every time I turn around...

my "To-Do" list gets bigger!! tricky little devil, really.  Lets see, this week was fairly normal for once. On Tuesday I had a typical "Johna needs to expand her artistic horizons, or at least pretend to" day.  I had this thought about exploring personal perceptions of ones own body and how one might view something they cannot change such as their skeletal structure.  I got this idea looking back through my photos of drawings from last semesters life drawing class and one of the first drawing of the skeleton I did was so disproportionate that it was almost interesting. Regardless of how incorrect it was I was intrigued and thought of how I could really mess with things.  I began to sketch random bones/structures and connecting them with ligaments and tendons.. it didn't quite turn out how I wanted it, but it's a start.  I'm just thankful Amy lets me explore things on my own while staying within the range of "life drawing".. which is a more difficult line teeter between than you'd think.

still working on it.. definitely not happy with it yet.

So, to make up for my artistic dabbling on Tuesday I hunkered down and worked with the class today, which was probably a good decision on my part since we ended up doing a two hour pose.  I broke it up into two one hour poses and did one of the face/torso and then worked on a facial profile.  I was looking at the model from kind of a weird angle so that was a bit of a struggle.  I had a lot of difficulty with the arm and was hoping Amy would give me a couple pointers, but she never got around to me, which is okay.  I honestly think it made me work a little harder to figure out how to truthfully represent what I was seeing. However, it still ended up a bit wonky looking.. and I was definitely too far away to really be focusing on the face, but I thought I would try anyways.. I think it's better than my first attempt.

3 minute gesture

one hour pose

30-45 minutes

snow day!

I hate to begin with the weather.. but really?! I'm so upset with this snow it makes me sick and that's coming from a person that loves snow and winter activities! However, I'm so ready for warm weather, chirping birds, and clear bike trails. 

meanwhile, back to class- Tuesday was challenging. After not really drawing for two weeks gesture drawings were a little tricky.  It always amazes me how fast I forget things.  We worked on a long pose after a good amount of gesture drawing and I seriously had to re proportion my drawing three times.  Usually I can come somewhat close with only minor changes.  During the last twenty minutes of the long pose I decided that I wanted to get a little more technical with this drawing and try to map out bone and muscle structure. Since it was a pretty simple pose I figured it wouldn't be that difficult-I was wrong.  I had to reference our textbook a few times just to see where I was and if the muscles were lined up appropriately.  I don't think it's quite right, but it's definitely something I want to work on.  With that, this blog post is going to be a tad bit short because.. well.. we only had one day of class this week.

hope everyone had a nice week back!

just call me Carrie..

I'm feeling very much like a Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City today as I sit here sipping my coffee thinking about what I want to say/need to say/should say.  I of course lack two things-an actual audience that follows what I write and a closet packed with uber expensive clothes that I would have no idea how to wear.  Oh, and I don't smoke.

With that, it's been a weird week.  The class was working on manikins on Tuesday so I asked Amy for a sick day to take care of a sinus infection that I've been breeding for the last two weeks. Amy suggested going to health services and getting some antibiotics, so that's exactly what I did.  Low and behold, she was right, within 24 hours I was 110% better.

  Today is another exception, we're having another walk out in order to peacefully protest the issues that Wisconsin's Government is facing.  I'm so furious that I don't even have words, which is probably a good thing since this is a life drawing blog and I shouldn't reflect my personal political opinions in here. However, this affects my life and I know myself well enough to say that what is affecting me will eventually show up in my artwork.  So, there's my justification. 

We were also working on the foot today which I'm feeling pretty okay about. I definitely want to get some drawing done during spring break though. Hope people are ready to be my models! (not nude of course, that could get a little awkward. yeah.) Amy also gave us our midterm grades. I like that she does this for two reasons-it lets me know where I stand and where I need to be by the end of the year. I'm a little bit frustrated with myself because I feel like I'm reverting back to old habits-Amy even pointed that out. Definitely a slap in the face, but it just goes to show that habits die hard.  So I'm going to use Amy's suggestions as goals and I'm going to post them as a way of publicizing them and hopefully that will help me be a little bit more attentive to my weaknesses.

things to work on:

1. greater line variation (seems like a no brainer huh?)

2. Less outlines-especially in long poses (definitely)

3. Continue working on the inside of the form (I think I'll ALWAYS be working on this)

okay so-that's the plan. In the meantime I've been dabbling in some ink washes too. I have a lovely little picture to show you all, but my camera is currently charging so I'll definitely get back to you on that!


As promised! (two weeks later! sorry!)

I love this little ink wash and am so inspired by it, but have no idea why!

Midterm

I really cant believe I'm already posting my midterm portfolio.  In a way I was a little freaked out that I didn't have enough work, but after spreading it all out I think I'm making okay progress.  I'm also in a little bit of a weird situation, stuck somewhere between life drawing and drawing three. It's working out okay though. There is definitely a sense of freedom that I get. I love life drawing and really want to spend more time doing it and understanding the human body, but at the same time I also like working on more conceptual pieces and dabbling in my own niches of creativity.  I have noticed that my gestures aren't as great as I wish they were. For some reason I really elongate the torso and consistently leave too much space between the ribcage and pelvis.  Although it's good that I recognize that, I really need to pay more attention to it. I've also been really enjoying the extended gesture drawings (5-10 minutes), I don't remember doing gesture drawings that long before, but I really like them and feel much less rushed and more relaxed with the extra time. 

One of the things that I wanted to work on this semester was portraiture. I'm definitely still a  little intimidated by it and feel very lost. I'm basically shooting in the dark and relying on what I know about drawing the body to make up the face. It's also a little difficult because lately our models have been moving a lot more than usual so their positions aren't very consistent.  I actually have a model of my own lined up for next week and am planning on working on her portrait, but unfortunately I wont have that for this portfolio.  

Since I'm not working on a manikin I've been doing mostly sketches of the skeleton.  I've also started to incorporate flesh/bone (here is an example).  I'm not quite done with this portrait but it's going in a direction that I like thus far.  Part of the difficulty of having some freedom this semester is that I'm almost over flowing with ideas and things I want to do and just don't have the time to complete them. 

I've also started to dabble in my investigations with tea again.  I'm not done with these drawings, but I think they're a good base. I'm intending to do some staining/painting with tea and perhaps some ink washes. I started working on these after I had a little visitor on my window sill.  I always keep my tea/coffee mugs that need to be washed on my window ledge, so it was almost an immediate connection for me.  I realize that they're definitely not related to life drawing, but I couldn't resist.

My little squirrel friend!

Links:

Long Poses

Gesture Drawings

Five-Ten Minute Gestures

Skeleton Drawings

Other

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