Almost taken down by, of all things, a MIRROR!

Oh my, is Lucky going to start posting regularly again? Shh! Don't jinx it.

Today was the final day of class as I have known it for the duration of this semester. Finals are next week and, if all goes as expected, I'll be taking in a 3.75 GPA for the semester. Not bad for my first round of art courses. Yeah, there's a B in there, but it can't be helped. Metalworking ended up being much more difficult than anticipated, and I'm not holding out hope that this last assignment will be enough to pull me up to 90%.

All an all it's been a great semester and I already feel like I've learned so much. Even in drawing, a subject I have been practicing independently since I possessed the fine motor skills to hold a pencil in my hand. So many great tools and techniques have been added to my artistic tool kit.

It seemed fitting that the final project in drawing should be a self portrait. I've spent so much time looking at everything around me and taking in so much outside information that initially the assignment proved to be a struggle. I've never drawn myself from a mirror before and I've never done a large scale portrait in charcoal... Actually, I'm not sure I've ever done a large scale portrait in any medium.

So, after having a minor freak out the first day and leaving class early out of frustration, I took some time to examine what was going wrong. There were a couple major things.

First off, I wasn't using my powdered charcoal which has become my new favorite drawing material. You sprinkle it on the paper and spread it around to give your canvas a nice middle grey. This allows you to add not only shadows with charcoal pencils, but also highlights using an eraser. It also didn't help that the mirror was a bit wonky and squished or stretched my appearance depending on where I was.

The second mental block was a fear that it was too soon to 'immortalized' myself. I was afraid that I would mess it up and forever be ashamed to try again. This is silly, I know, but I'm curious if other artists have had the same problem.

Last Thursday I left early and mulled all these things over in my head. After bolstering my confidence (and practicing drawing myself in the dark), I returned to class on Tuesday to give the self portrait another try. I moved to a darker side of the room because practicing in extremely low light had shown me that if my face were not as well lit, I wasn't as afraid of making the picture too dark too quickly. I also moved to a smaller drawing pad so the task didn't seem so monumental. Once I prepped my paper with powdered charcoal, I dropped all insecurities and began to go to work...

After two full class periods, this is the fruit of my labor:

 

It's not an exact likeness, but then again a reflection can't be. Seriously. I don't have a perfectly symmetrical face or hair line, so any drawing of a reflection is going to be backwards! All technicalities aside, I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out... And I'll probably never do it again willingly.

My instructor is actually keeping this one for the foundations show next semester along with the fish painting from last week's post (different class, same instructor). He even went do far as to make sure that I signed up for the Drawing II course that was being taught be the best drawing instructor. It's cool to have teachers looking out for you and I'm mildly curious if my reputation will precede me in that class... Mustn't... Get... Big... HEAD!!

Seriously, though, I have done my best to keep my humility intact. As I said before, even in a subject that ie been practicing since I can remember did I learn something new.

I have got a lot of projects that I have been wanting to work on, so when the break is here, I plan to take a mini-vacation from the Internet... Or at least social networking. After all, I do need to find a job. The idea is to remove as many distractions as possible so that I can use the momentum I have gained this semester to work on things that are for my own enjoyment and not a grade. Either way, I won't be gone for too long. Maybe a week or two at most. I'll be sure to post before I go on break as well.

Speaking of projects done for fun... For anyone who hasn't had a chance to see this yet, this is the finished Thor drawing (WIP was in the last post) for my dear friend Shawnee.

Not bad for ten hours of work... Not bad at all. Until next time!

Week Two Under Way

Sooo, I should probably be doing homework, but I've only been awake for about an hour now. Week two has been off to a relatively good start. I'm still not entirely enjoying my metalworking class, but I think if I can just bring in a pair of ear plugs with me, I'll be okay. Nothing but hammers banging against steel for the first hour of class yesterday, it would be a very bad place to get a migraine.

Regardless of the alarmingly loud noises to be dealt with, the day went pretty smoothly. My Black Square project is not due until the beginning of class on Thursday, so I will be finishing that up tonight and posting it in here as soon as I can get a good picture of the finished work. Drawing is still by far my favorite class, though.

Last night we were working on the concept of mapping out a figure with lines and geometrical shapes before adding the fine and organic details. This is not a concept that I am unfamiliar with, but it was nice to get back to the roots and remind myself of the techniques that helped me to become better at drawing. So without further a due, here are the two pieces completed in class last night:

Don't worry, it's just pieces of a mannequin. The legs gave me a bit of trouble on the first one as you can see by the copious amounts of rubbed away charcoal (not included the intentional shading) and, a known problem I've had with figure drawing for years, her head was too large. I had more fun playing with geometric shapes and shadows on the second one. Of course, I bypassed drawing any toes per my own limitations at this time. No big fret, though, there are months left to hone my abilities and next semester I have Drawing II, so they'll only get better.

Well, I suppose that is all for now. I must get ready for my interview at the library center, so wish me luck! Until next time.

No Pictures this Morning. Sorry!

It's early, too early to leave for class. I can't help it though, I'm wide awake. So, I decided to add a brief and, unfortunately, picture-less blog entry. I've noted a couple of things that tell me a degree in art is definitely the right choice for me. I'm sure they will continue to multiply as the semester goes on, but for now, here they are.


#1: I can't stop doing my homework!
Now, I should preface with the truth that I did put off doing my homework this weekend, but I also had to work. As previously mentioned, this current job has a tendency to drain creative energy. That being said, once I started the homework I kept saying to myself "Okay, that's all the homework I need to get done." However, I kept finding myself wandering back over to my desk to do more. It can't be stopped!

#2: I wake up without the aid of snooze button.
Most people who know me or have every lived with me know that I am the queen of the snooze button. I set at least two alarms every morning for about 30 to 45 minutes before I really need to wake up. So far, my second alarm isn't even getting the chance to chime. Obviously I hit snooze to turn the first alarm off, but after spending over 5 minutes fighting the excitement of another school day, I knew I wasn't going back to sleep and sprung out of bed to get ready.


The long and short of it is that I always hear people talk about the difference between a job and a career. A job is what you do to pay the bills. With a job you can't wait to clock out and go home at the end of the day. With a career, however, there never seem to be enough hours in the day. When you're doing what you love, it no longer feels like work. I think I've finally found the path I'm supposed to be on.

Phew, okay, I think I killed enough time blogging that I can go ahead and leave for class now. That's right, I used my blog to fill the space between waking up early and leaving the house. What of it?!