Tumblr

I am continuing to look at the idea of identity within my work, however I have extended the concept of Identity by exploring the use of Tumblr.

My daughter and others seem to use Tumblr for many reasons, as a diary, to advertise their work, and for personal reasons, according to Emma, she uses her Tumblr account to be herself through imagery, and limited text, her site is a visual record of how she feels, her values and interests. Furthermore Emma feels that she is not judged and she fits in.. I find this fascinating, that by creating a site in which everybody can view and reflecting on these expressions of herself (I do have parental control).

Tumblr is different from Facebook, I use Facebook to record day to day events and to share my work, and interests through text and photographs for my friends and family to keep in contact, whereas Tumblr is so different more obscure in a way.

So Emma has contacted some of the people who are followers of her Tumblr site and certain individuals have allowed me to see their images and photographs of their Tumblr page and to use images as well, which is amazing because these individuals are all exploring their identities and their lives through these images.

One such person has this image where she is seated on a doorstep, and this is an image that I have taken to create a piece of work.
This particular individual is a student and is studying fashion design, her style is very individual and she is confident in that developing style which is based mainly 1950's retro style.

The piece I wanted to create was to look at the composition of the figure in the piece.

 

 

The colours I have used are vibrant, and I look at this piece and believe that tonally restricting the colour would have made a more interesting piece.   

 

 

 

I found the finished piece a good beginning because I feel that the piece should have been more controlled in the use of the colour and I feel a limited palette would change the impact of the painting.  

Looking and studying this piece I am interested in reworking the piece, because compositionally I feel the cramped space in which the figure is placed and expanse away from the individual, creates a interesting image that for me personally works, however would a limited palette produce a more interesting, arresting image.

I have just finished another piece and this work shows how the limited palette has created a completely different feel to the atmosphere.

 This piece is created on a reused canvas, which I have sanded back the old image and then primed the canvas. The reason I chose this canvas is because its damaged and feel used and abit battered.

As in this piece and most work I create, I work on the area of main focus and then outwards onto the background, I then dip back and forth between the figure and background, or the background is at times completely left until the figure or area of interest is completed.
I know that this is working back to front as most teachers and artists state that an artist or anybody creating a piece of work, they should work the background to the fore,

Hands and feet are areas I really struggle with, and I have to spend a lot of time study the physical aspect of the form, and I have to picture where the muscles, tendons and skeletal elements are, and then the tonal qualities have to be taken into account.

Often I have to turn the canvas around especially with areas such as the hands as shown above, in doing this I can figure out the dimensions easier.

Tonally this piece is sombre and I am very interested in exploring how less in more when taking into consideration the tonal aspect of work and how reducing the amound of colour introduced and a limited palette changes the atmosphere of the piece.

The image above does not clearly show how I have left the linear marks of how I use pencil to sketch out the figure, I have done this as it adds an interesting to the piece, this creates the sense that this is a painting and not just a portrait of somebody.
The artist Gerhard Richter in his work has often kept in the linear marks created especially within his portraiture works. **Need to find info that backs this claim from one of his exhibitions!!!**
 

  
I am pleased with the result of this piece, I realise that compositionally the piece is traditional, however the piece does reflect an individual constricted within the confines of the edges of the canvas. 
This piece compared to the first painting I feel is more evocative and even though it is more conventional in its composition, it is a stronger piece, and with this in mind I will recreate the first piece which tonally will be more muted and use a limited palette.  

In the never-ending debate between blogging and micro-blogging, Tumblr usually gets lumped in with Twitter and Facebook on the micro-blogging side. But Tumblr is actually somewhere in between the status bursts of Twitter and Facebook and the long-form publishing of WordPress-style blogs. If anything, it is more accurately described as micro-blogging than Twitter or Facebook because you actually produce short blog posts filled with images, links, and videos. But the key to Tumblr’s incredible growth—it’s adding a quarter billion pageviews a week—is how easy it makes it to post something and reblog what your friends are posting.
Tumblr CEO David Karp recently sat down with Chris Dixon for a Founder Stories interview in which explains how he started Tumblr four years ago as a reaction to other blogging tools out there. “All blogs took the same form,” he notes. “I wanted something much more free-form, much less verbose.” People wanted to express themselves and blog, but he felt that the standard blogging platforms available at the time—Wordpress, Blogger, TypePad—were too complicated. “These tools I just don’t think worked for most people. It’s a commitment, you need to sit down for an hour and hammer out a post.”
He is quick to add that “WordPress is the best tool in the world for that” kind of publishing. But for someone like him who “doesn’t enjoy writing,” it was the wrong tool. So he created Tumblr instead, which is designed to help people get their thoughts and images up as quickly as possible, and to lower the barrier to publishing even more.
But don’t Twitter and Facebook lower those barriers even further? They do, but they lack a strong expressive identity, argues Karp. “They are not tools built for creative expression,” he says, adding: “Nobody is proud of their identity on Facebook.” Okay, he’s got a point there. Tumblr, in contrast, is built to be a place you can be proud to call your online home. It’s very design-oriented and you can customize your Tumblr to reflect your personality, but not in a cheesy MySpace way. For Twitter and Facebook, “expression isn’t necessarily something they care about.”

