The first blog in term 2

Welcome back to my blog. This is the first blog after my holiday. I see this term as an opportunity to improve and explore deeply about my main subject. 

I worked part-time at a nail shop to gain more experience for my life. Because I wanted to try with nail art and apply my knowledge of color to nail design, so I decided to apply a job at nail shop. Although it was just painting and designing on nails. It was a fun experience that allowed me to practice, for example, drawing Santa Claus or snowflakes for clients on Christmas Day. 

I was especially inspired when doing nails for clients. Through research and experience, I found that nail art isn't simply about drawing and designing shapes on nails, but also about combining colors and designs that suit the client's preferences and personality. Moreover, I have understand that nail art also reflects and shows the style and creativity of the nail designers. They can get inspirations from everyday objects or materials such as food, candles, and plants.

Nails by Kumi

This is an image of a nail design inspired by trees, for example. They used grass to attach to the nails and small decorations like mushrooms and flowers to highlight the design. Although it looks quite complex, it has created creativity and uniqueness in the nail design industry. From basic images in everyday life, we can still design many different images.

 And here is my work. I based this nail design on the client's request for something playful and something related to cartoonish characters like Mickey Mouse, a magic lamp, and other cartoon characters. I also used color to highlight the designs. Although it's not perfect, it was an experience and a chance to showcase my talent and creativity.

This is my work

In the new term, I hope to develop more my software skills from creating the new website and portfolio. I also want to try more applications such as Sketchup and research more artworks from famous artists.

And in this class, we also learned how to recreate an famous artwork.

I worked with Alexanra and we decided to choose the painting "The Two Fridas". This is a painting by Frida Kahlo from 1939. It shows two different condition and emotion of Frida after her divorce. The image on the right shows her holding a small stuff, representing her longing for her husband, while the image on the left shows her holding scissors with a string around her heart and it was cut to show the breakdown of her marriage. Besides that, she used oil paint on canvas and the colors in her paintings are mainly cool tones such as gray, white, and blue, creating a feeling of sadness and loneliness.

 In additionally, there are some the facts about this painting. 

- On one side, she wore traditional Tehuana costume, symbolizing Mexican heritage, while on the other hand, she wore European-style clothing.

- This is one of her largest works, measuring around 68x68 inches.

- The painting was exhibited at the International Surrealism Exhibition in Mexico City in 1940 and then it is displayed at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City.

The Two Fridas

To recreate this work, we selected fabrics that matched the colors in the picture such as blue for the shirt, green for the dress, white for the dress, two red hats for the hearts, and other materials like a scissors, a string, cardboard and cotton balls.   

                                                               

After that, we asked the instructor about how to make a background, and he suggested we attach cotton balls to the dark blue fabric to create a background similar to the painting. We attached the cotton balls to the fabric using tape. In addition, we folded our hats to form hearts and secured them with tape, then attached strings to the two hearts. 

                                                       

 Then, we went to another classroom to take photos because it was bigger and brighter. We put 2 chairs on top of the tables to support the background, and 2 chairs underneath to sit. Regarding clothing, I wore my white shirt and used white fabric to make a dress, while Alexanra used blue fabric for her top and green fabric for her dress.  

                                                               

 This is our outcome. With the hearts made of hats, we taped these to our chests with tape. Although we prepared a scissors, when I looked back at the photo, I realized that my dress was covering the scissors. I think I should be more careful and better prepared before taking the picture.

                                                 

With the first photo, we tried our best to make the background look bigger, but it was too small in reality. So we decided to edit the image to make it look more like the sample picture. I used a Chinese photo editing app and added the background image behind. Besides that, I also tried to remove the glass in the bottom corner and add more of the dress. And this is the result after editing. 

                                                 

 During working with Alexanra, we had some struggles. Firstly, we were confused about how to make the hearts, but then we realized we could use hats to create. Secondly, we didn't know how to create a background because it was a mix of white and dark blue, making it difficult to make. We asked our tutor, and he gave us some suggestions. Final is the photography and background arrangement because we need to take the entire background behind us. However, after all that, we worked quite well together and supported each other a lot, and I'm very happy that we got to work together.  

Reference: 

Research about nail art - https://www.dazeddigital.com/beauty/article/66548/1/fresh-sets-is-a-new-book-documenting-nail-art-from-around-the-world 

Research about "The Two Fridas" - https://www.fridakahlo.org/the-two-fridas.jsp#google_vignette

Picture - https://images-prod.dazeddigital.com/2000/azure/dazed-prod/1400/8/1408579.jpg

The facts - https://www.gallery4percent.com/post/5-interesting-facts-about-the-two-fridas-by-kahlo-that-will-leave-you-stunned