Max Amar-Olkus - Q2 project
Thank You.
Well, in this quarter Ms. Hull had us go on this website called Drawingspace.com. This website has interesting lessons on how to draw. I started from the basics on Beginner Level starting at B. B is the Learn to See section, which means “As an artist, can visually explore everything around them from their own unique perspective, and with new purposes, such as discovering drawing subjects.(Drawing space)” So we did all the mini lessons and drawings with in that section. I learned how to see the object, and draw it. For example the duck, instead of drawing the duck I drew the space around the duck. My duck then got lots of shape and came out wonderful. Refer to the duck at the bottom of the blog. I also feel like shading had a big part to do with this section. Simply because I shaded several of my pictures so that it comes out more defined. I feel as though several of the examples came with knowing how to shade.
I discussed about the section B. But now I moved on to section C. Section C is drawing with lines. This section is about “Lines, the basic building blocks of drawing, can either be visually rendered or simply implied as a division between spaces or values. All shading styles used throughout Drawspace are made up of the three different types of lines, straight, curved, or angle.” I feel like this section improved my drawing tremendously because without lines what is Art? Everything in art refer to lines, even the shading. This section taught me how to use lines exactly. How to make dark lines, or thin lines. For example, The Star Fish drawing, was drawing well drawn because I knew the basics of lines from the previous drawings I drew. By me curving lines and adjusting how long a line is, my star fish came out very well. You can see my drawing at the end of this page.
The next section of Drawingspace.com is D. Section D was also an interesting section. Section D was called squirkling, “Squirkling is an easy method of shading, in which randomly drawn curved lines (called squirkles) combine squiggles and scribbles with circles to create textured values. The curriculum is designed to enhance various shading skills.” I feel like this section was defiantly focusing more on shading, and knowing light from dark in a picture. This relates to section C, but a little more advance. I used the method squirkling, to shade certain things. Sometimes I would shade in hard, or around the face of one of my drawings. For example, my drawing baby curly, and his hair was drawn by using the method squirkling. The motion of my pencil is around, instead of shape. This causes the lines to be curly and not as straight. So Baby curly’s hair looks natural and more like hair. Also, with this method I can decide whether I want more darker tone, or lighter tone. I really enjoyed this section of the Lessons.
Section E was about perspective. All of the other sections applied to perspective meaning the lines, the way I angle them. I also did lots of shading and tones. Section E says “Perspective is the very foundation, on which drawing compositions either stand or fall. With proper use of perspective, representational drawings appear three-dimensional and visually correct.” Perspective is so interesting and come out to be very real. They look like the object drawn is real. Section F is more structured but look to further blogs to see.
During the second quarter of senior art class, I brushed up a lot on my drawing skills. I bought myself a brand new sketch book to start fresh and my goal was to only draw things in it that I knew I was going to be really proud of. Before this quarter, I was working a lot with charcoal so I wanted to switch it up a little and just use my pencil for a lot of the work that I did. I really wanted to improve my drawing skills so my drawings look a little more realistic. I think this really showed through with my daffodil drawing. That is the drawing I am most proud of doing this quarter. It took me about three class periods to complete because I was being very meticulous with the shading. I wanted it to look good enough to be a tattoo, that is what I kept envisioning.
I also worked on a project at home. I was doing some research online and I came across a Crayola canvas. It really looked interesting and I wanted to try it out. I went to the craft store Michael's and picked up a new canvas and the biggest pack of Crayola crayons I could buy. I color organized the crayons the way I wanted them to be on the canvas. I then hot glued each crayon onto the canvas in a zig zag pattern. My next step was to take a hair dryer and put it on high and melt the tops of the crayons so the wax melted and dripped down the canvas. I was very happy with the way it turned out. I used my friend’s professional camera to take a picture of it.
After that project, I went back into pencil drawings. I drew a bunch of pictures of my favorite cartoon characters. This included the Cheshire Cat, the Caterpillar, Alice, and the Mad Hatter, all from the movie ‘Alice in Wonderland.’ Then I drew Jake and Fin from ‘Adventure Time’, my favorite TV show. I also threw in one charcoal drawing I drew down Valley green and two flower pastel drawings. I really enjoyed art this quarter because I did a variety of different things and I got to brush up on my drawing skills and make a Crayola canvas.
