Midterm Progress

Thus far, life drawing has not been really what I'd expected. What we're doing with the gestures and longer poses is great practice, but I expected to be learning more about proportions and drawing complete, finished drawings. In my life drawing class at my previous university, we didn't even look at a model until we'd studied proportions, such as how many heads fit into the length of the thigh, and so on. But it has been very beneficial for me to combine the knowledge I have from that class with what we're learning in this one. I really enjoyed learning about the different parts of the spine and how to draw the spine and the ribcage and the pelvis. Also what is good about this course is the muscle studies. It's been helpful to have a little bit of understanding of the muscles when I look at the model. I can then better articulate the correct shapes and shadows that I see on the model since I know that it is just a certain muscle group that I am seeing. Another thing that has been helpful in getting me to notice little details on the model is the cross contour drawings. I am getting a better understanding of the form and the roundness and curves of the human body, but sometimes I get tired of always doing contour drawings. I would really like to do some figural work including shading instead of just always line work.
Even though the work in this class sometimes seems tedious, the continuous practice, I feel, has really helped me a lot. I feel like my drawing and observing skills are really improving. I also really liked going on the field trip. Studying the animals at the Bell Museum was very interesting and made me realize that the skills I'm gaining in this Life Drawing 1 class can pertain to all things from nature, not just the human form. I have thought of many life/nature related projects that I'd like to do with own my future students.
Here is the link to view some of my work from the first half of Life Drawing 1.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48324086@N05/

Journal

This skeleton thing is really harder than I originally thought it would be. I am fine making each muscle and putting it on the skeleton, but what is difficult is not being able to see what each muscle looks like in relation to the others we've built so far. I feel that it would be very helpful if the book had a picture of the "muscles so far" of groups of muscles on each page after the new one has been added.

Walker Field Trip

Rather than focus on one piece that I particularly enjoyed at the Walker, I decided to go with one entire collection. This was called Benches & Binoculars. The entire room was filled floor to ceiling with framed works. This, I learned, was the traditional way of displaying art in a museum. For this collection, they have put together a group of works that they have displayed here since the museum opened in 1879 to remind us that everything, at one time, was contemporary art. There is such variety in the subjects and styles and sizes of these 75+ pieces that it was almost too much to take in. Just like looking at a complex collage, every time I went back in to look, I noticed something new.
Besides talking about the walls, I would like to spend some time discussing what was between them--the benches. Having a place to sit in a gallery encourages the viewers to sit, to observe the room for a longer time than one would when just slowly walking through. The binoculars invite the viewers to observe and explore the works even closer and to spend even more time with them. Something else that I noticed was the color chosen for the carpet in the room and the benches. I was told by a staff member that normally, that room has a cement floor like the rest of the museum, but for this special exhibit, a deep purple carpet was chosen to cover the cement. I can't help but wonder why purple? I did some research on the color purple and discovered that it is well-liked among creative and eccentric people. Also, when surrounded with purple, it is said that you will have peace of mind and be very calm. Perhaps that was the goal in choosing purple--to calm the eccentric minds that most often visit art museums such as this. Or maybe there was another reason, I cannot be sure. Some other words I found that are associated with the color purple (among many others) are: power, luxury, wisdom, independence, creativity, mystery, magic, ambition, purpose, and uplifting.
I really enjoyed this exhibition. (I revisited the room several times!) I like the walls being FULL and being surrounded with so many different pieces. Even though some works went unnoticed at first, I feel that for me, this is a more successful way to display works. It is much more interesting and the room had a calm, peaceful feel (perhaps that was partly because of the purple floor and furniture). I truly WANTED to spend more time here, which is a feeling I don't usually get in a gallery that displays one or two works on boring, stark walls. This was a pleasant change.

Journal

Lately we've been doing long cross-contour drawings. This type of drawing is completely new to me. I can't decide if I actually like it yet...it is really teaching me to look hard at the model and see little bumps and dips that I probably wouldn't have noticed before, but it is very difficult! This one was done on the day when we learned about the ab muscles and the sternum. We had to draw the center line down the model's torso, then start our cross-contour lines from there. I think what I don't like so much about this technique is that it is not free. My hand moves very slowly and is very controlled, but I like to work dark and in a painterly way. This will just take more time and practice to get used to it, I'm sure. I just have to keep in mind that it is indeed helping me to learn the human form and how to really see.

Shell Education

My shell was once home to a very large predatory sea snail called a Channeled Whelk, or Busycotypus canaliculatus. They are primarily found on the eastern coast of the United States, but they have also been introduced into the San Francisco Bay. They prefer sandy, shallow, sub-tidal areas. This species of whelk is nocturnal and feeds on clams. Some people enjoy eating Channeled Whelk, but more often they are used as fishing bait.
The shell itself is typically five to eight inches long. When alive, there is a short layer of stiff hair covering the entire shell, but when uninhabited, it has a smooth surface. It is also characterized by its pear-shaped body and large spiral (whorl) at one end, with a straight canal at the other. These shells range in color from buff gray to light tan.
Throughout history, Channeled Whelk shells have been used for many purposes. Native Americans would cut off the long canal of adult shells and make them into beads used on their Wampum belts. In the Early Colonial days in Massachusetts, three of these beads were worth one penny. American Indians would also use them as drinking vessels. Furthermore, the Aborigines used the shell’s sharp edge as a cutting tool. Today, besides food and bait, people use Channeled Whelk shells as decoration in gardens, lawn paths, and flowerpots.

http://www.mitchellspublications.com/guides/shells/articles/0026/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channeled_whelk
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/whelk.aspx

Journal

Well, two full weeks of the new semester are behind me. Drawing class is going well. I'm really learning quickly drawing from the models in class and doing the gesture drawings, and I really enjoy looking closely at the spine. What I'm not so much a fan of are my shell drawings. I find it much easier to draw the figure than I do to draw this somewhat foreign object. I like to draw the abstract shapes and curves, but one particular shell gets, well, boring to draw after a while. There are only so many ways I can turn it and many times the drawings all tend to look the same. Drawing this same object all semester is going to get really dull, I predict. I might enjoy more drawing a set of differently shaped shells and create a whole shell collection. But I suppose this exercise will be good for me. It will help me truly look for the minute details in an object and will help me to also develop good self-discipline...hopefully.
I'm really looking forward to another week and to starting out skeleton muscle models!

Blind Contour Drawing

1.) mostly dark
2.) varying
3.) choppy
4.) consistent
5.) dismembered