Victory Lap

"For success, attitude is equally as important as ability." - Walter Scott

Dearest readers, there is much to talk about. These past two weeks have been a blur, and I have reaped the rewards of all of the hard work I have put in during this past year. Without further ado, let me begin:

- Secondary Schools Short Film Festival 2014

In my previous post, I begged all of you to head to the polls over at OvertimeTT.com to vote for a short film created by my friends and I; a short film called Shadows.

In case you haven't seen the short film as yet, you can view it here:

Turn your speakers up!



Shadows was created in 2014 over the July-August vacation as part of an entry by hillview College into the Secondary Schools Short Film Festival (SSSFF). The team comprised of many outgoing members of Upper 6 including Caleb Hector, Duane Swift, Marc Harroo, Naveen Ramoutar and I; along with members of (at the time) Form 2: Tevon Thatcher and Imzan Ogir.

It is a social piece tackling one aspect of psychological trauma in the evolution of a victim of bullying into a perpetrator of the act.

After your tireless voting efforts, I am pleased to announce that my team has brought the award home to my school! Thanks to the voters and my team, Hillview College has won the people's choice award for 2014!

This leaves me with high hopes for the future of filmmaking at the school, since this entire process has inspired many to find their creative side, and explore different realms of storytelling. 

- Film and Photography Club and Graduation

Last Thursday 9th October, 2014, I officially graduated from Hillview College. Later on that week, I would also find out that I had won a national scholarship in the academic sphere of Natural Sciences.

However, this is an art blog, so academics play second fiddle to expression here!


Last year, a decades-dead club was revived  under the tutelage of very enthusiastic staff members. As part of the executive of the now-revived Film and Photography Club at Hillview College, my hard work played an integral role in the operations of this thriving community.

Besides being part of the student leadership, I was basically their official graphic artist and public relations go-to guy.

As a thriving club, we hosted an exhibition of members work months after formation, sold fundraising calendars, created an identifiable badge, established a commanding online presence, and effectively became the premier media outlet of life at Hillview College.


So...

I was very thrilled that on graduation, I was given the honour to accept an award as a representative of the Film and Photography Club. This was no ordinary award...

The Film and Photography Club, just one year old, well-deservedly won the award for "Organization Making the Most Significant Contribution to College Life!!!" 

The Memorial Bowl for "Club of the Year" 

- The Art Society of Trinidad and Tobago

I have only been a member of the ASTT for just about a year. However, as longtime readers know, I've been going down there long before I became a member.

The largest art exhibition of the year at the ASTT is the November Members' Group Exhibition, which runs the longest of all shows at the gallery.

I have submitted my two pieces to the exhibition, and eagerly await the opening reception on November 7th, 2014 and 7p.m.

However, the story does not end there...

There was an in-house competition to select the best design for the invitation to this premier exhibition. After days of suspense, I was contacted.

They picked me to design the invitation and catalogue cover, along with other necessary graphics, for the November Exhibition of 2014.

On that note, I would like to cordially invite you to come down to the Art Society of Trinidad and Tobago to view the works of all the members, and purchase those that appeal to you. It would certainly make both you and the artist happy!

Details are included in the image below:

The exhibition runs from November 7th to 22nd, 2014.

The opening reception takes place on Friday 7th, November, 2014 from 7p.m. to 9p.m.

Be there.

Graphic Design: The Commercial Artist

As someone once said, in a nutshell, Graphic Design is the artistic technique to make information fun to read. Graphic design combines typography and illustration to effectively communicate a message to a specific audience. This combination of text and imagery is utilized within a shared space to create an aesthetically pleasing manner of communication between audience and broadcaster. Graphic designers are often employed in the media and advertising industries.

Common forms of graphic design include logos and branding, publications such as magazines, newspapers, and books, print and video advertisements and product packaging. Composition is one of the most important features of graphic design, especially when creating a unified layout for the integration of text and imagery.

David Smith

David Smith is a graphic artist and art director. He works in advertising agencies as the head of the art department. His department handles the design and production of print advertisements which range from newspaper ads to magazine publications and even to outdoor billboards. His department also manages television commercial design.

