it was...CHICAGO.

I went to chicago this weekend with the fine arts association. It was a crazy and fun weekend, but now I am in such a haze--I just don't even know what to do with myself.

We went to the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Institute of Art. At the mca there was a Luc Tuymans show that was pretty interesting. It was a large body of his work, so there were a lot of hit and misses with me. He had a lot of different jumps in concepts in his work, but they were generally all addressed the similarly. Naturally, some pieces worked better than others.

Im excited to do more drawings this week in life drawing. I really like seeing that i am able to draw better and more realistically. At this point in my college career i feel like the conceptual part of my art is really coming forward and that learning all of the basic techniques is falling back. I mean, when I think back to my first year at stout, it was all about drawing for hours at a time staring at still lives. I think what I'm getting at is that its nice to be able to still work on purely visual and technical skills.

yep.

This week in class i messed around a lot. Haha. Ok, so i didnt just have fun, i practiced drawing too. These portraits are going to be difficult, but they have my attention that's for sure. Im excited to start going with these portraits. Its kind of scary though. Its scary because you expect so much out of yourself and you could (and most likely) will be let down. I mean, you can get that if any drawing. However, with most drawings you can fudge it up a little and it will still capture a likeness. When drawing a person, you could get the proportion wrong in the nose and the whole portrait looks different. It takes a lot of patience.

Apparently this blog is dedicated to Leslie Barlow, considering she is in every picture. haha. HERE'S TO YOU, SICKY!

drawing from memory.

Oh, man. When i was presented with this idea i was just as shocked as the rest of the class. We have spent so many hours just studying the skull and learning all the pieces and parts, and the idea of memorizing all of their correct placements is kind of daunting.

Even though these drawings look a lot more generalized than the skulls i have been drawing, I still am happy with the outcome--I didnt do so bad! I think the most fun part was correcting the skull. I saw that I wasn't nearly as off as I thought when I was drawing the skulls from memory. Also, correcting the drawings made me realize how much i had learned in the class. It was so easy to figure out what went wrong.

The top two images were from memory and the black charcoal in the bottom three were from memory. The red/brown color was the corrections. Despite my generally positive outlook on this activity, I am still nervous about the test on monday! Holy mackerel, this is going to be tough.

what i did this week. whiplashed.

this week was...busy. everything always is.

Sculpture 2 had a show in the student gallery this past week and i spent a lot of time in the gallery. I really like how the show turned out. I think it was good especially considering we only had about a week to come up with the idea and execute it. By the end of the week I really ended up appreciating the space. The visuals along with the overlapping songs had a great effect on the space. I really liked how the viewer was able to pick out songs from the initial mess of sound depending on their past experiences or place in the room.

Anyways, i havent painted much since this summer. Since i'm not in a painting class now (DUMB I KNOW) i really need to start getting on that and making things. I think giving myself painting time will give me time to be patient and slow down, which will be good for life drawing. Its hard trying to concentrate on something so tedious as life drawing. Dont get me wrong though, i really enjoy drawing. Its just hard to get to that 'place' when you are used to running around all the time. Time to start learning how to balance.

we've been together since i was born.

holy man. The semester is really speeding forward fast. I can't believe its october already! Ive already been in one show in the student gallery, and now this upcoming week advanced sculpture is having a show in the student gallery. Two shows in two weeks! oh man. Everyone go see it!

I'm having a hard time getting myself to have patience in life drawing two. Its like trying to slam on the breaks when you are speeding along at 60 miles per hour. I have a lot of class and assignments and then work on top of that. Its hard to just stop, relax, and draw. But regardless of my lack of patience, i think i'm improving a lot anyways. I'm a big picture person, so being able to see all of the small details in the skulls is surprising me.

Anyways, the top picture is a little watercolor study i did. I've never really painted with watercolors much before, but i've slowly been able to get into it. Its good for sketchbooking. The second photo is the first skull drawing i did. Obviously i wasn't really focusing while drawing this first one. I didn't pay attention to details as much. I kind of like the last drawing. I think im starting to get the hang of making the form seem 3d. starting.

half of the time we're gone, but we don't know where.

Getting back into the swing of things! I thought it would take me longer to feel comfortable with charcoal in hand again, but its been surprisingly fast to catch on this semester. I guess it is because there was only a summer since my last drawing. Whereas when i took life drawing one, it had been a solid year without any extreme drawing. I kind of caught myself off guard with how well i have started off. Of course, i still have tons to learn. I think some of my proportions are off still. Hopefully that will get better as the semester goes on.

Some things that i want to work on this semester are line quality and patience. I get too antsy with drawings. Slowing down and taking time to observe and appreciate every mark is something that I'm going to try to aim for. At this point in my college career, it's hard for me to just...relax. Maybe not necessarily relax, but just getting into the mindset of being calm and patient enough to just think about drawing. Work and school and life are always wearing me out these days. Oofta. Here's to a good semester.

LIFE DRAWING TWO!

Im excited to take life drawing two. I was excited for life drawing one, but it kind of was put on a back burner to some of the other classes i was taking. This semester, I plan to make it more of a priority and get more out of it than i did last semester. I'm definitely excited to learn more about the skull and bone structures.

My major is studio art with a concentration in painting and a minor in photography.

Despite being busy with work and other odd life predicaments, I have still found time to make art. Well, this summer i did take my second painting 3 class. It was an awesome class to just make stuff for hours. I've continued this series dealing with aging, death, and a personal relationship with my grandma. I dont know how i feel about the entire series, but i like some pieces i've made.

I've also recently started shooting film again with my old 35mm camera from what i think is the 70's (maybe earlier?). I havent developed them yet, but im pretty excited for them.