HOLY CRAP. THAT'S BIG.

Oh my gosh, okay, so I attached the two foam core pieces and taped up the elements that would stick (some are too heavy) and here is what it looks like:
It's pretty overpowering, I think...which is good...but dang! It's really large! Looking at it on the floor is VASTLY different than seeing it propped up.

Week Seven--Second Semester

Well, I finally purchased my road paper and glued it down and I am not switching!!! Actually, though, I'm happy with it and hope others will be too. Though this image below can't totally do it justice, the paper is a kind of lavender with gold and white flecks, making it look kind of concrete-y.
Here is my actual piece with the roads. I also attached the two pieces of foam core together and THAT was an ordeal. It should stay, though. As I proceed and begin gluing down large areas of paper (specifically grass) I think I'm going to have to glue something of equal size (maybe newspaper) on the reverse side to prevent serious warping, which is one thing I'm concerned about.


My sister, who is studying in Germany right now, surprised me with a package in the mail containing tons of papers for me to use in my collage. With my dwindling stash these will really help out! (Sorry for the bad photo--all of my photos, actually, are kind of bad. I think I need a better camera : /
I worked on the bridge for the subway cars, gluing together two pieces of foam core and lining the edges with the same paper as the bridge. Here is a close-up:

And lastly, as I promised from last week, here are images of the *new* sowohl als auch cafe with cutaways to reveal the cake lady pouring tea/coffee. Again, I apologize for the less than wonderful photos.



Utilization of Time:
Honestly, I don't know. LOTS of time--cutting out, arranging and gluing my roads, gluing my pieces of foam core together, removing the old road I had (which took forever) and creating my bridge. Probably 30 hours or so???

Here is my roommate with her teeth:

Week Six--Second Semester

This past week I continued to do a lot of making including new buildings and remodeling old ones. I also am beginning to play more with the buildings, themselves, by having some windows and doors open up to allow the viewer to peek inside. Below is my "newly-remodeled" Marienburger Straße 6 (where I lived) with a view inside to expose a large me laughing at the kitchen table. Parts of the scene are not exposed and it's only when one investigates closely that he or she will be able to discern what is going on. I like that about it.

I also allowed the door and window of the bakery/cafe sowohl als auch to open up. Inside is the postcard my sister sent me from Germany (she is studying abroad right now) of a lady in a ridiculous cherry-like hat pouring tea/coffee at a table with a large German Black Forest Cake placed in front of her. I thought the postcard was especially fitting because of the nature of the building.

*Note: This image was taken before I did the window/door cutaway with my sister's postcard.

I also redid Tukadu (the toy store) after receiving the vintage Berlin stamps I ordered. These stamps are bright, bold and colorful AND have wooden toys depicted on them. I am much happier with this new building. I actually never really like the old Tukadu.

Other amendments are the added on walls of Kaisers and Kino Babylon. The latter has a work of graffiti on the side of it, which I made based off of an actual work of graffiti that I saw in Berlin. The new wall is itself still somewhat spartan for my taste but I think I will be able to resolve this issue of so much orangeness with a figure that I place against the wall. Below are images of Kaisers and Kino Babylon, respectively, with a close-up detail of the graffiti.

Lastly, I made a new building, Mao-Thai, which was a really delicious Vietnamese restaurant I ate at in Berlin. I was lucky to have saved both Mao-Thai's business card and its takeout menu from when I was there, and I incorporated both into my building construction.

On Thursday before class Janie, Seth, Amanda and Erica came to my apartment to view the work in-person (thanks again!). I got really useful feedback and below I will list some of the key issues that came up so that I can refer to them in the coming weeks and attempt to tackle them.

- Use streets as a way to unify the entire composition and will lead the eye from grouping to grouping--consider lavender or a purplish grey.

*Janie--I was looking on Hollander's website and I came across this paper. While it does have a pattern, it is a subtle one. I think it is a really nice combination of the lavender/grey you were talking about. Because images often look very different online, I am going to go to the store this weekend to check it out in-person. What do you think of this color, though?

- Create 'breathing' areas of solid blocks of color and consider bringing in some darker value regions.

*Janie--although this image is a bit different than what you were describing with skies changing colors, I still think it's a really nice example of how effective large blocks of colors can be.

- Have more elements extend outside the confines of the rectangular surface (like the hills are doing). Right now the overall shape of my composition reads as a rectangle with bumps. Consider having an undulating top where the bumps gradually recede downward.

- The grey expanse of color near the bottom right is not working (I agree).

- Have roads follow the contours of buildings' positions for greater visual interest and variety as well as to help unite the piece.

- Consider straying from strictly "road" (gray) or "grass" (green) colors, opting for color choices based on color relationships.

- Consider working with just the background surface colors/road demarcations and organizing my buildings and other elements based on that layout.

- Use trees as a way to highlight certain elements or to provide interesting opportunities for compelling color relationships.

- Buy many solid papers and experiment with placing different ones behind different elements--do not glue anything for awhile.

Below is my less than stellar photo of what I have so far:

Utilization of Time:

Collaging/constructing buildings: 25 hours

Gluing down new areas: 3.5 hours

Arranging/experimenting with my composition: 1.5 hours

*Note: I also made some other stuff (including a post office) that I forgot to mention

*CLOSE-UP IMAGE OF MAO-THAI COMING SOON!

Postcard Image

Thanks to everybody for their input regarding my postcard image. I really appreciate it. Below is what I came up with after receiving feedback:

Postcard Images

I am playing with postcard image ideas and came up with the following two. Thoughts??? I think I like the first one better.

Week Five--Second Semester

I was a busy bee this week, starting on a lot of things for my map. Some got finished, others didn't. I'm going to work on them this weekend, and then next week I want to get all my roads glued down. Yes, that is correct. ALL the roads glued down. I have decided, too, that while the pattern is not that of an actual road, roads, in general, and navigating the city was such an important part of my summer experience that I need to give the roads more presence and excitement than what an actual, 'road' color can do. I'm going to line areas of roads with a curb and other areas will have sidewalks abutting the main road but I have decided this is what I'm doing. I have also decided that vertical roads will taper and will be kind of squiggly in some areas and straighter in others.

Now, getting back to what I did this past week, I will provide a list. I do not have pictures of everything but will try and upload those I do not have a picture of upon their completion.

1. Four more strawberry stands.

2. A tram car coming vertically down a road.
3. Two bus stop signs (finished but have not yet scanned). Here is a picture, though, of what they actually look like in Berlin, except the poles are yellow/orange:

4. A post office (not done yet).
5. Cafe Sowohl Als Auch (not done yet).
6. A fruit stand (not done yet).
7. Mao Thai Restaurant (not done yet).
8. Television tower elevated on foam core (not done yet).
9. More trees.

*I also tweaked Impala Coffee--I got rid of the man and dog sitting at the table because I didn't like them; I added a little more tan and goldenrod to Konditorei Krautzig because there was too much white and I added little windows to kleine Eiszeit because, again, there was too much white.

Utilization of time:
Looking at books I checked out: 1 hour
Browsing eBay to buy stamps for my map: 1 hour
Collaging: 16 hours

Max und Moritz