Backyard Wonderland (A/C BP #3)

Among the posts asked to be completed by us as a class, so far this one is my favorite. For those in the audience who have no idea what I’m talking about, my class met this past Monday in the H.O. Botanical Gardens at the Penn State Arboretum. Arboretum…that still leaves a funny feeling in my mouth, and I can never remember to say it right. Ha, so anyway, back on track. The gardens are pretty much just that. Some neat pathways take the wandering individual through an easy to navigate mismatch of gardens featuring too many plants for me to name. I guess I’ll just take you on a textual walk through of the place, practice some imagery use, that sort of thing. 

I have the fortune of basically living across the street from the Arboretum, so having class there on Monday was wonderful. I slept in a little. Loved it... I had the fortune of stumbling across the gardens before when I arrived on campus, so I knew my way around and knew it was just going to be a good experience. 

I took the more scenic route across the street and through the field. While I didn’t cross directly, there was some cut grass that marked a sort of pathway to the fountain. The fountain looks especially great at night with the lights on, the water shining and all. So anyway I went through and to my right there was bamboo and other nifty things I don’t know the names of. Fun fact our teacher shared, bamboo grows fast, so fast it can be used as means of torture. A victim placed over a rack over the bamboo shoots will eventually have the bamboo grow up through him. Yea, painful stuff…There was a pond to the left path with just about every color water lily I could imagine (blue, yellow, pink, white? I think that’s most of them). The center path then divides into an oval around the event lawn. It’s a lawn, nothing special there. The left path leads off to a sundial sculpture, sunflower field, and overhand of vines and gourds. The flowers here were particularly vibrant in color. The right path swings around to the observation deck. It’s not called that, but that’s the idea. There’s another sculpture here of Nittany Valley and its waterways. In all, it’s something that needs to be experienced rather than told about. 

I’ve visited the Arboretum a few times before. I’ve just been stressed with starting college. It happens, and I have this little sanity center across the street to help me with it. I can’t say I love it just yet (I’m too eager to see it when it’s finished), but I can say it does help bring some peace of mind. Locations like this are one reason to love nature. You’d never see it in the wild, I don’t think, the mixture of plants, but the smell of flowers was something relaxing, all of them melded together. I like nature without the bugs, basically. Maybe it was just without them because of the time of year, but that’s fine by me! It’s funny I can’t say much about it when there is so much going on. Maybe it’s because I’m sick, haha. It’s peaceful there, and that’s what I like most about it.

 

My title probably doesn't make sense besides my post being as vague as a dream. I'm thinking of the animals that I've seen running around: chipmunks, rabbits, birds, bees, and some other little thing I never got a good look at... Down the rabbit hole, I kept thinking as I walked through the Arboretum.

 

I’ll probably be over there at least a dozen more times before the semester is over, rain or shine. I want to show my mother the Arboretum when she visits. She used to have a sort of garden at home when she was a stay-at-home mom. That all changed once my brothers and I were old enough to manage ourselves when it came to school, and the garden lost its touch a little. Her work from the past has lasted though. Our backyard at home is always green, fenced in GREEN! Spring and summer bring on the array of hues from the flowers below. I don’t spend a lot of time “in nature” but when I do I always find it easy to get away from the world. Bringing others with me would be a circumstantial thing. As of now, I go for the solitude and quiet. Even with the roar not even a block away, I can escape the busy atmosphere of the campus and just breathe a little. I hope this post isn’t too disappointing, reader. It’s just something I’m having trouble putting to words. Take a visit on your own some time. You’ll understand precisely what I mean.

A Striking Appearance (A/C BP #2)

Hello again. So this past week we, my class, took a visit to the Palmer Museum (an art museum here on campus). The instructions, poorly paraphrased, were to find a piece of art that strike “you”, the individual, and take some notes about it. Next, we are supposed to blog about it. Shocker, right? Right then, so let’s get to it…  

I like art, I admit, but sometimes pieces that become museum worthy just make my head turn and ask really rude questions like, “How did this get in here?” I don’t recall the name of one of the painting, but it was just a giant gradient, and the colors weren’t anything special. I obviously missed the statement on that one, and kept moving forward. There were some nice sculpting pieces though. Nothing struck me though. I ended up searching the museum twice trying to find something that stood out, meanwhile I tried to avoid this little corner in the back, top floor where another group was having a class it seemed. Go figure, once the group moved on a little bit and I searched this back corner I had neglected, I found what I was looking for. There was a section of scenery paintings, though I hesitate to call them landscapes. The one that stood out to me a beach scene, so I wandered a little closer, took a better look at it, and found a comfortable spot on the hard tile floor to take notes.  

