Modigliani-Style Self Portrait Reflection

I don't think what I did was the best I could do, but I think it's a fine result and process.

I picked Modigliani because I didn't hear or know much about him and his style before, I wanted to have a better knowledge on that. Therefore, I chose to modify his drawing into my self-portrait. I think it is a good choice. To choose three drawings, I just browsed the web and see which ones more complexity not including the face. Because I would be changing the face, but I wanted it to be more recognisable the original drawing more easily recognised. Two of my three sketches were good, so I asked for some opinions and feedback, and decided to do what I did. Now, I feel like perhaps it would be more different from previous experiences if I went with Picasso, since his style is really unique and I have never tried it. Next time, I would go for something unique and new.

I picked red and green for the coat, yellow for the background. These were my main colours. I chose red because it was a very very eye-catching colour that attracts attention really well. Then, I chose green to make it an odd combination on purpose. This was to give it contrast and make it more appealing and interesting to look at. The reason I picked yellow for the background was also because of contrast. It was also a light colour unlike the colour of the body and hat, which allows makes the body stand out more. I also avoided dark colours because a serious, deep wasn't the mood I wanted. And yellow is also similar to glowing light from behind.

I blended the colours for my skin and beard (and hair) quite well. Both colours were tested a few times on another piece of paper. Before I coloured it in, when I copied it down to the A3 paper from my sketch, I way paying attention to the proportions and I also made a few changes to the proportions of my facial features. I think that also went pretty well. After I had coloured it in, I added thick and dark outlines to separate parts more clearly (and to cover some pencil strokes). It took me some effort to make the colouring thick. However, I didn't pay a lot of attention to the dirt on the background when colouring it in with yellow, mostly because I didn't have much time. But seeing this result, I will always remember to make sure the surface is clean before colouring it in with light colours.

Except for some of the facial features, and the tie (I take stuff seriously), I haven't really thought of how the portrait reflects who I am. Which is why it is not a very good portrait. Or if I had to come up with something, I would say I try to get people's attention a lot, but unlike the drawing, I don't attract attention that much. However, the contrasting colours can be compared my attitude, which changes a lot at different times.

Reflection: Rex's "Dürer's Mum" Drawing

I chose to draw this art, which is the mother of Dürer because before I seldom tried to sketch or paint a face of a person or living beings before, and when I did, I give up because it's too hard and sometimes I just fail. Therefore, I chose to do it, because I want to challenge myself and I can have some assistant of my teacher when I do it as a class project. On general, I think I did pretty well because it looks quite like the original drawing, and it looks very realistic. I believe I gained confidence from this enjoyable and successful experience. The material of the doesn't seem very fancy, and the clothing overall is quite simple. Actually it looks a little bit like a nan. She herself looks kind of old. And her facial features, especially her chin, are something you don't see often nowadays. Together with no colours and that the drawing is black and white makes it looks old. The black and white really makes it look less vibrant and have a feeling that it's fading away.

ECA Reflection

I took Golf and Leadership, Golf and Blogging, and now Golf and Maker-Space. Here, I'll talk about Golf. I have joined golf twice this year and is joining it again now. I had tried Golf with my parents a few times before, in indoor golf rooms and driving ranges. However, I have never actually took golf lessons before. I though I would give it a try, maybe I'd like it, maybe I'd be good in it. Although I still cannot control the hitting very well, I sure can hit it up now. It is better than how it was before. I can also aim quite accurately for putting. In the small putting range at school, I could put in 3 hits for sure, and I've tried once quite a few times. It was pretty good I thought. Golf was also really fun. I like the success I get and the improvement and the playing with the other gold ECA schoolmates. That's why I joined Golf for ECA again this time. I am looking forward to even better aiming and accuracy in golf.

Reflection - Les Filles Perdues Á Paris

REFLECTION - LES FILLES PERDUES A PARIS  

Q 1 - YOU WORKED AS A WHOLE CLASS TOGETHER ON THIS PLAY. DID YOU FIND COLLABORATING EASY OR WAS IT CHALLENGING? EXPLAIN WHAT WAS THE MOST CHALLENGING PART OF THIS PLAY WRITING PROCESS

I found collaborating okay. It wasn’t a big challenge but sometimes all of us have different ideas about: what scene to do, who are the characters, what should happen… Although we may have some disagreement, we all come up to agree with one. I think the most challenging part of the play is to think about what should be in the play (that was also when we were writing). We had quite an idea about what to happen, but then we had some changes because it’s a bit too complicated. That’s why we needed some time to think about what should we do.

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Q 2 - WHAT PART OF THIS PROCESS DID YOU ENJOY THE MOST?

I actually enjoyed creating the script. Although it was the most challenging part, we could put a lot of creativity in it, and we could also enjoy the fun of making a story/ plot by our own. I enjoyed it a lot.

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Q 3 - DO YOU FEEL YOU ARE A MORE CONFIDENT SPEAKER OF THE FRENCH LANGUAGE AT THIS POINT IN YOUR SCHOOL YEAR? GIVE REASONS FOR YOUR ANSWER

I still don’t feel very confident speaking in French. However, I feel much more confident reading (out loud) in French now than from the start of the year. I have a better management of pronunciation and vocabularies. I still don’t feel very good in speaking in French with myself. It’s because I still don’t have enough vocabularies I can express many things. Also, I can’t manage thinking the conjugation of verbs that quickly.