For our second benchmark mark we are studying languages within ourselves. I choose to write about the code switching I do between my friend, family,and to older people.
Language is how you speak. Everyone has a different way of speaking.When I’m with my friends I may come off as sarcastic or as if I do not care. When I really take a sad story and turn it into something I can cope with. But not every story me and my friends talk about that way is sad. When a person asks a question they already know the answer to we speak sarcastic. For example if you ask how many fingers a normal person has you should already know the answer. I look at my friend they will look at me and then we would start smiling. Next comes our sarcasm. We might respond with something such as “15” or to really laugh we might say “non, we do not know what a finger is.”
I thought that writing about this could help me really understand why I do it. I guess that if people knew what I do then they might stop acting dumb. Well those who read this. What does sracman mean to me? I think of it as a way to insult idiots without them realizing it. Am I a mean person for it? Well I don’t think so. I’m sarcastic 75% of the time, but that doesn’t mean that i’m never serious.
There was this time when abounce of my friends and I was sitting around a table. Of course there when outsiders there but when do they ever matter? We were talking about this youtube video about this girl who was dancing on a locker and she fell off. We watched the video over and over again because it was funny. A Bi-standard walked by and was like omg did she just fall? We laughed again but this time not at the video at the dummy with a stupid question. I replied no she did it because she wanted to. She bumped her head because she thought she could become smarter. Everybody laughed. The dummy with a dumb question felt stupid. My goal is complete.
Is what i’m doing a nice thing? Can people benefit from how I speak to them? Probably not, but the big question is ask me if I care. It’s not my fault that I think sometimes before I talk unlike most of the students that goes to my school. Asking question you know the answer to will get you nowhere. It’s like asking your mother how many siblings you have, when you live with all of them everyday. Or asking how many numbers is in the alphabet when you use a computer to make a living.
There are times where people ask question they know the answer to and you can not reply sarcastic. You must look at them differently and or begin to laugh.
Here’s a time when my sister said something that almost made me want to homeschool her my self. My father was mins away from getting a foot operation. He was telling us about the other operations he has overcome. One of them was when he had gotten his appendix removed. After he said it my younger sister turned around and replies “You have no kidney?”
What can you say to a question as such. Nothing you sit there and crack up laughing. You laugh until your “Kidney” falls out.
Ingredients (for two
servings):
1 Onion
1 Green pepper
1 Tomato
2 African hot peppers
5 Maggi cubes
1 Package Chicken tray
⅕ cup
of vegetable oil
Instructions:
1.) Pour 5 oz. of dehydrated attieke into a large pot.
2.) Heat 5 oz. of water until warm. Pour the water in the pot with the attieke
while stirring gently. Allow the attieke to soak for 5 to 10 minutes.
3.) Place the pot on the stove and cook for 4 to 5 minutes. Stir the attieke
continuously. Use a fork to prevent the grains from sticking together.
4.) Turn off the heat and remove the pot from the stove.
5.) Place the attieke in a large bowl and wait for it to cool down.
6.) For the second part of the dish, place the chicken in a large Ziploc bag.
Then, place the 3 maggi cubes in the Ziploc bag with the chicken. Keep the
chicken in there for 30-60 minutes.
7.) Take the Ziploc bag with the chicken and put it in a refrigerator. You can
refrigerate the chicken for up to four hour. The chicken will absorb the flavors.
8.) Take the chicken out of the fridge. Allow the chicken to come to room
temperature before grilling it.
9.) Grill the chicken in a grill pan till both sides of the chicken turn brown
and crispy.
10.) Place the grilled chicken in a plate and put the attieke next to it.
11.) Cut up the onion, tomato, African hot pepper, and green pepper and put
them in a Ziploc bag. Put one maggi cube and ⅕ of vegetable oil in
the Ziploc bag. Let it sit for 30 minutes.
12.) Put the mixture that is in the Ziploc bag on top of the grilled chicken
and the attieke.