The piece I observed, and am now analyzing, is titled “Crépuscule” (c.1880’s) by American artist Thomas Alexander Harrison (1853-1930). “Twilight”, translating “crepuscule” from French, is an oil painting on canvas. I’ll try to create as vivid am image as possible. Here come the detailed writing skills...  

It’s a scene on the beach .I’d like to argue it has impressionism traits from the overall “fuzzy” appearance, quick strokes, and purposeful lack of detail. The view point of the painting places the viewer in the wet sand, the horizon spreading clear across. It’s generally dark, save for the rising sun on the left end of the painting. There’s an overcast of clouds. The water is calm and dark as it reflects the equally darkened sky. There are waves that are coming in are breaking close together, and washing up gently on the beach with a little bit of foam. From the point of view given, I’d assume the viewer of that scene felt the cool waters rushing over his feet. On the left side of the image, there’s a ship. It has masts, so given the time frame of the 1880s I’m guessing it’s another cargo ship sailing along. The ship is kept blurry and sort of gray, a vague appearance, to add to an illusion of disparity and therefore distance.  

Let’s take it a step further. Most of the imagery I’m going to present here is my own thought on the image. I haven’t looked up anything on it yet from previous studies, if any. Conveniently, this year when I went to Ocean City, Maryland with my family on vacation, I somehow got up to watch the sunrise. I was just figuring, “Why not? Let’s see what’s so special.” That’s another story, but the point is I’ve seen something like this painting before in my own life, and have drawn some conclusions on that basis. The scene is obviously occurring at a twilight hour as per the title. More specifically it is morning, as the ocean – presumably the Atlantic – is on the “right” side of the viewer; the image is actually captured at an odd angle only capturing a sliver of the actual beach in the bottom left corner. The yellow Harrison uses is generally masked behind the white clouds, and is gentle, so it’s a few minutes after the sun has taken its full form over the horizon. The brightness is still gentle though. The sun light is breaking through the night sky, lighting the left part of the picture in a light blue before it strikes the clouds in the center of the image.  

The clouds are deserving of their own paragraph. They cover most of the painting in the sky from the center to the right. They’re dark, save for the portions stricken by the sun’s rays. I have some complaints for Harrison here. I’m not sure if he made a mistake or…like five, but there were some strokes of white that just looked really sloppy. Some parts looked like globs of white paint that were just put there and forgotten about. It’s a notable “error” on the painting noticeable from some six feet away, and it really takes away from the texture of the clouds. Generally speaking, they looked realistic, save for these globs. I hesitate to call it an error because I know paint can just be a pain tow work with. I don’t paint, but from what painting I’ve had to do I always hated it, especially when trying to put light colors over dark ones (which is already a no-no). So you have these clouds that cast down darkness on the rest of the painting. 

The rest of the scene is of course the ocean, beach, and ship. The ocean is dark as far back as you can see, vaguely reflecting the darkness of the skies in color and texture. Naturally, the water texture overpowers that of the clouds, especially with the fluid movement of the tide. You have this choppy effect with sharp pointed waves that are relatively close. They’re small, I figure. Bigger waves just need more room for the wave to catch enough water and drag to get a higher crest. With this said, the waves roll over each other more than they break and rush forward. It’s like they reach their high point and then just topple over which creates this low wave with little foam. The actual perspective of the painting points the viewer in that breakwater. I can think back to that summer morning when I watched the sunrise. It was almost at that same angle, but the sky was much clearer. The water gently lapped up on the shore and the cool water slid right over my feet and through my toes (leaving that sticky, salty feeling). The small part of the beach sand that is seen is especially neat because there are hints of the sun’s reflection on it. The rays of light glimmered on the wet surface. It looked very realistic; again, save for the vague appearance from what I’m almost certain is an attempt at impressionism. The ship itself is just sort of there, sailing north judging from the sails. There’s only so much detail to discern it is indeed a ship sailing towards the north/sun. 