David Smith was born to Neil and Vida Smith on 21^st March, 1955. He grew up in a quaint house on 16 Dundonald Street, Port of Spain, Trinidad.

Always having a love and fascination for the visual arts, David Smith began pursuing his dream of a career in the arts soon after his graduation from Tranquillity Government Secondary School. There was an advertising agency just around the corner to his home where he began his career as a trainee. As he knew little about the graphic design industry, he pursued a three year full-time Communications Design course at the John Donaldson Technical Institute, Port of Spain, Trinidad.

David Smith has been a graphic designer for over 25 years. He considers himself to be a sort of perfectionist when it comes to his artwork. He pays a considerable amount of attention to detail and continuously makes the extra effort to refine his works into the overall most effective communication of the client's product or service. He remarked once that as a graphic designer is more limited in expression than most fine artists because the final products MUST be pleasing to the client's tastes and specifications.

Mr. Smith's favourite medium is definitely the pixel. His entire creative process occurs behind his computer monitor, from conception and manipulation of the idea to the eventual refinement into the finished works. According to the artist, the convenience, versatility and efficiency of computer graphics is the major reason for his preference. He reminded me that research is a critical part of the design process. It is used as a tool for reference in terms of other existing designs and as a medium to gain inspiration and produce new innovative ideas.

Apart from graphic design, the last piece of fine art commissioned by David Smith was created around 1997. This is due to a lack of free time due to his career. He remarked that after a long, stressful day of design, the only thing he likes to do is to simply unwind and relax in the comfort of his own home. 

At his current advertising agency, one of the primary projects they work on is packaging design. One of their most prominent clients is the ABIL group. ABIL is one of the largest manufacturing companies in Trinidad. As such, his organization is responsible for designing the packaging of various products of Charles chocolates, Sunshine Snacks and Devon biscuits. When new products are released, new packaging must be designed, hence his plate is always full.

He considers one of the greatest achievements of his career to be his promotion to assistant art director in his early twenties. He was quite possibly the youngest designer to be granted that promotion in the country. Inevitably, his next great achievement was his promotion to art director, thus becoming the head of the art department.

David Smith, graphic designer and art director, loves his line of work. "There are times, because of the stresses that I don't love it as much." he joked. When asked if the design career is indeed a lucrative one, he responded that the fruits of a graphic designer's labour is very much dependent on his knowledge, skill and experience. According to him, the monetary returns of this line of work is worth all of the stresses and hassles involved. Also, the advertising agency employing the graphic artist is a major variable in the salary of the designer.

"It is a very, very stressful job." he admitted. He said that they are constantly working towards deadlines unlike in fine art. Another major source of the stress in the industry is the indecision of clients, especially those that are nearly impossible to please. Also adding to the stress, tension and possible frustration is the fact that most agencies handle the advertising needs of several clients simultaneously, thus adding to his workload. However, he believes that the majority of the public does not fully appreciate the hard work and effort which is placed into creating meaningful pieces of graphic art.

Fine artists have formed their reputations by appending their names to their works, however pieces of graphic design are usually anonymous. Mr. Smith stated that unless your name is associated with the company you work under, the reputation of a graphic artist is spread by word of mouth. On most occasions, the credit is given to the advertising agency and not the designer himself.

A pet peeve of his is the lack of respect sometimes given to graphic artists. It is his view that despite the customer always being right, there are some boundaries that should not be crossed. It is his belief that the client should also respect that graphic designers are professionals at what they do and the client should place more trust into the designer's judgement. He lamented that clients often think that they can do the designer's work better than them. Sadly, this is not the case.

Another irritation he constantly faces in modern society is the arrogance and ignorance of most casual users of photo-editing software or websites such as Picnik. It is a reality that most of this category of users are not educated about the graphic arts, however they believe that they are professionals simply because they can use these programs. He applauds their determination to further themselves as designers, but he simply resents the arrogance and smug attitude of most of these novices.