http://techcrunch.com/2011/02/21/founder-stories-why-david-karp-started-tumblr-blogs-dont-work-for-most-people/


Tumblr is a re-envisioning of tumblelogging, a subset of blogging that uses quick, mixed-media posts. The service hopes to do for the tumblelog what services like LiveJournal and Blogger did for the blog. The difference is that its extreme simplicity will make luring users a far easier task than acquiring users for traditional weblogging. Anytime a user sees something interesting online, they can click a quick “Share on Tumblr” bookmarklet that then tumbles the snippet directly.

http://fuckyeahconceptart.tumblr.com/ Click-through for Artist Info. concept art :: a form of illustration where the main goal is to convey a visual representation of a design, idea, and/or mood for use in movies, video games, animation, or comic books before it is put into the final product. Concept art is also referred to as visual development and/or concept design. This is a tumblr dedicated to concept art, with an emphasis on the skilled artists who created them.

So Tumlbr is a blogging platform that seems to have learned a lot from the mistakes of others. Tumblr is for that people want a simple, clean, and easy way to post anything they find inspiring or worth sharing, whether it's a picture, song, quote, opinion, or video clip.


http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-use-tumblr-2011-5?op=1

This page gives a step by step guide into setting up a Tumblr account.


Discussion regarding Tumblr found at http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=tumblr

You just won't understand. Tumblr is life and culture. It is the epitome of culture and the total antithesis of the modern day pop culture which is so ingrained in today's children. There is no possible way to explain such a phenomenon to others. You either get it or you don't. A discrete website for interesting yet random people, where you can express yourself without being judged. You can post whatever you like, whenever you like. Not everyone understands tumblr, so don't worry about idiots from school/work/anywhere to be joining. Tumblr is freedom. A place where you can express yourself, where no one will judge you. You can reblog anything you want. You can tell your followers anything. Its basically a place to vent, and for whoever will listen. It's very time consuming, because it's more than amazing. You'll find yourself on it more than talking to people. and hanging out with friends. It's a place to be free. I love tumblr. It's the only place I can be myself. That's what everyone will say about it. You don't speak of tumblr at school, with your friends or family. Tumblr.com is a place for you to get away from reality. You'll regret asking anyone you know to join it. If your homophobic, you won't last long on tumblr considering most people on tumblr are either gay, bi, lesbian or support them. You can say anything you want on tumblr and not get judged for it because most people will feel the same way. Facebook is very judgy. Tumblr. Is completely different. There are super cool blogs, and you should check them out. If you like something, press 'Reblog' (it'll be on your blog) or the heart. (its like the facebook like) Reblogging is a way to put the picture/audio/quote on YOUR blog but give the original person who post it up credit. Also, there are really cool themes for customizing. You can also add music to your blog. tumblr-layouts.tumblr.com ^^ that will give you all the extra features. you can figure the rest out. but when you sign up, the url will be like this:___(whatever you want)____.tumblr.com you can make your url really cheesy and cute like (btw, these arent real blogs) : loveforeverxx.tumblr.com or straight up like your name: amy11293.tumblr.com be creative, and have fun! Tumblr is a magical place. It's a place you can go to whenever you are feeling sad or lonely or simply unable to cope with real life. It's a place for dreamers and believers and overly obsessive people to unite and talk and vent and rant and best of all, it's a place where you can just be yourself and not be judged. The only downside to tumblr, it's terribly addictive. Hipster society of hatred and self- admiration. Totally ironic. They hate facebook even though every single one of them has one. Like to post pictures of cats, themselves, and obscure bands. Youre not supposed to speak of tumblr, but its a public diary. Its as ironic as the fake handlebar mustaches they sport. A Site that Facebookers are not aloud on. People say it is just a site. It is not. It's a cult! The easiest blog hosting site to manage on the web where you meet great people, fellow Losties, hispsters, and more. We use tumblr slang that may throw off the non believers who have no business being there. Also, we tend to express ourselves through hilarious GIFS that may look obnoxious to outsiders. Essentially, Tumblr is the 2nd best place after Hogwarts that only asks you to give up sleeping, a social life, and your soul before you can be graced by it's awesomness. It's not for everyone.