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Q 4 - IF YOU WERE TO DO THIS AGAIN WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE AND WHAT WOULD YOU KEEP AS IT IS

I don’t really have anything I want to change… I would like to change the plot a bit if we get more time to practise. We couldn’t do a long play because we didn’t have much time. I would like to make the plot more exciting/ thrilling where they may be lost with each other and then gather again; They can also explore more tourist attractions so it seems more completed. That would be more of a storyline where there’s a problem and it’s resolved at last. The whole play was really good and I liked it very much, and I think we all did a great job to make the play as good as possible.

Math Unit #4 - Coordinate Geometries & Reading and Interpreting Graphs

This is the 4th unit for Math. As you can see how the unit is named, we learnt about coordinates, how to read and interpret graphs, and make graphs. This is a useful and interesting unit for me as I haven't really learnt or go deep into coordinates yet. It was also a review about graphs for me. And how graphs are misused is quite interesting. We learnt:

1. Reading Maps
2. Coordinates and the Number Plane
3. Introducing Straight Line Graphs
4. Graphing Straight Lines
5. Lines Parallel to the Axes
6. Further Graphing

1. Graphs and Their Features
2. Reading Graphs
3. Drawing Graphs
4. Travel Graphs
5. Misuse of Graphs

We learnt a lot in this unit.

• We learnt how to find places using the grids on the map and the coordinates on provided.
• We learnt how to write the coordinate of a place on the map.
• We learnt about the number plane.
• We learnt how to find a point on the number plane, and how to find the coordinate from the point.
• We learnt how to draw a slope from an equation, and form an equation from the slope.
• We learnt what are the lines parallel to the axes, and how to draw them from the equation.
• We learnt the point to intersection of lines.

• We learnt the divided bar graph, the sector graph, the line graph, the conversion graph, and the step graph and their features and what they're used for.
• We learnt how to read them, interpret them, and get different informations from them.
• We learnt how to draw the different graphs using the information given.
• We learnt how to choose the most suitable graph for different kinds of information and data.
• We specifically looked at the travel graphs, and how to read them.
• We learnt how to find out the misusing parts of a graph.

French Reflection Sem 1

How strong do you feel as a communicator at the point in the academic year?

Discuss all 4 criterion (oral, listening, reading, writing)

Oral:

I don't feel too confident for oral, it is because I understand French by now, but I really can't be sure about what to say and hesitate quite a lot. I think this is because I take time to think to make sure what I say is correct, like not say any words I can think of but speaking isn't a good time to stop and think. Hence, I am not too confident in oral, unless I have something to read out, I am quite confident in pronouncing words and reading clearly. I should speak more and more and more in class and also read home wrks out loud or talk French to myself a home.

Listening:

I am very unsure with listening. I think I my listen is that good unless something is speaking word by word in French slowly. It is because that I am still not that thorough with French yet, then if I listen to French people saying normal-speed French, I won't understand though I may be able to pick up a few words. As they connect all the words and all I can hear is a bunch of jammed-up words, and that makes me even not able to hear what I learnt, because they are all jammed up to me. Well, I think all I can do is speak more and listen to myself. Listen very carefully in class and ask teacher new words that I don't get, and listen to recordings online with words to read in front (which is what I found).

Reading:

I am fairly good with reading passages or stories in my French level, which is the class level or maybe a little little bit lower. I understand words and I can pick up words I know, I usually know about 65%-70% and understand. Except the only thing is that I need to know more vocabulary- People don't get some new vocabularies as they haven't learn it yet, same with me, but I may know a little less than them as I just started French. However, I am learning fast and efficient with new vocabularies taught by reviewing, and also picking up new words sometimes. Thus, I am confident in reading and can get a lot better real quick. I should pick up words from homework learn new words when I look them up.

Writing:

I think I am okay with writing. I can take time for writing, and I usually check my grammars or spellings if I know. But there is a limit for me, because sometimes I don't know a word I want to write even if I already know quite many words; because I don't know some prepositions sometimes; because there are verbs like "have huger" that I don't know; because I can't manage to remember all the meanings, and gender, and conjugation, and spellings… of the verbs. I think I need to spend a lot and a lot and a lot of time in review those, and going over old things constantly, and also, asking for new words I don't know how to say. I should also take some words from when I read.

Art Reflection- Tree Of Life

Tree of life symbolises different things in different cultures, but most of the culture has one tree of life, and we are asked to draw a tree of life in art class.

When I started, I was didn't know what kind of tree of life or what details or styles I should do. At first I want to have the tree trunk twisting at first.


Then I found one photo of a tree of life on the internet (the first picture below) which was a beautiful piece of art and a great picture for me to follow. I thought I could use this idea. Like, with circle outside and the leaves coming down a bit around. Afterwards, I found this picture on the internet and I thought the leaves looked really nice, so I took that idea too.
     