When asked to provide any advice to young and upcoming graphic artists, he remarked that having a creative mind is a necessity in the industry. Apart from having a high level of skill, a competitive edge is gained if the designer has the ability to come up with new innovative ways for the communication of the client's ideas.

He also recommended for those aspiring towards a career in the graphic arts to participate in certified communication and graphic design programmes to further their skills and knowledge. Furthermore, they must become adept at using the industrial standard of graphic programs, namely the Adobe CreativeSuite. Professional graphic artists must learn to master Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. Designers must always keep abreast of new program releases and updates to graphics software.

Some more of David Smith's work is featured below:

More of Mr. Smith's work can be found at his digital portfolio at dsmith.carbonmade.com

David Smith continues to strive to be the best he can be and use all of his skills to become a better graphic designer. When asked about his plans for the future, he said that he simply plans to keep abreast of modern trends in advertising strategies and become the best he can be.

Year in Review: 2011

Here we are once again, facing the end of another year while eagerly awaiting the genesis of another. As time races by, one must always take some time out to reflect on the events of the year past to examine one's achievements as well as one's shortcomings.



This year has exposed me to a diverse range of experiences. The year two thousand and eleven has taken me from tragedy to triumph and back.


With 2011 almost behind us, I will take this opportunity to recap my experiences this year in the visual arts.

In no particular order:

• Republic Bank - Young Artists' Canvas to the World Project

In December of the previous year, 2010, I entered into Republic Bank's Young Artists' Canvas to the World Project.  Forced to paint during my end of term examinations of my first term in Form 4, this competition put my body and mind under a very large quantity of stress.

Thankfully, after a week or two of hard artistic labour between exams, as well as a very long month of tense waiting, I was invited to the awards ceremony at Republic Bank's head office.

There, I was announced as one of the seven winners of this competition. One of the champions.

My winning piece: The Magic of the Monarch

My winnings included $5,000 in cash for myself, $5,000 in art supplies for my school and the exhibition of my piece of art at the Piarco International Airport and at the Trincity branch of Republic Bank.

You can read the entire trilogy of this story starting here.

• HOUSE M.D. Portrait

Earlier this year, at the beginning of my Easter vacation, I started a new portrait. The subject of this portrait happened to be a favourite television character of mine, Hugh Laurie in the role of Dr. Gregory House.

However, at the private viewing of Canvas Caribbean's exhibit, With an Open Mind, I was advised by my visual arts teacher to stop doing portraits of foreign celebrities. Hence I decided that since this was the last portrait of these celebrities and characters originating outside of our shores, I would be letting this one go out with a bang.

This decision as well as an improvement in my skills led to the birth of my (now famous?) graphite portrait of Dr. Gregory House.

This is currently my flagship portrait, but who knows how long it's reign as my best portrait will be?
2012 seems like a very long year filled with opportunities for me.


This portrait has been very influential in many of my successes this year.

You can read more about this portrait here

This brings me to my next achievement...

• Guide to Online Schools' Student Blogging Awards

To all of those who can remember this button, I am deeply grateful for your support, your time and your energies towards promoting my blog. Your tireless voting put me into the winning spot once again.

With your appreciation of my post on the House M.D. portrait, your tireless voting placed me into the top 10 of the competition. Then, a panel of judges selected the five winning posts based on their quality.

I was one of those five.

You can read more here

• Caribbean Beat Magazine

  Republic Bank was also responsible for another accomplishment of mine, being semi-featured in the Caribbean Beat magazine. This magazine is available free of charge to all passengers of Caribbean Airlines and Air Jamaica on their respective flights.

In the article in the May/June issue of this year, Republic Bank spoke about the success of the competition and its impact on the lives of its participants and its winners.


I was elated to see that out of the seven paintings, they chose mine to display on their article.

You have the opportunity to check out this issue of Caribbean Beat magazine by clicking here

• Heritage - The Knowsley Building

With this being a year of many firsts, it was only fitting that I try to do something groundbreaking. Something that would make people talk for days, weeks, months, even years about a piece of art created by someone so new to the industry.

I wanted to make a statement that professionals need not be these larger than life, detatched individuals.

