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As a railfan, I wanted to focus on a bill that affected Amtrak or rail transportation. As such, I decided to research the failed Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2007/2008. Since the information would revolve around the bill's movement, I decided to make a Prezi such that it would be easy to visualize how a bill goes through the process of becoming a law. The most challenging portion of this project was researching the factors that influenced the bills movement throughout congress. However, once it was completed, it was easy to present and design the Prezi.

If I were to re-create the project, I would probably want to incorporate multiple bills such that it would be easy to understand how bills can take different paths throughout congress. This would better allow me to present the information regarding the bill creation process. The process itself, while very intricate and with multiple steps, is rather simple in that one idea gets presented, researched, debated, drafted, budgeted, sent to the other portion of congress, at which point the system repeats itself. This long process makes it easy for congresspeople and the president to prevent a bill from becoming a law. However, the measures in place to override nay votes and vetoes allows for the government to go forth and pass legislation when a large majority of the persons agree.

• Explain your decision making for choosing the bill.

• Why did you choose the particular presentation format?

• What challenges did you overcome in completing the project?

• How would you do the project differently if you had to do it over again

• What did the research and investigation tell you about the creation process... from idea to bill to law?

• Was the process easier or harder than you imagined based on your particular bill/law research?

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Officials from the Philadelphia Water Department are some of the most avid fighters against fracking. They have realized that hydraulic fracturing in the Delaware River is a major factor in the quality of drinking water in Philly, as about 60 percent of the city’s residents get their drinking water from the river. The water department also realizes that drilling is only one of the problems that plagues our city’s drinking water and Christopher S. Crockett, director of planning and research at the water department of Philadelphia says that the company is going to take a scientific approach to the situation as apposed to jumping out of their seat and being sloppy about it.

Other officials against fracking are taking a quicker approach to shutting down hydraulic fracturing in Philadelphia. The executive director of PennEnvironment, David Masur has frowned upon the Water Department because of their lack of urgency when it comes to stopping hydraulic fracking in the Delaware River.

For more info on PennEnvironment’s approach on the halt of fracking (http://www.pennenvironment.org/drilling/water)

Detailed Fracking Information

This quarter you have studied how to draw a clear object of a glass  in a 3D model using art skills.  You learned about the different ways you have to draw the picture depending on where you draw the picture from. The angles matters, because it is what you see, not what you think. I drew this picture using black charcal and a white even sides paper. I started of thinking about the clear object that I wanted to draw, the object that could best fits my skills towards art. I shaded the entire paper light with the charcal. However, I shaded the middle darker and rub it with a paper towel to lightly the shade. I first started with a circle, one on top and one at the bottom. I realize that the object wasn't a circle drawing figure therefore it would be hard to translate the image on the paper. After drawing my model, I beings to transform it, from a 2D model to a 3D model. I drew the light reflection. The parts that are light, I took an erase and erase the top and sides and I added shadows of my object and erase some parts of the object it self to show that the object is a clear drawing. 

  The glass cup was more complex then what I actually believed it was. The goal I had was to make a clear object appear on a white paper. Although it was challenging, it was done. With shading, darkening spaces, and erasing. 

I first started by taking the black charcoal piece that I had and lighting scribbling over my paper. I then drew a outline of what I imagined the cup to look on paper. Heigh wise, the roundness of it... everything. Then by looking at the size of the paper, I realized that the proportions were off. I then made another attempt at the glass cup. I figured it was too dark for what my goal was to be so then I finally got it right and made my master piece. 

I made sure that there was lighting and the shape wasn't a black outline because evidently a clear object isn't black, it's clear. Over all the final product that was made, I was very content with. 

I decided to shape the model's body how she can be seen in person. She had on a hoodie and some jeans with her belt sticking out. As the kept going on I decided to add in the small details such as the knee shading and leg stance. I made the weight that she was putting her body on noticeable. I found myself making the head smaller than the body so I tried to adjust that by rounding out the strokes heavier and making the chin and neck thicker. I choose orange for the shirt under the model's hoodie because I believed that that well suited the color orange. 

In my future drawings of life size figures, I will choose to focus on even more lighting and shading. I also will continue to draw what I see in person. 

            I make a lot of decisions in this drawing because it’s hard to figure out what you plan to do. When I start this I just jump right into it, I don’t take time to think. Just draw what you see. There is nothing to think about, the whole thing is shading, I just figure out what looks good.

