A lot of the designs are pretty symmetrical. All of them seem pretty ornate, especially if they're mosaics to decorate buildings. I really like paisley designs especially, I love how complicated and delicate they are. The lace is an interesting way to look at patterns with different textures and transparencies.

Gestalt

I've always enjoyed images like these just because not everyone does see both sides to what they could be. (i.e. the young and the old woman in the first example, the young woman and the man playing the saxophone in the second image.) It could actually be a good comment on what art is in general. Depending on the subject, art has different meanings to everyone- everyone can read into it in their own way.
http://web.educastur.princast.es/proyectos/jimena/pj_ciriacomh/asp1/investigacion/vermensajebb.asp?idmensaje=857

Economics

I've always said that I never wanted to work for Nike or any of those elite corporate sponsors with the sweat shops in some arm pit of a third world country. I think that's at least one value I'd like to stick to- try to stay away from sweatshop-backed places. Except now I might get this internship with American Girl Dolls this summer... those dolls are made overseas, don't know if the dolls and accessories are made in rightful conditions or not.
But who knows if a good enough opportunity came along? Wouldn't you be crazy not to take it? But isn't that what most people in those jobs could argue? That yeah, maybe they knew about what was going on behind the scenes negatively, but it was just too good of a chance to pass up. What if that opportunity gave you the chance to do things you really wanted to do- travel, choose your own projects, etc.
I'd like to think that I would retain enough ethics to turn it down.
I don't really know what I want to do as a job. I don't really want to just live on my art. I do want to make art and sell it, I just don't want that to be my only means of supporting myself. I want a "real job," too.

Yarn Exersize

As soon as we got over the initial "what the hell are we doing" feeling it was a lot of fun... I decided to avoid making knots and causing problems, and just made a man on the ground with my PINK (my favorite color!) continuing line... But it kept getting destroyed because people kept stepping on it. But I guess that's to be expected with installations. And the design kept changing. It was cool because I like to do drawings like that where I never pick my pen off the paper so the image is a bunch of knots all thrown together.
It's kind of like being in a big pink and white spiderweb. The knots are like bugs that have been caught and are ready for eatin'.
The whole thing kept growing and getting more and more intricate... If we would've kept going we probably wouldn't have been able to move around the room. I feel like people just let the string take them wherever and it turned out to be pretty random and all over the place.
If you look at just the positive space it's like if you were to connect the stars in constellations. It'd be kind of interesting to pick a piece of the web and have everyone say what the positive space looked like to them, such as a rectangle, or something more complicated liiike The Big Dipper or a spider web or Cat's Cradle or something.

Line>Shape

I think that they could all be lines or shapes. Lines are generally open marks that can range as anything from a mark showing the distance from point A to point B, or they could be deep squiggles all over the paper. They also tend to show a lot more movement then a shape, as shapes are solid and "stay in one place." A line easily becomes a shape simply by connecting one end of a line to the other.
I see Image A as more of a closed, geometric shape (like a wedge) rather then a open line. B could be part of a cursive V which would be more line-like then shape like. C looks like a rectangle, but could also be a linear dash, but appears to be too thick to be just a line. D is very organic, like a plant, but could be just a "squiggle-line," with a lot of movement and speed to it. I think part of what makes me think of shapes instead of lines with these is because they're filled in with black, making the postive space so much more noticeable. With a line, the negative, bright space stands out more.

First Critique

The painting depicts a young woman with blonde hair held back with a braided ribbon reclining on a white bed. She is nude, with her left hand slightly covering herself. She holds a small bouquet of flowers in her right hand, and a small dog is curled up at her feet on the bed. She looks candidly at the viewer, and two maids are in the background of the highly ornamented room. A window opens up to a pretty view, a possibly twilight sky. The woman's reclining body is spread out across the piece, balancing out the composition, which the women in the background help out with as well.

The woman is calm and very comfortable with herself. She pays no attention to the two women behind her, and boldly stares at the viewer. The tranquillity of this piece is underlined by the soft curve of her body on the bed, the evenness of her skin tone and lack of drastic shadows.
Judging by the fairness of her skin, her jewelry, the wall decorations around her, and the small dog signifies that the subject is probably very rich. There is a good chance she could be a courtesan to a royal courtier or someone else of high standing, especially if you are to look at the candidness of her stare.
There is a general softness to this piece, due to her reclining pose, the light outside the window, and lack of shadows on and around her body.
She is the artist's depiction of Venus. The blonde hair, the reclining figure, the way her skin almost seems to glow and the slight covering of herself. To me, the hand grasping the flowers is trying to understate the fact of her purity and youth.

I personally like this piece, the perspective and composition is well done. You can tell that the maids are in the background of the piece. The only thing that's kind of confusing is where the wall/tapestry ends behind the subject. The edge seems too dark and too blunt for where it ends, especially compared with the brightness of the subject's body.
She also seems to float on her pillows, which lack a certain heaviness of her body leaning on them.
I really like the curve of her body against the sheets, and the proportions are relatively well-done (if not a little elongated.)
As a Venus, I think the subject is a little too frank, and lacks a certain amount of innocence. Especially since she appears to be so comfortable with herself.