Rita's Mehndi Art Page

The image you see above is a print of a silkscreen I created in my Art 4 Class at Cabot School. I am currently a senior and am attending Cabot School which is located in Cabot, VT and consists of about 250 students, K-12. The size of our school is very beneficial for opportunities in a variety of ways, one of these being the chance to let our creative juices flow in art class. Students at Cabot School work toward proficiency in meeting standards in each subject area. The standard that we worked towards in this project was:

Cabot (Art) Standard: 1. Understanding and using different mediums and techniques.

a. "Students can use different mediums, techniques, and processes with skill, confidence, and sensitivity to carry out their intentions."

When the other students in my art class and I began this project, our teacher, Ms. Ruth Kaldor, instructed us to design a silkscreen, but left our options pretty much wide open. The process that we used to create our silkscreens began with a hand-drawn image. In my case, I integrated a picture of hands tattooed with mehndi ink with my own floral and decal designs. I am really interested in and awe-inspired by the work of mehndi tattoo artists, and previously received a beautiful mehndi tattoo at a local Reggae Festival. For my project, I decided to leave the hands plain rather than include a tattoo design within them, then I drew some free-lance decoration on the sides.

Once I had my design set, I transferred it to a piece of acetate. Next, I filled in the weaker areas of my picture with permanent, fine-tipped black marker. Once I was content with my design, I placed the acetate in a photo-emulsion formula, placed the combination onto a silkscreen, and exposed it to light for a short while. This allowed for the design to be transferred onto the silkscreen. I was then able to print my designs using various colors of ink and printed onto pieces of paper of my choice/design. For the above print, I used a royal blue ink and printed onto a piece of green, marbleized paper. I am very satisfied and pleased with the results of this print. I made several prints aside from this one and each one is different and unique in its own way. I enjoyed this project and was surprised by the diversity of results in our class. Each person's design was beautiful and represented their personality and interests. I am happy and feel fortunate that we have a small class with much personal attention, which allows us to explore and offer input.

I hope that you enjoy my silkscreen design and that you will check out this page in the future. I intend to add more artwork and descriptions to this page, so please visit my web site again! Any comments that you would like to make can be e-mailed to me. Thanks,

Rita Johnson

The Cabot Art Standards that we were supposed to meet with this project were: 1b. Students can create works that show how their ideas relate to the medium, techniques, and processes. 2b. Student can evaluate the effectiveness of artwork in terms of design elements and principles. I started this project by doing a practice sketch of the design I wanted to paint. In doing this, I tried to convey a few ideas and/or emotions through an arrangement of varied biomorphic shapes. Once I liked my design, I drew a larger version of it onto a piece of 12" x 18" watercolor paper. Then, I used complementary colors and followed the order of colors on the color wheel when I painted the shapes. I am happy with the overall results of this watercolor painting. I mainly used warm colors in this painting, like reds, oranges, and yellows. I started painting in the center of the paper with these colors, and worked my way out following the progression of the color wheel: reds to purples to blues to greens. I think that the painting shows overall balance in arrangement of positive and negative shapes and in the way I created the overall design. I think the way that I repeated the spherical shape helped make the composition look interesting and break up monotony. I think I was successful in creating intermediate colors through wet on wet watercolor technique as well.

12" x 18" watercolor

Reduction Carving Expression Portrait This is a picture of a print I did with three values. I made the prints from a piece of linoleum that I carved a design out of. I think that in printing with my Reduction Carving Expression Portrait, I did an adequate job of carving out the lightest aspects/parts of the picture, such as the white of the eyes, [parts of the] skin, [parts of the] hair, etc. I feel that I used colors that help create contrast and that complement each other harmoniously. I think the way that I carved out a little more of the light shadows throughout the design helped to balance the composition as well as bring variance into the print, since the second color I used would only show on the the areas I didn't cut out- my dark shadows. Also, the areas I cut out the second time around would remain as the first color I used- the second color filled up the remaining area(s). My lines were kind of sort flowing because the woman in my print had billowing hair around her and round shapes were incorporated into her face/facial expressions. I think that this flowing quality helps create an expressionistic quality of sultriness and intrigue. The neckline of the woman's dress also helps to add a dramatic aspect to the work. I think that the lightness and darkness are pretty well balanced because of the way in which I distributed my carving when I did the two carvings. Also, the color variation helps break up monotony and bring a balanced quality to the piece. I think the color combinations I chose helped to add emphasis to the works and make them visually appealing.

Cabot Art Standard: 1A. The student can use different mediums and techniques and analyze what makes them effective or not effective. My basket met the dimension guidelines for this project. It was 5 1/2" wide by 4" tall, as I measured at the beginning of the project. I think that if the reed sizes would have been reversed so that the 1/2" ones were on the sides and the 1/4" ones were on the bottom, that the basket would have been more weaker, more flimsy. Also, I think that the basket would have looked awkward if the arrangement of the reeds were reversed. A difficulty that I faced when making my basket was with pulling the 1/4" reeds taut while pushing the sides up. This was especially tricky at the bottom because the basket didn't have much of a shape at that point. Another thing that was kind of hard with the basket project was tightening the reeds so there wasn't much space in between them. I found myself needing to soak the reeds frequently because it was too difficult to move them when they were dry because they were rather stiff. Since the sea grass was quite long, putting the rim on the basket once the weaving was finished was a bit tricky. If I were to make another basket, I would try to use different kinds of reeds, like colored ones, or making another sized basket. I would like to make a larger basket, and maybe one with a handle. That would be cool, and I think the basket would be more useful. I'm sure it would be more difficult if I made a more complex basket, but I think my skill and ability level with basket weaving will improve with practice and hard work. I think that the over and under plain weave we did in this project made the basket look neat and orderly. Also, I think that the way we attached the rim added interest to the appearance of the plain weave. I feel that I was rather successful in making my basket, considering that it was my first basket. Weaving the basket was a bit tedious at times, but I am very pleased with the results.