Thea Traw's Senior Project: Art in Nature

Okay, hello everybody! Thank you for the lovely comments--I appreciate them :) So, I have been prompted to share a story from this week that stuck out to me in some way. This is a pretty small moment, but I found it pretty amusing, so here it is. I was out taking photos in the Japanese Garden on Wednesday, just going along wherever inspiration took me, when a couple stopped to ask me if I could take their picture. Now, here I was, holding my Canon, staring at the proffered iPhone with some measure of trepidation. I’m not sure if they asked me just because I was the only person nearby (the highly likely motivation) or because I looked like I might know what I was doing, with composition and whatnot (less likely, but still plausible). But anyway, I said, “sure!” and now I was in possession of a phone camera and not feeling particularly confident. I don’t know if it’s just me, or if other people are somewhat nervous about taking pictures for other people who they don’t know (I mean, I wan...

This fine week of May, I have begun my Capstone Project, which is to create art in nature. This entails any medium and venturing to the various botanical gardens and hikes in and around Portland, as well as slightly farther afield. Regarding my choice of this project, I wanted to get out of the house and into nature--as well as give myself the time, space, and focus to make art. I also wanted to choose something that I wouldn’t get tired of or lonely when doing by myself. The freedom also appealed to me: I can experiment with techniques and styles and respond in any kind of artistic way. So that’s been exciting! I’m thinking that, over the course of the project, poetry, acrylic (and maybe even oil!) painting, watercolor, drawing, photography, “found art,” and others will make an appearance :) And lastly, I thought this project would keep me engaged and motivated, with the end goal of assembling a portfolio or chapbook of my work. I’m working solo on this project. My inspiration for th...