"Free" Drawing for Studio Art

Unfortunately, I have not gotten into my sewing room as I had planned. It's the end of the semester and, as usual, there are a million things I need to get done. As much as I hope to get some sewing done, it's very unlikely to happen until after the semester is over, but there are only two more weeks left, so its almost done.

One assignment that took up more time than I had thought was my free drawing for art. This was the project we could do anything we wanted, it just had to be at least 15"x22" and we could only use paint or graphite. I had originally considered a still life with a wine theme, but came across a few pictures of images reflected in a wine glass when I was looking for inspiration. So I took a ton of photos and ended up drawing Chapman Falls at Devil's Hopyard.

I am really pleased with my drawing, although I doubt I will ever use graphite on such a large scale again (the drawing itself is 19"x25") - very time consuming, and graphite doesn't move and respond like charcoal and pastels do (my preferred medium for drawing). This picture doesn't really do the drawing justice - there are more variances in the value than this shows, but my scanner can't copy a drawing this size so the pic will have to do.

For reference, here is my drawing next to my reference picture... My goal wasn't to recreate the picture, but to make it recognizable as Chapman Falls without all the extra distractions in the photo. And I think I accomplished that rather well.

Paintings for Studio Art

First and foremost - there are a few more things I need to submit, but for all intents and purposes, I am an officially an ECSU student!!! I am very excited to be moving on to the next stage of school, but also nervous about a larger campus, and parking in particular. The couple times I have gone to the campus it looks like parking could be a nightmare.

Now onto some kind of fun stuff (even if it isn't sewing). We got into paints in my art class a while ago, but I am only just now getting around to sharing my painting with you. Keep in mind I definitely prefer dry mediums, paint always seems to misbehave and not do what I want it to.

We started with black and white gouache. First, we had to create something within a 6" x 6" frame using at least 6 different textures, and this is what I came up with.

I like this little guy. I just wish I had washed out the background some so it wasn't as prominent.


Then, still using black and white gouache, we had to create an abstract piece.

I was not a fan of this assignment. I like abstract works just fine, but I would prefer to create something definable (and I just barely conformed to the rule of no definable person, place, or thing).


And our last painting was either "My day so far..." or "My week so far..." using color acrylics (finally). I did have fun with this one.

It was supposed to be abstract, but I made the artistic decision to simply have an abstract element. I don't know if you can tell, but the green line is supposed to be thread, and has a needle hanging off the end of it.

So, yes, I have snuck in some sewing, but I am not sharing it until after Thanksgiving.

Why?

Well, because I am making three of the same item, and only two are currently completed. The third should be done by the end of the week.

And as far as the art class goes, we have only two more assignments. A free drawing/painting, that our only limitations is we can only use graphite or gouache or acrylics and it can be no smaller than 15" x 22" - otherwise we can create whatever we like. Then we are making sculptures, which will take up the remaining few classes of the semester.

More from Studio Art

For the past three weeks, we have been doing values in my art class, and have had two assignments.

The first assignment was to draw our paper sculpture in black and white. It could be the whole sculpture or just part of it. So here is the photo of what I chose to draw next to my drawing...

The second assignment was a "Triangular Planes Portrait." We had to do a portrait in black and white using only triangles, and each triangle had to be a single value.

I am very pleased with both of my drawings, especially since I have not done anything like it since high school!


On another note I have done some sewing, and will have a finished skirt by the end of the week!!!

School Update

So, as I figured, I have had no time to sew yet this semester. My blouse is still sitting unfinished on the serger table. But I have an art project I thought I'd share and some general school updates.

First, I switched up my schedule. The science class I signed up for just was not going to work, for a number of reasons, and my ability to do the work was not one of them. I decided to drop the science for a history that fills a different elective and I am much happier for it. Also, I have officially applied to Eastern - fingers crossed - now is the hard part, waiting for them to decide my fate!

Now, this is part of the 2nd project I have had in my art class (the first one wasn't all that exciting). We had to create a 'fierce animal' out of noting but paper, and we were limited to a single color. That being said...lo and behold my Phoenix...

And that's all I got for now - my homework needs me.....