Analysis:
Our meal consists entirely
of processed foods. The total amount of calories in our meal is 851.4. Since
there are so many calories in our dish, if eaten often, the human body would
gain weight and grow to be less healthy. The amount of fat in our dish is 18.1
grams. Since our dish is fairly low in fat, the human body is more likely to
work more proficiently. It is also less prone to get diseases associated with a
fatty diet. These include diabetes, heart disease, and cancer of the lower
digestive system. However, if you ate this meal everyday, since it is low in
fat, it can lead to problems like overeating, depression, and hormonal
imbalances.
All of our ingredients were
harvested in the United States. However, some of them are native to West Africa
(African hot pepper, etc.). On average, our ingredients travelled 600 miles to
get to Philadelphia. According to research, the manufactures of the ingredients
to not harvest it organically.
The chemicals used can have
a negative impact on the planet in many ways. One of these is pollution. As the
chemicals get washed away, they end up in rivers. This ultimately decreases the
quality of the affected river. Given each ingredient, the meal cost five ten
dollars to make. This is about the same cost as a fast food meal.
One ingredient of
particular interest to us was the African hot pepper. To grow it, a seed was
placed in the ground. It was watered once everyday and sprayed with pesticides.
After growing, it was picked, packaged, and sent to the store to be sold. After
being purchased, it ended up in our dish.
Personal Reflections:
Ronald: One of
the main problems with America’s food system is that people are lazy. In this
unit, we have learned that people simply do what is most convenient when it
comes to obtaining food. For instance, I remember one of the graphs that we
looked at showed how far away the average person is from a supermarket. I
realized that this distance often determines whether or not a person has access
to healthy organic foods, as if unhealthy foods are closer, that is probably
what the consumer will choose.
If I could make changes to
my food choices, I would I would eat more vegetables. The reason is because I
sometimes go days without eating them. I feel that if I ate more vegetables, I
would become a healthier person. One impact that eating more vegetables would
have is that I would have more lasting energy. Although eating foods that are
high in sugar gives me energy, it burns out quickly. As a sprinter, this can
lead to me tiring out in the middle of a race.
After realizing that I need
to eat more vegetables, I am prepared to make a change. Now, I make sure that I
eat vegetables at least once a day. I plan to increase my intake even further.
Mabintu: I have learned a lot about foods this unit; food that is good for you and food that is bad for you. We also learned about why some foods are the way they are and what the government has to do with the kind of food we eat. When we looked at the health/food maps we came to an understanding that most of the overweight/Obese people are in the poor areas of Philadelphia. We talked about how food companies be lying about in the food and the labels. We talked about organic food and how it is more expensive and you have less of a variety to choose from. That is why people spend most of their money on presses food because they cause less. I do not need to change anything about my diet because I usually eat homemade food. When I eat outside I do not eat health because it’s they only time I can eat something that I think is good. I do not eat unhealthy most of the time I eat unhealthy like twice a week or so. I guess I need to make a little change to my diet, as to what times I eat. Right now I eat any time I hungry and sometimes I eat even when I’m not hungry. That will have to change.
Serving size: 7-8
12.00 dollars
Ingredient
1/2 cup of magrine
1/2 cup of Sugar
4 eggs
1 bag of wheat bread crumbs1 cup of skim milk.
2 tablespoons of salt.1. Preheat oven 350 degrees
2. Mix the bowls with the ingredients.
3. Bake the 350 degree oven for an hour before serving.
Serving size 2 people.
Some of the food is process and some is whole. The pineapples and eggs are not process and they are whole foods. But the extra ingredients like sugar margarine is process. Its pretty healthy as it only has 166 calories. I say it’s like 55% process and 45% not process. It is very high in natural sugar and process sugar. It also has eggs for protein and bread for bread use. This food dish lacks vitamin A, B and D. Also it does not have a lot of cholesterol. Some of the food that is processed all of the food will go straight to your systems that will be processed and then go to your stomach. Margarine comes from vegetable oil and skim milk. That is healthier then butter.
