Shells Shells Shells

Today, our last shell drawing was due. I would say that drawing these was one of my favorite parts about the class. Concentrating on something to get the exact gesture of the contour down is a definite challenge. Drawing it over and over, each time adding an element, is the only way to overcome it and learn. Based on comparing my first one (bottom) and last one (top) it is obvious this worked for me. I loved the inability to control the ink wash in the latter two drawings. I feel it accentuated the organic feel of the form perfectly. I am so happy to have this piece to add to my professional portfolio.

Laurie Lipton

I was lucky enough to stumble upon Laurie Lipton 's site a year back when looking for inspiration for a self-portrait. She is phenomenally talented in simple media like charcoal and pen. Her subject matter is humorous, melancholy, creepy, or any combination of these things. She also usually incorporates blatant sexuality, or at least undertones of it in all her work. Definitely worth checking out. She continues to be an influence in my work.

Trials and Tribulations

I'm so excited by the improvements in my drawing. My gain in knowledge and skill is evident in my gesture drawings, long-term poses, and especially in comparing my third shell drawing to my first two. However, not everything we're learning in this class is coming easily or with improvement. I tend to struggle so much with the manekin muscle building. I'm not a talented 3D artist, but if I were, my forte would be clay. I love working with the palpable and earthy medium, but can't seem to do well with the small detail of the muscle building. This is why the manekin is so dissapointing to me. I know I can do better so I try too hard, then get frustrated with the way the thing looks, and end up giving up.

Spring Remedies

The warm weather is a perfect remedy. Early spring effecting many things in positive ways. I feel like I'm breaking out of a winter depression and coming out of hibernation. The fresh smell of rain is enough to elate my spirits for a whole day. With a better mood my artwork is changing, too. I feel that the new life emerging outside is in turn adding more life to my paintings and drawings somehow. A perfect remedy.

Official Mid-term Post

Life drawing has been an interesting class so far. I've learned a lot both in technique and in observational skills. I think the quality of my line has improved the most, and might be the most important thing we've learned thus far. I believe line is the most essential elements of design for charcoal drawing artists.

The day that had the most effect on me would have to be our museum trip experience. Yes, I've been to numerous museums in my life, but the Walker had a lasting effect on me this time. I think it's partly due to the concepts I'm learning in my studios this semester, including life drawing. This class obviously makes one appreciate the human form, but it also helps you appreciate all that that may entail, namely; the curvature of living, changing, non-geometric forms, and the understanding of what lies beneath and how that effects what appears above.

I look forward to the second half of life drawing. Here are my images so far on flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48545219@N08/

Almost Halfway Point

As we near the middle point in our life drawing class, I realize not only developments in my drawing technique, but also my newfound view of the human figure. I have applied my perception of the human body in other classes. I recently did a presentation on Jenny Saville's artwork. Studying her unromantic portrayal of the figure, you are forced to adjust any previous prejudices. It's equally shocking as it is refreshing. I've included a couple painting of hers.

Walker Trip!

Our venture to Minneapolis last week was equally enjoyable and informative. I was impressed with the works displayed at the Walker this month. Modern art is being pushed as far as possible, in so many intriguing directions now, it seems. Of course the main goal remains, and that is to generate a particular feeling within the viewer. For example, Haegue Yang's "Yearning Melancholy Red" was captivating and overwhelming. This is achieved by combining all sorts of stimuli and interaction for the viewer to meander through and form their own conclusions. I was impressed on many levels by this installation.

However, I choose to speak about another piece that created a stronger reaction of a different sort for me. I discovered "Empty Room" while looking at a piece close to it, and noticing a faint light underneath the second set of stairs in the first two galleries. Getting down on hand and knee to peer underneath, I thought at first I was looking at a mess left about by museum workers, or left over artist supplies. This ordinary curiosity that I felt right away turned into a humorous realization that it was all fabricated specifically to generate that 'ordinary' feeling. It was incredibly intriguing that I felt a feeling that the artists completely intended me to feel!

Peter Fischli and David Weiss are the two collaborative installation artists that created "Empty Room". They had a production at the Walker in 1996 that created this particular mess in the basement. It was this random assortment of supplies scattered about that gave them the idea for this piece. They intended to celebrate the ordinary, overlooked, or undervalued in our lives by using the concept of trompe l'oeil to create the illusion that the viewer is simply seeing a scattered, left over mess. In fact, each of these objects is fabricated from polyurethane, every box, book, board, bucket, paintbrush, hammer, nail, lighter, cup, q-tip, and piece of garbage! They have fabricated a perfect mess.