Greatness can be achieved without losing oneself to social constructs.
Individuality is key in becoming legendary.

Just look at classical Trinidad architecture.


Also, with this being my first major architectural focused landscape, I intended to set a high standard for my work. After five weeks of painstaking detail, shadowing and artistic substitution, 'Heritage' was born.

Heritage - 2011, Graphite pencils on paper: 22" x 17"

As it turned out, this piece along with my portrait of Dr. House became my premier pieces at my school's inaugural Visual Arts exhibition.

• Secrets: The Inaugural Exhibition

As a student of Hillview College, I have the ability to represent my school by the way I conduct myself and the things that I do. I can choose whether to be a positive change to society or to succumb to the pressures of negativity and conformity to the social environment we exist in.

When given the opportunity to display my artwork for the public eye, I must admit that I was a bit concerned underneath all of my excitement and intrigue. However, after the magnificent experience I gained from this occasion, I have faith that my generation can rise from the ashes of Trinidadian society and construct a new reality for the future of the minds of this nation.

Secrets has been a very enlightening experience for myself as I experienced first-hand what it feels like to make a positive impact on others, no matter how miniscule that impact is.

I felt appreciated by people who hardly knew me, I became a celebrity for a week :) , I received some harsh critiques as well as some heartwarming compliments for my efforts. I experienced some extreme contrasts but I deeply appreciated every moment that was bestowed upon me during our exhibition.

You can catch a glimpse of some of the exhibition pieces here

• The Gourmet Genie

As my first clients in the sphere of Graphic Design, I am deeply grateful to the owners of the Gourmet Genie for taking a leap of faith in hiring me to create a television commercial promoting their business in Southern Trinidad.

The Gourmet Genie is a lovely little store which specializes in gourmet food items, teas, coffees, seasonings etc. They also feature 'as seen on TV' products from a variety of famous Food Network personalities.

You can find the Gourmet Genie at Ground Floor, SSL Building, 40 Sutton St, San Fernando


Feel free to visit their Facebook page

And so ends another year in our lives. Was it a worthwhile one?
The year ahead is filled with opportunities to embrace as well as those to decline.


My advice to you is to set your standards high and keep your goals in sight in the coming year.
True success and happiness is born out of hard work and committment.



Have a safe, successful and rewarding 2012.

Trailer Deconstruction

I've realised that I would only be able to do a proper deconstruction of a trailer that has an emotional connection to me; something that I would enjoy doing...

Star Trek.

One of the most successful science fiction franchises in history. The roots of this franchise began growing way back in 1966 with the television airing of Gene Roddenberry's visionary ideals.


However, most sadly, in recent times, this franchise was seen as a dying one by the general public and by  Paramount studios. Paramount was desperate to reinvigorate the franchise and they did so by making a very bold move by introducing J.J. Abrams to reboot the franchise.

The following is quite possibly my favourite teaser trailer of all time.


I remember the very first time I saw this trailer.
I was screaming in ecstasy when I saw the hull markings spell out 'U.S.S. Enterprise'.


This trailer was very, very well designed.


What made this trailer so fantastic in achieving a resounding effect on me is the element of surprise.

I could only imagine how those lucky patrons felt when this trailer played before Cloverfield on the grand silver screen... Oh how I wish I was there.


SURPRISE

The trailer begins with a very 20th century image of a welder, toiling hard at his task in a very dark atmosphere. This looks like a movie set in our normal timeline of Hollywood movies, nothing too interesting looking at first, right?

Then we see that J.J. Abrams is directing.

We hear iconic words from the 1960s.

Words, quotes, emotions pouring out of those witnessing the life of the space race of the 1960s.
We hear former U.S. President John F. Kennedy and his words to the world...

This movie is definitely a space movie.

Well then, this seems a lot more interesting now!

Who expected what we would see next?


TACT AND STRATEGY

The brilliance of this trailer also lies in the execution of  the revelation of this grand, elaborate scheme to the regular moviegoers WHILE still appealing to existing fans of the franchise like me.

The use of welding does quite a lot to cement the fact that this is not science fantasy, but science fiction.

