically impossible to mix the exact same color twice in a row, it's usually a good idea to start spreading out the colors I've already been painting with. All of the colors that have gone into my sky now have to be reflected in the water. My mountains will have most of those colors in them too, but not as prominent since it's a land mass and not a reflective surface. This is pretty much my thought process when I start a new painting. Lighting has a great deal to do with how colors reflect. Obviously if the light is coming straight down, the top of an object is going to have lighter color than the bottom of that object. Different mediums also affect the vibrancy, texture, and look of colors, which brings us to our next point of this list.
3. Medium: Art is all about creativity and experimentation. The best way to experiment with art is to try all different kinds of mediums. My favorite right now is acrylic paint. The best part about it is that it dries quickly, so if you make a mistake you can always just paint right over it. With acrylic, there are tons of different things that you can do with the paint. If you mix in modeling paste, the paint becomes thicker and you can actually create texture with it. If you add polymer gloss, the consistency of the paint becomes thinner, allowing it to create a translucent layer of paint. Watercolor is a gorgeous, but tricky, medium. You have to be extremely careful where you paint, because there's really no way to undo it. I've learned with watercolor that it's important not to start too dark. The more layers applied, the more vibrant the color. It's a gradual and tedious process that takes patience (which is why acrylic is my favorite and not watercolor). I have yet to try oil paint, because you have to have a ventilation system to get rid of fumes, which MHS never had. I've been told that oil paint is almost like acrylic, but it takes much longer to dry and it's easier to manipulate. Charcoal is another cool medium. It's pretty much like pencil drawing, but much messier. I'm also a huge fan of ink illustrations. I love the contrast between bold black lines and white negative space. These are by no means the extent of mediums, they're just some of my favorites, because I don't want to bore you by rambling on about each one.
I've known since I was little that I wanted to be an artist. When I was in middle school I wanted to be an art teacher. I had thought about being an elementary school art teacher, but I realized that kids that age probably can't grasp the depth of what I would want to explain things at. If I were a middle/high school teacher, I would probably just end up hating my job. Within the last couple of years I started looking into more careers that I could have with an art degree. I decided that I really want to work in/own a gallery. Making art is only half of the fun, the other half is being able to display it.
I'm so happy for the amount of support that I've had with my decision to study art. My parents have been super supportive this whole time, making sure that I have supplies and the space to paint. My teachers have all been amazing. They've helped me learn not only about the techniques and styles, but also about the history behind it. I'm super excited for what the future holds at Fort Hays State. I've already met the administrators and professors in the art building on campus and they all seem to be amazing and knowledgeable people. I hope that I can study hard and have the persistence and creativity to do great things while I'm in college. I've worked my entire life to become and artist, and hopefully I will eventually become one of the greats.
No matter how freaked out I am, my passion for art is one thing that has always been set in stone. When I was in second grade, I realized that I was good at drawing. Mrs. Lewis, my art teacher at Marlatt Elementary, gave us an assignment to draw a close up of a butterfly. I wish I could remember my thoughts when I was drawing this, but all I know is that it turned out to actually be pretty good. I still have this drawing too, it's on a shelf at the top of my closet. I got it out a little while ago and I was reminded of the simple beauty of art. No matter what life throws at me, I will always love art.
I came up with a list of reasons on why I love art. So please, take a peek into my passion and I hope you get a better understanding of why I do what I do:
1. History: Just saying, "I love art because I love to draw and paint" hardly even scratches the surface of why I love art. There are so many levels of styles and techniques that, throughout history, have infinitely changed (and is changing) how art is made. Leonardo DaVinci was one of the leading painters in the Italian Renaissance. Along with DaVinci, Michaelangelo is another prominent artist of the Italian Renaissance. They studied the human anatomy, giving them insight on how to paint/sculpt more realistic people, opening a completely new door in the world of art. With Realism, which is one of my favorite styles of art, artists took a scene and painted it exactly how it was portrayed. One artist, Jan van Eyck, painted the Arnolfini Portrait. In this painting there are so many crazy details. In the back, there is a little mirror that actually shows the reflection of the back of the couple. He also painted himself in the mirror, painting these people. It's like a whole new level of art-ception. After Realism, my absolute favorite style of art is Impressionism. Claude Monet may just have been the most brilliant man to ever have lived on this earth. With Impressionism, artists would paint a scene how they perceive it to be. You can tell that it's an impressionistic painting because it has almost a blurry feel to it. My favorite thing about Claude Monet is that he painted a lot of water scenes. His most famous ones are probably his paintings of the lily-pads. Monet had a house that was surrounded by gardens and ponds, which is where most of his inspiration came from. Most of my paintings are based on the style of Impressionism. I love the fact that it doesn't have to be perfect, whereas in Realism the goal is to have everything look as it should. There is more freedom in painting impressionistic. A modern painter that also does impressionistic work is Leonid Afremov. He uses probably almost every color imaginable to make his paintings vibrant and amazing. I would probably do anything to eventually have one of his pieces hanging in my future living room. Surrealism is another really cool style of art, brought about in the 20th century. Salvador Dali is a prominent name in the surrealist world. A lot of surrealism is based on dreams, or alter-reality. I love looking at Surrealist paintings because there are so many small details that work together to make the painting whole. A big thing in Surrealism is optical illusions. Dali painted a lot of objects that look like something at one perspective, and something completely different at another. M.C. Escher is another famous surrealist. He did a lot of pencil drawings of optical illusions that I find fascinating. These are just a few types of styles throughout history. There are so many more like Cubism, Post-Impressionism, Post-Modernism, Pointillism, Abstract, Pop-Art, etc, which are all super cool to study.