Analysis time! Alright, I’m going to start this analysis with the literal level. The emotional appeal of me draws from the literal analysis quite a bit. It’s really just this morning on the beach, but there’s so much imagery that comes to mind for me. I love the beach, like I’m hoping when I do get a home I somehow manage to get one on the beach I love it that much. Looking at “Twilight” so many memories came to mind, so many sensations. There was a smell and taste of the salty ocean water, yet it was cool and refreshing in this morning hour. It felt cool, not quite “cold” at that time. The rising sun brought a hint of warmth to the beach to keep for a balanced feeling of warm and cool, something comfortable. As always, I felt the ocean breeze as well, something gentle and flowing, like the small waves. That sensation of water washing over my feet is especially powerful; the initial shock of the temperature and gradual adjustment to the water is soothing. At a glance, it’s a dark image. The colors are depressing, with the exception sun-lit sky. I’d be dumb to forget the ship. For me, the relevance is just that there are ships sailing on the ocean, but I can take that a step further…

So now I’m going to delve into a more symbolic level. Much to the painting’s title, “Twilight”, I think of this in-between in time and space. It’s dark here, wherever “here” is. Like the waves, tides high and low, I have a feeling it’s meant to represent a moment of transition, a dark one at that. The ship becomes especially appealing to the audience now, especially sailing towards the sun. When I think of the sun, I think of brightness and hope. This ship has left the viewer behind somehow, and now he’s left watching. There’s no one else in the image or hint of others, so this leaves more possibilities. There’s the initial thought that he is alone here. There’s also a possibility that he’s just at the front and there are others. I can’t determine for sure. It’s a sad place to be regardless. The latter moment could even suggest that the viewer is sending people off towards something greater, better, and is now morning at the loss of companionship or an opportunity. In examining the coast as the Atlantic, I’m not sure where the ship might have been sailing or who was on it. The ethnic/racial profile of the artist will hopefully reveal a bit more to this idea.  

Another level I think this can be taken to is a religious one, although it’s sort of risqué considering it seems like an utterly secular piece otherwise. I view this moment of “Twilight” as a purgatory of sorts. The depressing colors and otherwise uneventful calmness lead me to this. There’s an overcast of clouds, something weighing down upon the viewer or obscuring his view or this paradise/sun. The ship would then represent those sailing towards this glowing world, presumably a heaven.  

My complaint with the two previous analyses is if I were to look at them outside of the time context. Eventually, the sun would rise, the ship would be gone, and the tide would change. How does this now change the context of the image? Even so, Harrison painted “Crépuscule” with the intent in picking this twilight hour, which credits my own analyses that much more.  Or at least I’d like to think so. :)  

So I ventured as far as wikipedia. There really isn't much out there on this guy. I might have been wrong about the setting a slight bit though. It seems Mr. Harrison's marine adventures were in the Pacific. The title being French isn't a surprise either. According thi this source he studied at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts (which would be l'ecole if we went totally French, but whatever!). Marine landscapes are one of his specialities though. Oddly, the one I found in the palmer didn't have much publicity. 

Maybe I can elaborate more on this too: my first visit to the Palmer. Ryan was not impressed. I wouldn’t particularly care to go there again. Maybe if I found some inspiration to visit a specific work, but the chances of such are slim to none. That’s sad…and too bad. iI's not that there is bad art there, it's just that very little of it appealed to me.

The Digital Me (A/C BP #1)

In the following post I’ll be assessing the actual appearance of my blog. This ranges from what my title is to what colors I chose for fonts, and everything in between. The ultimate goal to address, something referred to in class as the “rhetorical question”, is “Does this make an effective argument?” Now, surely it isn’t phrased like that or referred to as such all the time, but I want to be sure this blog is a proper reflection of me on blogger. Wait no longer; behold a look behind the design of Contemplations of a Clueless College Kid.  