Margarine comes from vegetable oil and skim milk. So they came from a farmers. So does the eggs that were made. My specific margarine and eggs comes from Kentucky. I am not aware wear my eggs came from but its company was Foodhold USA which is in Maryland. The rolls came from Florida and my Pineapples also came from Florida. That is a total of 1324 miles traveled just to get in my home. The Margarine, bread, pineapples, and sugar were all processed. Only the eggs were not processed. But the chicken who laid it was.
This meal cost around 12 dollars. This meal is suppose to serve 8 people. This is a lot more expensive then a 4 dollar menu burgers from McDonalds. This is an outrage that a dish served for 8 cost so much more. The stuff that cost the most is pineapples which were 2.00 dollars. Obviously the Martians, Doles and other foods won the deal by stealing my money.
My bread cubes cubes some soybeans and Monocalcuim in it. I have no idea how they managed to add those items in bread but the did. I’m pretty sure if I made the bread those items would not be included in my bread. My eggs have no significant source of Dietary fiber or sugar. But I have no idea how to make eggs the right way. Plus I have no chickens.
I learned different effects that food can have on someone. I knew that eating unhealthy can cause an unhealthy life in the future. I knew that liver problems and other serious diseases are caused by eating habits. What I learned the most was from the videos, even though we didn’t finish the movie I learned a lot about the food culture. I learned that the food producers are a bunch of a-holes. Sorry for the rude language but it’s beyond me that a food company can just about contaminate almost all of the natural foods to make them more fattening just for money. It’s terrible to kill the cows, chickens and pigs the way they do. Not only make them fat but you basically make them kill them in the most gruesome way. And once someone talks about it, they get sued by the food companies. The workers can’t stop because they need the money to survive. So no one wins. This is a messed up society we have. Another reason why this world is messed up is because people in low income can not afford healthy foods because 1 low income and 2 there are no grocery store. This a terrible world we live in.
I remember when I first moved to Philly, I was five years old and beginning my kindergarten year at Norwood Fontbonne Academy, a Catholic School in Chestnut Hill. I walked down the stairs in my favorite polo dress and my hair in one ponytail and hopped in the car after what seemed like thousands of pictures from my overly emotional mother. I never understood the tears, I mean, I did go to preschool for three years before that. We rolled into the construction filled school in our Ford Explorer with the Massachusetts license plate. Nervousness ran through my whole body. I sat down on the “magic carpet” when we went around the circle to say our names and where we are from. When it was my turn I sat up straight, head held high, and said “My name is Gabrielle Aahrnold and I am from Amhuuuuurst Massachusetts.” Naturally my teachers were concerned that I wasn’t developing my phonics correctly. Fast forward 10 years later with a little “Hooked on Phonics” and “speech therapy”, I speak with little to no accent.
My accent was one of the things that defined me. Amherst is in my blood. My accent made me different from everyone else. I stood out from the crowd. I wasn’t just a Philly girl, I was an Amherst girl, and damn proud of it. I still am an Amherst girl... but a Philly girl as well. My accent was a conversation starter, something distinct, something beautiful. That’s the beauty of language, regardless of how your voice sounds, where you are and who you’re with. There will always be someone who will listen to your voice and instantly connect with you. Their voice rubs off on you.
I began attending Germantown Friends School September of 2003. My vocabulary from the time I was very young has always been vaster than what was the expectation. Over time I began to talk more and more like my peers, we began our own language. “Obvi” began to slowly creep into my “all the time vocabulary, annoying my parents and pushing my cousins to call me “white girl”. My aunt began to taunt my cousins and I when she saw us talking, “And I’m like, and he’s like, and I’m like and he’s like”. She says this to this day. I’ve changed schools so the taunting hasn’t been as severe since I picked up a majority of my other cousin’s vocabulary when I began attending Science Leadership Academy in the fall of 2011.
When I began attending Science Leadership Academy, I learned a new type of English, Philly slang. Most of my friends at GFS were from the outskirts of Philly, we had our own slang. “That’s dead” slowly began to creep into my vocabulary so much so that my mother has begun saying it.
I love that my language reflects all the places I have been in life. Amherst, Philly, Norwood, SLA. My language is like one of my style, something that is visible always and represents who I am to the fullest. "