Wow, midterm came fast!

It feels like this semester is just flying by-which is good and bad. It's good because it means we're getting through the year, bad because I haven't even started to accomplish what I really want to this semester.  I can definitely tell I'm starting to make progress on my drawings again, just seems much slower than last semester.  I need to spend some time sitting down next week and going through all of my stuff, maybe i'll be more impressed with myself after I see everything laid out... then again, maybe not.  I've been doing a lot more research and trying to compile styles that i'm interested in.  Lately I've been really impressed with Gretchen Kelly's work.  Let me introduce you to her:

Kelly is a figurative artist working out of New York, NY.  She does daily figurative paintings of the human body.  Her paintings are distinctive; gestural and vibrant. 

Kelly paints from a model posing from one to forty-five minutes.  She strives to exhibit the beauty of the human body within a single moment using gestures and color.  She is a figurative painter and works quickly and definitively.  She focuses on the present and what’s in front of her.  She only goes back to add in the background of her pieces. 

Kelly also dabbles in other depictions such as scenes of barns, fields, lakes, and mountain scapes.  She also paints portraits, aquatic nudes, and small town scenery.  

I was very drawn to Kelly’s figurative drawings and paintings.   I especially admire her minute poses. Being in life drawing II right now,  I can really appreciate her line quality and how she understands the human figure. Her gestural approach is refreshing and very energetic.  I often get so stuck on my gestures being proportional that I often forget about the moment of the body.  Even though all of Kelly’s models are posing you can “feel” the movement and stretching that the model is doing.  I think a lot of the reason there is so much emotion in her paintings is because of the vibrant colors she uses.  Her hues are eye catching and energetic. The wide haphazard brush strokes are gestural and add to the aesthetic of the poses. 

Compared to my own work, Kelly’s is much more abstract and gestural.  I would like to explore a more vibrant color palette after seeing her work.  I would also like to focus on capturing the movement of the body.  I know that I have the concept and understanding of the human structure and I think it would be interesting to step away from that.  Kelly also works on a small scale, usually on 8x10” or 11x13” pieces of paper.  I like this approach and often keep my work at a smaller scale.  I feel that working small makes me appreciate the things that I create more. 

Definitely a weird week...

Well, class was canceled on Tuesday and although I went home with good intentions of doing some sketches and actually working on a drawing on my own... I didn't.  Things just came up and I got distracted, which is totally the story of my life.  Today we did a couple of gesture drawings which was nice to get warmed up and remember what we're supposed to be doing and then we were dismissed for the rally that is going on on campus.  I definitely don't want to get into politics or my rage towards them, but it's such a hard line to draw and know where to stand.  Part of me is just like.. eh, whatever is going to happen will.. and then I get upset with myself for having such a crappy passover kind of attitude. However, when I stand back and look at all of the educators that I have had in my academic career and look towards my future career in art education I really see validity in what we're standing up for. So with that, kill the bill.

okay, enough political activist stuff, back to drawing. I managed to remember my USB cable like I promised and so here are some pictures, they're from the past couple of weeks so I apologize about the randomness of them.  I always like to keep updating my posts with pictures though, it's really interesting to look back through old posts to see how far you've progressed. Also-sometimes you create a drawing in class and think it's wonderful, then post a picture of it for all the internet world to see.. and suddenly it's not so great. It's definitely a great self assessment!

independent studies

first week

week one

most recent

The deep freeze...

I'm blaming the weather on my current mental blocks towards all school work.  It's much too cold to actually be ambitious and get things done in a timely manner.  Instead.. I think all students should take a hiatus, drink some coffee, and watch a good movie.  On another note, I apologize for not posting any pictures of my own work.  My camera works just fine, but for two weeks I've forgotten to grab my usb cable to actually put my pictures on my computer. So, one more week and I should actually have some work of my own up.  Until then, bear with me and the inspiration images I keep digging up.

 As we keep working on breaking down the body, I realize how important it is.  Also, I've noticed that when i don't warm up, either from gesture drawings or doodling, I don't do as well.  I tend not to pay as close attention to proportion or landmarks and my line quality is a less than desirable.  Below is a great example of different ways to break up the body and to increase understanding. 

I've also been trying to work in a more geometric manner, such as the middle figure on the last row of the picture. You would think that breaking things down into geometric shapes would be easy, but its very difficult to look at something that is round and full of dips and curves and change them into angles and planes. 

I'm looking forward to continue working on drawing the body and understanding the structure of it.  I'm also going to try to do more independent drawings and work in a more artistic manner.  AND i'm going to remember my USB cable when I go home this weekend!

plenty of ideas!

As we're working on drawing from a model more I'm trying to find ways in which to push myself.  I'm still remembering all of my skills from last semester, but I'm also trying to figure out ways that I can push myself a little more.  For starters I think I'm going to work on a different style of gestures. I'm fairly comfortable with the structural style of gestures that Amy has taught us to do, but I'm considering doing more doing more figural gestures, much like the picture below:

I'm also getting used to drawing from a male model instead of a female model. Our model does a great job though and gives us some very intricate poses that are sometimes hard to approach. Learning how to break down the body definitely helps with those poses that are difficult to start. For some reason it always helps me to draw the models head and the angle of the chin. Although Amy has never taught us to do that, it's just something that helps me get started. 

I'd also like to start working on the side with something less centered around long poses and instead possibly breaking up the body and incorporating it into different contexts. I've been looking at inspirational images from artists Alicia Claudle and Joe Thapia. Both are beautiful artists. I love Alicia's eclectic approach to her prints and how she incorporates other images with the body.  Joe's images on the other hand are beautiful, light, and flowing. They use India ink and if you've been following my blog, or go back and creep, I'm fairly comfortable with India ink and like to work with it.  Possibly using India ink or tea to define the body contours would be another approach for me to take.

Joe Thapia

Alicia Claudle