In English, that statement simply means that the gritty, sweaty, MANUAL atmosphere we get from assembling something via welding makes us remember that this is not a ridiculously happy fantasy world where only stark contrasts exist.

The intertwining of quotes from the space age create a sense of destiny; a feeling that this is not simply ridiculous science fiction that can just be forgotten after seeing it.

This trailer makes us feel that this movie may just be a prediction of the future rather than a simple fantasy.
The pulsating beat and rhythmic fade transitions conjure a sense of suspense and grandeur as the camera pans over the starship under construction.

The strategic panning over the ship reveals very little until everything is dropped on us at the end.

At 0:46, the rising crescendo masks the subtle emergence of the bells and chimes used in the title sequence of the original Star Trek series as well as that of 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' tv series.


And then It happens...

"Space, the final frontier..." 

At this point, my jaw had hit the floor and my cardiac muscles were ready to burst through my chest cavity in pure excitement.Those legendary words were mouthed by Leonard Nimoy himself...

This is Trek.

And even better...
They played the original theme during the Enterprise's reveal...

When my eyes and ears encompassed the next sight, adrenal pleasure surged through my body. I still get chills watching this trailer...

Instead of using the words 'Star Trek' to represent the movie, they did something very different.
A gleaming Starfleet emblem shone out of the darkness as a beam of light illuminated its contours and then enveloped the entire symbol.
The timeless icon of the Star Trek franchise.

The modernization of the old sound effects from the 1960s TV show, and the redesigned Federation flagship U.S.S. Enterprise, breathe new life into classic material and creates a new opportunty for the franchise "to boldly go where no one has gone before". 



This is, in my opinion, a masterpiece of a teaser trailer despite what anyone might think of the movie itself or the franchise it belongs to.

New Trailer

I've realised that my heart is not in the right place for that X-Men First Class trailer and I haven't been giving it my all because frankly, I've seen deeper trailers than those.

I will however, tackle that trailer in the future, just not now...


I may have better luck with a trailer that I actually enjoy deeply and have strong motivations towards deconstructing and sharing my discoveries with the world.


And teaser trailers require more thought and depth than theatrical trailers in any case...

Something new...

The date for our exhibition is currently in a state of flux and as such, I definitely will NOT release any snippets of my work regarding the exhibition until the opening night has passed...

This is a matter very sensitive to me because any 'leaked' pieces of work will spoil the large build up towards exhibiting our own pieces at a show.


As such, I've decided to try something new...


I've neglected graphic design recently as an artist and I think I have also been neglecting the element of my blog which tries to expose the subliminal elements of art and graphic design.

As such, I will create a new poll for the viewers to vote on a weekly basis for a new trailer, poster or famous advertisement for me to 'deconstruct' graphically and review the power of the subliminal artistic ventures used to seduce your attention.


Please leave some suggestions for me in the comments section below.

The first one to be deconstructed will be the international trailer for the highest rated Marvel movie of Summer 2011 on Rottentomatoes.com .

Digital Art

Using Photoshop has inspired me to explore the realm of digital art, wallpapers and digitally rendered graphic design projects.

Photoshop is no easy software to master, however, the vast quantities of tutorials available out there on the internet, and the learning videos released by organizations such as Lynda and Total Training, make the job quite a bit easier for a rookie like me.


Traditional art is still my main area of expertise.


However, digital takes about one-hundredth of the time to complete.

In my time between the last post and the graphical revamp of the blog (done completely by me in Photoshop), I have created some...interesting pieces of digital art.

Some were created by following tutorials to the digit.

In others, I simply let my imagination and experimentation run free.




Here they are:

Wallpaper attempt 1
Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended, Digital Painting 1920 x 1080

A more likable wallpaper attempt (at least to me)
Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended, Digital painting 1920 x1080

A radical photo-manipulation of my friend Marc.
Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended, Photo-manipulation 1440 x 900

A distant planet being visited by a strange starship.
Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended, Photo-manipulation and Digital painting, 1920 x 1080

 

Digital art is possibly...more efficient than traditional media, but I personally think that it is not as valuable as traditional art because of the ease of it.