Now, since I enjoy doing this type of drawing I am going to practice more. I think that nothing will be perfect if you don’t practice first. This was my first time doing a clear figure drawing. I believe that I did well but I think that with practice I could do even better. I was challenging my eyes while doing thins because I had to transfer what my eyes see onto a piece of paper, coping as many details as possible.

There are a lot of decisions that I’m making on this drawing. I have to look closely and think about what I want my outcome to look like. When I am ready to draw I look for everyday shapes like lines and circles. I plan out where they would belong and outline everything I am going to draw. When I finish my outline I start to add detail and make it look more like a person.

When I first start this drawing I mess up. For about the first thirty to forty-five minutes of drawing it doesn’t look like anything more than a blob of color. I stress out and am frustrated but then I just keep working about making everything look how I want.

            Wondering what you’re looking at? Well, this is a still art of a mug that was from my school’s “Starry Night” Prom. When drawing still art you need only three things: charcoal, paper, and a BIG eraser. I started off with a mid tone, which is the back shading of my drawing. Then I started off with the outline of the cup and then realized that there was a lighting coming in from the back window so I added the reflection. Lastly, I added the details of the cup and erased anywhere I saw the light coming in.

            My inspiration was to have it look like my aunt’s still art drawing of clay pots she keeps in the basement. I always told my self I would become a good enough artist to draw things like that and here that day is. My teacher Ms. Hull showed us a video about a guy drawing a bowl and then told us to pick something and draw it out.

            My favorite tool to use was the eraser even though it would smudge some times when too much of the charcoal got onto the eraser. But when I was using the eraser, you could automatically see the change in dimension when you erase and shade a lighter shade to make the picture look more real.

            The best thing I did was showing the thickness of the mug in my drawing. The thing I would like to fix is my mid tone because it’s a little off and one side is darker than the other side.

            In all, I think that I did a pretty good job in the two and a half classes I spent on this project. I love getting down and dirty when I am drawing everything or anything.

            What you're looking at is something I've been waiting to do here at SLA. Making a mess, being covered in pastel, and just plain ‘old messing everything and anything up. Figure drawing isn’t easy. You have to get the right proportions and stop and step back to look at your work. It gets tedious but the out come of your drawing is worth it. I got into this assignment with out even being in Ms. Hull’s Advanced Art class. As a freshman, I would walk by and just stare at all of the upper classmen draw and think: “Wow, I’m going to sign up for this class one day!” And now, finally, I got to draw this and well, my process wasn’t as easy as I thought. I feel as if I did well because I like what I drew and so does the model. My favorite things about this work is that I had this mental mind set from Ms. Hull, my art teacher, gave us from day one: “Make a MESS. I want you to mess up and treat your artwork like it’s not precious. Don’t be afraid to mess up and rip your pages!” With that, I blocked every one out and got down and dirty in the pastel. Little did I know pastel is really hard to get out?

            My favorite tool to use is my hand because pastel is messy and can add a lot to your drawing if you know how to use it. SMUDGE EVERYTHING TOGETHER! And I just like getting dirty with my projects in art. That is always the best part of this assignment! Wondering my favorite materials? My favorite material to use was this teal color pastel in the mesh of pastel container.

            I bet you’re still wondering what I meant when I said that I thought my piece came out pretty nice and the model liked it. Well, I meant that if I liked it and the model that was staring at me draw it likes it then that’s all that matters. Oh, and I hope Ms. Hull and Emma like it too. I spent like three classes on my drawing so I am very proud of it. Everything from the texture, the light, and everything in between. For the texture, I shaded and made deep lines. For light, I focused her light and thought that it was coming from behind her. For color, I used a variety of colors and pastel pieces.

            Now in every reflection or after you hand in, there is always that feeling you get when you’re like: “UGH, I could have done that differently!” and man did I have those feelings! The first one was with my model’s hand. It’s all misshapen and not clear. Also, I would change the proportions of how I drew my model. When I work with pastel, I am reminded that it looks best when smudged.

             For my process, I started off with a six foot long brown paper and then I picked a lot of colors like blue, green, yellow, and tan to outline and draw out things at different times. I started off with a lot of blobs. Every time I went over my lines of my model, I would use a different color and go over it. I stared off with the head, then moved onto the shoulders, and then took a step back and drew her arms. I got stuck when I was drawing her hands but I didn’t want to spend too much time on that so I moved on to the waist and her slanted legs. I chose to leave out the models arms and just work with the details on her body.