Neat title, right? When I was thinking of a title, as I always do, the idea of alliteration caught my mind. The repetition is usually catchy. The second thought was addressing purpose of this blog and me. What are blog posts but our thoughts in the digital media? Hence you have contemplations. Now for the fun part, the description of me in a short three word phrase. “Clueless college kid,” I do myself such justice. Honestly though, I’m just a new kid on campus. Oh the pains of being a freshman again… Oh, and that clueless part. Truth is I’m still pretty confused and lost on a lot of what’s going on around me. I’m eighteen years old now and have no idea what’s going on with the news, politics, etc., let alone my own college and education. Well, I have some idea, but the path before me is very…dark and lacking in definition. This worries me. I like having a plan. Hopefully my time in DUS and this course will help my filter through some ideas (that argument of pros and cons of a career path) and work my way towards a decision for a major even. 

How’s my layout? I was a member of a literary arts magazine staff for three years (that being we pick submitted works of visual and written art and put them into magazines each year), so I should know a thing or two. I tried to keep my posts big without devouring the screen. The idea is to bring as much focus to the text as possible. I tried to further enhance this with the black and white contrast, as well as the general contrast from the colored background. It stands out a little bit more. I tried to take away focus from all other gadgets as well by making background transparent. Those annoying little ads in gray blend in so well, no? Still there’s a distinction in text in the gadgets should a reader find need to navigate the blog from there. Therefore, mission accomplished. The font (the name of which I cannot find at the moment) is very basic, clear, and easy to read. Clarity was the goal here. This carried in title fonts as well (like the Gruppo title font and the Syncopate title header font). They’re large and draw attention to the text again while maintaining a clean appearance. In all, it’s just a clean and simple text and layout. The attention will hopefully be on my writing. It is a blog after all, right? 

That still doesn’t mean I couldn’t make it look nice. :) The funny thought is that I started off with a very poor beach like layout (I love the beach and would live on one if ever given the chance. The ocean breeze, scent of salt, sun…all of it, love it. I digress.). I found a background with the ocean and palm trees and such, and tried to work with blues, greens, and tans, but it just started to change. The colors became shades of gray, and the blue sky darkened into black and this abstract background took over my blog. I like it. I’m still not sure what is says about me, but I can delve into that philosophy a little bit later on.  

In all, it’s basic. Again it’s clean (now that there’s little to no text on it… :) We’ll see how long that lasts…) and just strives to display focus on content. As much as I did fiddle with the options, this is something that is suitable for now, but I have a thought that maybe it will change throughout the semester, or not. Before that can be determined, I can spin my threads of imagination or theoretical thought on my own choices…<evil laughter here; why evil? because it’s fun>!

 The fonts and colors hold the same idea of just being to the point. I used a lot of gray though. I like gray, and black, and white. While some think it’s an absence of color, and there’s no real depth to it, I look at the “gray scale” a bit differently. I see all colors, much like how white light is a combination of all colors. In contrast, black (more often brown) is a mixture of all pigments. So in fact there is a bit of color about me in the choice, but it’s left as more of an open ended question as to what those colors really represent.  You might even say I’m masking something about me by stripping the colors away. The background really fit well, for whichever reason I can’t really explain in fact. I lack the blackness to it because it adds a sense of boundlessness. This blog, the internet, writing, are all realms of infinite creativity to fill up. And look down there; you’ll see an array of colors. I think they’re a good representation of human emotion, although they still can have a duality to them. Red can be anger or passion, blue sorrow or calm, and so on. I think we all have our own interpretation of colors, so I’m not even going to bother with that. There’s also an ambiguity with the shapes in the colors. It’s like squinting at street lights at night, with the rays bending and forming circles that form lines (crosses I think) and twist when you turn your head. Yea, it’s neat stuff, or at least to me it is. In all, think of this blog as a place where all those clueless thoughts just fall into. By the end of the semester that blackness in the back might seem a little fuller as I fill this blog with my thoughts, and the different appeals they possess. “Might seem,” keep in mind that boundless idea. I’m going to need some help filling all this space up too, so share your thoughts!

I hereby formally welcome you the reader to my blog, Contemplation of a Clueless College Kid. I hope you find some of my thoughts on the subjects discussed her engaging. Otherwise, happy blogging! J

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