 And I drew this (the second picture on the right) which is mirrored). As you see, there is that sharp thing coming out of the tree trunk. My art teacher said that doesn't look that good, which I agreed. He/she also said that the tree trunk was too fat, which I totally agreed, too. And I tried to have the roots like the first photo, the one in the circle, but it was kind of difficult to draw, so he roots don't look so good and they are too neat. Well, at that time, that's the feedback I get to draw a better one in a big paper. Here comes the good drawing!



Here, you see the final, better drawing, on the left. It is still mirrored and the photo is lighter in the colour and may not look as good. But I have to admit, the drawing is actually better that what I expected. The ideas are same with the draft. But I came up with an idea called the "heart leaf". I came up with the idea because I would like some heart things but they kind of look girly, and this is about plants. I wanted flowers as decoration and I made it the same style with the leaves. I made the whole tree including the stems flow and look smooth. I also made them look random and messy but with some rhythm. And then I coloured it with pencil. and the idea of inverting the colour (above ground and below ground) and I thought it would look nice and creative and it would really really give out the contrast.





Here I will talk about what's good about my drawing (the drawing looks better than the photo, because I honestly can't think of something bad as it turned out better than what I thought it would be. Except that circular flowers may be drawn not so equal and the gaps between each line of the circular flower may not be equal, others were how I wanted it to be or even better.
The best thing I like about my drawing is that the lines flow very well- The lines are not just not shaky, but they flow, like, there aren't angles. The second thing is that the lines are dark enough and there is contrast, I liked my idea to inverse the colour (above and under ground) very much. Then what I also liked is that the drawing is balanced and it has a rhythm. Then I like the decorations around the circle, hearts leaves actually. And the circular drawing with the heart leaves pointing one direction shows motion actually, which is the leaves are moving around the circle, and it means everything is a cycle. I liked my drawing, and I hope you do, too!

Science (DIY) Glass Bottle Thermometer- How It Works And Other Reflections

In Science class yesterday, we made a (DIY) glass bottle thermometer. Although I didn't succeed in it, I understand how it works and why it didn't work for my mine.

Materials to do the experiment:

• Tap water
• Food colouring
• Glass bottle
• Beaker
• Dropper
• Ruler
• Straw
• Clay
• Cooking oil
• Hot water
• Cold water
• Thermometer
• Marker

How to do the experiment:

1. Mix food colouring to tap water, and fill the glass bottle with the solution.
2. Place a straw into the bottle with about 4 cm in the water (at least 15 cm out of the water and not it should not touch the bottom of the bottle).
3. Air-seal the the bottle mouth (like the picture below)
4. Use a dropper to add more coloured water through the straw to the bottle, do it until you the water reaches 5 cm above the water in the bottle (actually 5 cm you can see, above the level of the clay).
5. Drop a drop of cooking oil to prevent water evaporating.
6. Place a real thermometer into a bowl of hot water, wait for the coloured water in the straw to reach its highest level and stopped moving. Now, check the temperature on the real thermometer and mark it on the straw, the spot where the water level in the straw is.
7. Do the same thing except in cold water.
8. Divide the two marks into 5 mm intervals, count the marks you have, and divide the difference of the two temperature by the number. Mark all the temperatures down.

How it works:
Its functions are just like the function in a real thermometer. When the water gets heat, the particles in the water has more the energy, they move around more and more violently, pushing each other away. At that time, the particles get pushed away, so they get further and further apart from each other. Hence, there is more and more space in between each of the water particles, and thus, the water expands. When the water expands, it naturally goes up the straw until it stops, or even until it flows out of the straw! The opposite thing happens when you put your (DIY) bottle thermometer into cold water. The water particles loses their energy and moves slower, they get close to each other eventually as they do not need space to move around anymore. As they get close, the water condenses, and it naturally goes down to a certain level.
The above is also the reason that a seal glass may explode when you put it in something hot. Especially when air particles move around more freely than solid particles. Air particles will need more space to move than solid particles need, relatively.
The above about the particles get far and close and the object expanding and condensing also explains why you put the lead hot water or the bottle in cold ice when you can't open the lead. It also explains how it works.

What are the uses of the different materials:

• The use of the food colouring is only to let you see the water level in the straw clearer.
• The use of the clay is to prevent air going in or water leaking and helps the DIY thermometer to be more accurate and the experiment to be more controlled.
• The cooking oil is really important because it prevents the water inside the bottle from evaporating when it absorbs heat. This help keeping the water in. Otherwise, the water level rises slower (than what it should be) because the water is getting away.

Why didn't the one I made work:
It is just that it is hard to get the mouth sealed, especially that the clay I was using was keep on drying up and cracking. That's it, it can probably get fixed with more time.

How can the DIY thermometer be improved:

• First of all, glass is not a poor conductor, so it might get bigger too in a short time. This may seriously affect the accuracy of the results. Although it may not because if the whole glass bottle is identical, where you marked your temperature has already included the expanding of the bottle, only if the glass bottle expand the same amount every time it gets the same heat (or condense when it gets cold).
• Secondly, the clay also expands, this one is a more serious one, because it allows air to go in the bottle so the water leaks, which is going to mess up the whole thing.