Going digital is absolutely perfect for the graphic designer.

With digital (especially with a tablet) you can achieve the most impeccably smooth gradient effects and lighting simulations.

Most importantly, with digital, you can step backwards and tweak your designs.

Unfortunately in traditional media, you must either start over or cut out and redo your wrongs.

There is a fine line between what you can achieve in traditional and digital media.
The difference is the ease of accomplishing these tasks.

I suppose that's why traditional sells for so much more than digital.

Playing with Photoshop

Graphic design is an interesting venture in terms of the factors necessary for grabbing the visual interests of the viewers while keeping the transmitter active to broadcast the necessary message to the specific viewer.

By definition, graphic design is the process of applying visual art and communication skills to create a medium in which a specific message can be conveyed to the specific target audience this message was meant for. It's all about presentation and clarity.

I personally have an extreme fondness for working in traditional media such as pencil or pen for undertaking these graphic design challenges, but recently, I have tried and succeeded in using digital media. 

Namely, Adobe Photoshop CS4.

However, don't get fooled, I haven't come anywhere near to doing what the professionals can do with this software suite (using Adobe Illustrator along with Photoshop).

But at least I'm trying some text effects.

I must say however, that the tutorials at PsdTuts are a colossal help to learning how to achieve some of these effects. The rest lies in personal touches and judgement by visual appeal.

A nice little design with a subtle indication of the value my form class will be to Hillview in Form 5.

Experimentation for creating an effect of fluid within glass.

My very own experiment (observation, not tutorial) for making TRON effects text.

A grungy, gritty, urban sticker.

Playing with effects, layer masks, expanding my brush collection, expanding my font database and many other ways of toying around with this magnificent program is the way to achieving true design inspiration.

Of course, first you need to learn HOW to use the software.

I am still going through that journey, and it is indeed a long, winding road.

I STILL cannot do anything magnificent with PICTURES!!!


I use another, simpler program to accomplish that task, but they are indeed small edits. Nothing much to be raving about.

This vacation will be the perfect time for me to isolate myself from my normal interactions and truly develop the skills needed to take myself to the next level.

Both in terms of artistic development and academics.

CXC is next year >.<

Photography

In spite of the horrendous overload of work from all subject areas from as far back as the last two weeks and continuing in the present with increasing intensity, I have managed to get a little time to post something.

I do not like to be rushed.

I despise the behaviours of people who give unreasonable deadlines because they think that you only have their subject to do for CXC, when in reality, you have at least seven more.

Anyway, this is not an avenue for venting my growing discontent.

Why did I have to pick 9 subjects for C.S.E.C?
Especially Technical Drawing? Why?

A while back, I posted some tips about photography.

I've now become intrigued by textural photography.
There's so much potential in this kind of photography.

The possibilities for abstraction are endless...

Green

Some nice wood grain

Can you guess what this is?

The infinite possibilities

EDIT (04/02/2014): These photos were all taken with a Nikon Coolpix P3. I had not yet had the pleasure of owning my D5100.


Very soon I'll be posting the pictures of the still lifes we have recently started.

One is in chalk pastel and the other is in acrylic paint.

Canvas Caribbean "With an Open Mind"

I was recently invited to attend the private viewing of Canvas Caribbean's latest exhibit, “With an Open Mind”. This prestigous exhibit was being held at the Gallery at Fine Art, Woodbrook. 

 

To be brutally honest, I was quite disappointed with the gallery itself. Every exhibition I have attended in the past boasted a beautiful, visually enticing gallery which pulls you inside to view the pieces with even more interest.

This was not the case with the Gallery at Fine Art. The building seemed like an ordinary, outdated Port-of-Spain commercial building constructed in the bygone era of boxy shapes and semi-curved walls.

However, despite my dissatisfaction with the architectural design of the building, I must say that I was impressed by the quality of most of the pieces exhibited.

Upon entering through the glass entrance of the gallery, an immediate feeling of excitement, competition, chaos and sheer madness could be felt emanating from the already energized patrons.