2. Color: I think one of the most under-appreciated things about this world is color. If you look at an apple, your brain registers that it's red and then you move on with your day. Have you ever stopped to look at how many different types of reds are in that one apple? All of the bruise spots are a darker red than the rest of the skin. The sheen of an apple in the light is a different red than that. No two apples are the same shade of red. We've been taught since we were little that trees are green and brown. Go outside and look at a tree and I dare you to try to count how many different greens you see in the leaves. There is dark green for the shadows and yellow-green where the sunlight hits the tops of them. In the trunk there are deep, rich browns in the ridges and lighter highlighted browns on the top bark. If the tree is next to water, you might even see a little blue being reflected onto it. I love having the artistic license to put color basically wherever I want to in a painting. Let's say I'm painting a sunset over a mountain that has a lake in front of it. There are three major parts to this painting; the sky, the mountains, and the water. My favorite part about painting a landscape is making it have a really dramatic sky, meaning lots of bold clouds and mixed colors. So, I'll start by painting a light blue sky. Then I'll enhance it by smearing a little yellow around. Then some orange will go on top of that to make it bold, followed by bright red to accent where the sun is hitting underneath the clouds. My favorite thing about color is contrast. To contrast the warm colors already on my paper, I probably will start adding some deep purples and blues to create depth in my sky. Since it's theoretically impossible to mix the exact same color twice in a row, it's usually a good idea to start spreading out the colors I've already been painting with. All of the colors that have gone into my sky now have to be reflected in the water. My mountains will have most of those colors in them too, but not as prominent since it's a land mass and not a reflective surface. This is pretty much my thought process when I start a new painting. Lighting has a great deal to do with how colors reflect. Obviously if the light is coming straight down, the top of an object is going to have lighter color than the bottom of that object. Different mediums also affect the vibrancy, texture, and look of colors, which brings us to our next point of this list.
3. Medium: Art is all about creativity and experimentation. The best way to experiment with art is to try all different kinds of mediums. My favorite right now is acrylic paint. The best part about it is that it dries quickly, so if you make a mistake you can always just paint right over it. With acrylic, there are tons of different things that you can do with the paint. If you mix in modeling paste, the paint becomes thicker and you can actually create texture with it. If you add polymer gloss, the consistency of the paint becomes thinner, allowing it to create a translucent layer of paint. Watercolor is a gorgeous, but tricky, medium. You have to be extremely careful where you paint, because there's really no way to undo it. I've learned with watercolor that it's important not to start too dark. The more layers applied, the more vibrant the color. It's a gradual and tedious process that takes patience (which is why acrylic is my favorite and not watercolor). I have yet to try oil paint, because you have to have a ventilation system to get rid of fumes, which MHS never had. I've been told that oil paint is almost like acrylic, but it takes much longer to dry and it's easier to manipulate. Charcoal is another cool medium. It's pretty much like pencil drawing, but much messier. I'm also a huge fan of ink illustrations. I love the contrast between bold black lines and white negative space. These are by no means the extent of mediums, they're just some of my favorites, because I don't want to bore you by rambling on about each one.
I've known since I was little that I wanted to be an artist. When I was in middle school I wanted to be an art teacher. I had thought about being an elementary school art teacher, but I realized that kids that age probably can't grasp the depth of what I would want to explain things at. If I were a middle/high school teacher, I would probably just end up hating my job. Within the last couple of years I started looking into more careers that I could have with an art degree. I decided that I really want to work in/own a gallery. Making art is only half of the fun, the other half is being able to display it.
I'm so happy for the amount of support that I've had with my decision to study art. My parents have been super supportive this whole time, making sure that I have supplies and the space to paint. My teachers have all been amazing. They've helped me learn not only about the techniques and styles, but also about the history behind it. I'm super excited for what the future holds at Fort Hays State. I've already met the administrators and professors in the art building on campus and they all seem to be amazing and knowledgeable people. I hope that I can study hard and have the persistence and creativity to do great things while I'm in college. I've worked my entire life to become and artist, and hopefully I will eventually become one of the greats.
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