Color Contrast

I really like this picture. I took it last year, right after I got out of Basic Training and AIT. I missed flowers while there, and this picture seemed like a perfect opportunity. I really like the firyness of the flower against the pale green background. It actually makes me smile to look at this picture.
The picture is of a black-eyed-susan-like flower, only it's dark red near the center working to bright yellow on the tips of the petals. There is one large flower and one peaking out from behind it and the middle, without petals, off to the side. Behind them is a not-focused green leafy background.
The composition is good. The one large flower in detail makes for very good color saturation and line quality. The veins in the petals make for very good detail. I like how the flower stands out, but you can still see that it's a flower in the ground.
I would call the picture "Fall." I think the colors and the flower really represent autumn very well. I think the flower tells the story of being left behind after summer to continue to grow into fall, when most other flowers have given up. It shows strength and the ability to live with adversity.
Paul Cezanne uses more subtle color contrast than my picture. He uses little amounts of color next to its compliment. Mine has large sections of contrasting colors.

Perspective

This picture is interesting. The only you can see is the perspective. There's not much else to it. I think it's interesting in it's simplicity. I like the change in the bottom, it adds a little variety, but not enough to draw and keep your eye there. The shadows really show up on this picture. Each plane of the wall is a completely different color in the picture, but you know that they are the same color walls. The bottom, metal part is interesting as well. In the reflection, you can see almost a "reverse" perspective. I think that's neat.
This picture was taken of the baggage claim at the Hays Airport. It's the very corner, just enough to see the perspective of it, yet be interesting. it is very short in depth, but the perspective view is still very easy to see. The walls are a light cream color and the metal roll-away door is a shiny silver color.
The composition is interesting, with the only real detail on the left side. I like how the silver is only in the bottom third of the picture. I think it seems heavier so it looks more appropriate to only see part of it and that part be in the very bottom. The line quality is okay, but a little blurry. The color is very monochromatic. Almost boring.
The picture reminds me when I was growing up and time-outs were common. Corners were a common landscape for me. I would call this picture "Time-out."
Edward Ruscha's artworks are of many different subjects and genres. I like the lithograph of the gas station called "Standard Station." It's an interesting suggestion of perspective, without actually showing the true perspective of the building.

Texture

This picture is weird. Very weird. It doesn't look like anything. At first I notice the lines. Then I notice the lines that make up the lines. Then the globs of yarn stick out. I don't really like it. It's ugly, but it shows texture really well.
The picture is taken of a wall tapestry at the Hays airport. the bottom portion is rows of blue yarn hanging down, with two white shocks of color mixed in. Above the hanging blue is a row of different values of knotted blue. Above that is a design of triangles of blue, red, and white. It has balls of knotted yarn adding detail and depth. The picture is taken from the bottom right hand corner. It's a different view of a wall hanging.
The composition of this picture is interesting. I like the detail in the foreground and the general-ness in the background. The line quality is crazy. The color is interesting, but boring. There is very little value or contrast. The white on the blue is the only contrast, ans it's not very good contrast.
The picture tells a story of craziness. It looks very busy and all over the place. It looks almost like an unconquered frontier.
Richard Serra's sculptures are interesting. I like the one title "Schunnemunk Fork." It's a steel wall jutting out from the side of a hill. The organic shapes and textures and colors are imposed upon by an unnatural steel wall. It's very interesting to the see the two together.

Expression and Value

This photo looks very empty and lonely. There isn't even a chair at the desk It is almost depressing. The desk corner stands out the most, because it is so light, and the fact that it juts out in the empty space. then you notice the parallel line of the floor and corner that makes that contrasting dark strip in the middle.
The picture is taken of an empty desk at the airport. The previous company that held this office space left, leaving it vacant. It's an L-shaped grey desk with a dark floor and trim and wallpaper that looks like waves behind it. The dark floor and trim form a dark contrast to the light colored desk.
I think the composition is interesting, with the desk going diagonally across the picture plane. The parallel lines of the desk edge, floor, and trim form a nice sense of harmony, along with the waves of the wallpaper. The main colors are the same as well: grey, just in different values. The line quality in this picture is very good. they are sharp and crisp and convey the feeling of cleanliness and hard work, even.
The picture tells the story of disuse and emptiness. It almost looks lost. I like "Lost" for the title (I know it's not a noun, but can we let it slide, just once?)
Edgar Degas' drawings manage to combine contour line and slight shading to show complete forms of dancers. One of my favorites is "Dancer Stretching her Leg at the Barre." It shows the dancer's body it detail, and makes her tutu look almost invisible, which it is in real life. My picture doesn't really relate to it, especially when you notice the fact that Degas' drawing s are a lot more organic and lively than mine.

Chiaroscuro

This photo looks like craziness when you first look at it. then, after you realize that it's a tree, it looks very interesting. I notice the very dark on the right side and then the really light trunk. Both pop out a lot. I like the picture a lot. It seems as if it's crazy, but it's not really.
The photo is taken of a fake tree, from the bottom looking up. There are lights all around and underneath, lighting it up in unique ways.
The composition is pretty good, with dark to light moving up and to the right. The lines are crisp in parts, and out of focus in others, adding a sense of variety.
I'm not quite sure if it tells a story. It is a neat picture, but it is just a tree. I would call it "Tree".
Albrecht Durer's drawings are very detailed, and almost busy. This is very busy, but not as detailed. His drawings are of separate subjects. I didn't find any abstract ones, like this photo. His chiaroscuro is very shorthand, almost in planes, in a couple of his drawings, it is almost geometric, not as organic. This picture, in it's very essence is organic.

Line and Rhythm

This photo makes me want to know what exactly it is when I look at it. You actually have to look at it for a second to tell what it is - the baggage claim door at the airport in Hays. I took it sideways, to show the lines in the rolling door better. I think the composition is interesting. It's not what you'd expect when looking at a rolling door. I also like the reflectiveness in the stainless steel surround. I think it tells the story the story of all airport go-ers. I would call it "door."
I think that as a caricaturist, Daumier was amazing. He used line to describe something, not just draw it. My favorite one, with some of my favorite uses of lines is "Law and Justice." I don't really think my picture compares to Daumier's work. I see a usage of line to describe the function of the door, but I don't see the lines describing the door.

Expression

This picture is goofy, and stupid, and mean. When you look at it, you notice, of course, his face. His mouth stands out the most because it's the most animated. It makes me want to know what got him to make that face.
This is a picture of a man, seatbelted into a car, wearing an Army t-shirt, with glasses. He has an expression of disgust/fear, with both eyebrows raised, his eyes widened, and his mouth drawn back in half a grimace.
The actual photo is not very high quality. It is vary dark around that top, to the point where you can't distinguish the top of his head. His eyes are also very dark. The colors in the picture are very washed out; not very interesting. I took the picture of my brother on our way to surprise my parents in Montana. He lives at Fort Bragg, NC, but wasn't going to be able to see my parents before being shipped to the sand box(also know as Iraq). Of course, he's looking at me, so he decided to make the face.
The photo does tell a story. It makes you think of someone flashing out a camera and snapping a picture, while the subject was surprised and then ornery. I would use "Road-trip."
I think this picture relates in the sense that most of her drawings, that I could find, were of people in anguish, or suffering, and my picture is definitely not happy. Her drawings were of people who were suffering, not having fun.