Due to my late arrival, I unfortunately missed out on an inspiring speech by the passionate Pat Bishop. However, her strong presence was still felt even without hearing her words personally.

This exhibition boasted a total of 82 pieces from 13 different artists.

I am proud to say that one of these artists is my very own art teacher,

Mrs. Michelle Tappin-Davis.

The walls of this 'institution' were also enlivened with works by talented artists such as Reita Antoine, Raymond Alexander, Camille Harding, Kathy Farabi, Carol Lewis, Vibert Medford, Darron Small, Shalini Singh, Antonio Weekes, Adele Bynoe, Anderson Dyett and Leona Fabien.

I didn't like Cheryl Davis' work at this exhibition. She depicted the bare upper female body in minutely different positions for each of her four paintings. The only difference to my eyes among these 'paintings' was the colour used on each. The 'paintings' were simply line drawings of the breast region lying on a separately coloured background. Highly repetitive and to my diagnosis, uncreative.

That's me carefully examining someone's work.

As compared to the Art Society's November Exhibition last year, the prices seemed more reasonable at this exhibit and more friendly to the buyer. 

Also, I saw a repeat display of a few paintings offered at the Art Society's exhibition last year.

I am very confident that any buyer attending this show will find himself impaled on the sharp horns of a dilemma due to the vast quantity of high quality artworks being presented.

Some of the intriguing pieces by Darron Small.

The print entitled 'Father and Son' done by none other than Michelle Tappin.

Raymond Alexander's simple 'Honey Bees and Portugals'.

There was a diverse showing of talent at this exhibition. The common ground of painting was present, but there were also displays of three-dimensional work and many different techniques used to create two-dimensional art.

My eyes caught sight of scarves done in batik, decorated bangles created by methods I cannot fathom, a solitary desk called 'Table of Life' and the vast quantity of appealing 2-D media.

My favourite artist of the night was Darron Small. His realistic pieces echoed volumes of historical tragedy through the beautiful manipulation of light and shadows to achieve a sense of danger, drama and suspense.

Here are some of the other impacting pieces of the exhibit:

More pieces by Michelle Tappin.

My father and myself enjoying the show.

Vibert Medford's creative photography.

The remarkable style of Reita Antoine.

The Gallery at Fine Art is located at the corner of Rosalino and Warren Streets, Woodbrook.

The Canvas Caribbean 'With an Open Mind' exhibition is well worth a little time out of your hectic lifestyle and is a beautiful way to relax and relieve yourself from the burdens of modern life.

I think you should pay a visit to this event.

I recommend this exhibition to anyone who appreciates art.

The Testing Period

As the school term has basically come to a close, assessments for all subjects were in order.

There were exams, there were assignments and there were...presentations.

For our Visual Arts assessment this term, we were given the opportunity to present four of our pieces for critique and subsequent marking.

The first piece of the puzzle was the graphic design effort towards creating album art for a musician's debut album release.

As such, it is supposed to clearly reflect on the type of person/group presenting the music; while also showing the distinct genre being offered.

The next critical piece was a self portrait to be done in the student specific media assigned.

I was able to select the option of completing my portrait in ink.

I have developed a fondness for the high contrast possible with penned pieces after completing the Alfred Codallo copy last term.

This is my completed self portrait.

I personally love the maze effect...

Being a 'dedicated' student, I clearly followed my teacher's instructions on the specific time period in which to pursue the construction of the T- shirt designs and the application of it to the textile.

As such, I missed out on the opportunity to paint various Hillview landscapes from observation.

While the other students could have submitted this landscape study as their fourth piece, I was pressed to find one out of my portfolio that was of the same standard as my other pieces while it could be allowed for presententation (for example, not one of my casual portraits or any work from last term).

As such, I decided that a suitable still-life would be the most efficient method of gaining a suitable fourth piece in the space of two days.

I assembled the composition myself using art materials from the studio and I worked tirelessly at completing my work.

At the end of a smooth presentation on Monday, I was pleased to learn that my hard work earned me an acceptable 93 in Visual Arts.

I suppose I will have to work harder next term to get even closer to my goal of a perfect score.