Final Thoughts

Flickr account! final pictures added for the end of the semester: 
FINAL FLICKR


Wow! it's crazy to think that this is my final post. I hope that I am able to get a better grade on my "blog" section of the over all grades. 


When thinking about this class, I think about what Present-Alisha could tell September-Alisha about everything she'd learn. 
I know that I still struggle with harsh lines, but I feel like I have gained more knowledge about how the human form is proportioned. I know that I tend to elongate more of these parts but I felt like I am getting the practice to pay attention and notice when it's not needed. 


One of my favorite days that I didn't expect to be was going to the Bell Museum. I think that my drawing of the cow pelvis was probably one of my strongest piece that I drew out this semester. 


The last day of class, we did a really fun thing with K and our gesture drawings. She was putting clothes on to help her stay warm but it added such movement to the gesture drawings. It was a lot of fun, and I could tell we really had to work up to it because after learning about how to read where bones were under the skin, adding clothing made it a little more difficult. I think I have achieved a nice beginner lessons about how to go about drawing figures. I really want to just keep practicing and develop my own style of drawing people.


I have always had an appreciation for correctly drawn anatomy but, now after taking this class I truly know how difficult and how much focus is needed. 

long drawing of K 

K posing with her coat on and with her scarf wrapped around her foot. 30 Sec 

Blizzard Week!

I already posted something in class about our Hand's study from Tuesday. That day was pretty interesting, because I was drawing Julia's hands terribly. I have a picture of it so you can notice how scary it is. I will have to play around with someone else's hands and redraw it till I get it right. Im scared I wont have a lot of material to choose from. Annie and I talked about going to the open drawing this Tuesday. Im kind of excited to possibly get some more good works. I also find that I am more devoted to homework at night time. I focus better at night. 


On Thursday we learned about the Skull and it was a nice little intro that I'm sure continues into Life Drawing II. I like to look at my friend Missy Hoch's portraits and they are beautiful. I find that drawing realistically is extremely hard for me. I am learning how to draw forms but I tend to find myself putting my own weird twist on them. I think it's a mix up between this class, with beautifully accurate drawings and learning about more works from Modern Art History. All those figures are so expressive with the unique forms and different stylized artist eye. I makes me want to jump in and just start making weird figures also with arbitrary colors and fun curves. 


I am kind of bummed that I didnt get a chance this semester to study a male figure. I bet I'd probably blush a little more seeing a male figure. I am so used to K and her body, just like how I'm used to my shell. 


Anyways, I was having a lot of fun drawing and I noticed that Im finally starting to draw lighter and get darker. I'm also able to map out the shapes and figures more. Observing negative space helped me a lot with the skull.


Sadly in class I found myself going from focused, to just DONE. When Amy did come over and helped me she showed me still that my nose proportions were off by a lot. It was hard to come back from that. I just ended up adding some shading and called it done. 

IN CLASS

Currently I am in class. Julia and I were drawing each other's hands. Amy ran over to my drawing of Julia's hand and showed me very fast that I drew the hands of Death. They were so long and gross looking. Hahaha after watching Amy draw an outline I felt a little more confident about how to go about it from there on out. I really do need a lot more practice but luckily I can probably practice with my own hand. 


One thing that I like about our class is that we are getting comfortable with one another. I feel like we have been for a while so today was a nice and fun relaxed day to practice drawing. You could hear other chatter going on in the room, and Amy also put on some nice background music. 

The board of notes! Amy makes it look so easy. 

FIRST WEEK OF DEC

Oh wow, it's already December. The end of the semester is already here, and it's that time of the school semesters I wish that there were more hours in a day. 


Life drawing was a short week for me. For some reason I came down with a strange 24 hour common cold. I could not get out of bed on Tuesday and didn't really fight it. I think I needed the rest. Julia and Annie were in class though, and all they told me was that Amy had assigned TONS of muscles for us to do... ohh man. 


On Thursday I was feeling a lot better and we did some drawings.  It was a nice fun day because the class was really talkative and everyone seemed to be openly on the same page. Not drawing for a week really seemed to set everyone back! Gesture drawings seemed like they were a second. we were moving so fast. It hard for me to draw a rib cage in the short amount of time which was frustrating. We ended up moving to longer poses of K. We were suppose to draw a hour in a half of her pose. I was struggling so much that day I ended up drawing four twenty-five minute drawings of her. I even asked Amy to come over and help me. I was surprised to hear that yet again, my proportions weren't too far off. Of course I am still elongating parts of the body... I was positioned super weird and probably should have moved around more than just plopping down where I was. I was down low (because I was on a drawing horse) and the stool that she was resting her arm on was kind of in the way. I don't know why I didn't move but I guess I felt more confident and thought that I could have taken on that angle. 


Since the end of the semester is coming up, and I did not receive a great grade on my flicker portfolio, I think it would be beneficial for me, my grade and portfolio to go to open drawing on Tuesday night to hopefully gain more material to choose from. I hope I am able to make it there this week. 

For some reason I liked this gesture drawing

Elongated figure but it was fun to draw

Here in the left corner you can notice me kind of zoning out and doing my own little drawing. This is the one that Amy helped me proportion out. It was soon abandoned. 

Probably the more successful one of the day. I would hope so after drawing 4 or 5 of them. 

WEEK SOMETHING

This past week was nice because we all finally got break for Thanksgiving. To spend our one day in class we got to go take a field trip to the Walker and the Bell Museum. 


Things got off to a rough start with some minor miscommunication with the busses. Nonetheless we finally got rolling and went to the Walker first. I found it to be very inspiring for another class actually. I signed up for Sculpture II for next semester and some of the pieces there were just what I needed to see to help get my thoughts moving. Yves Klein's work were there and it was really beautiful to see in person! I had no idea that they were there, but he was an artist that really stuck out to me. 


Now, going to the Bell Museum was something that sounded really interesting to me. "Going to a museum to draw dead animals" is how I explained the field trip to my parents the night before. Once I got there it was really not as weird as it sounds. It was one of my favorite things I've done on a field trip here. It bummed me out I didnt live closer to go back and work on other subjects. I ended up drawing a pelvic bone of a cow. I personally think it is one of my better works, and reflects what I've learn, or maybe I should say it reflects my practice well. 

Drawing 

The Cow Pelvis bone

Me. Being so artsy.. 

He was posing. I didn't mind the turtles so much as the snakes.

Amy taking roll for the ride home! 

After the field trip I came home and packed like the world was ending to get home for break. It was such a busy day of Menom-to-cities. Cities-to-Menom....Menom-to-Eagan. 

But I did get a good drawing out of the day, I was inspired at the walker and I knew that my day wasn't wasted my any means. 

Wow, I can not forget that the final ink wash shell drawing is due. I think I might go grab stuff for that tomorrow at Penco and start. Hopefully for all of us the we can keep our heads a float, and enjoy the time we have to create a beautiful final shell drawing. 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows!!

I thought that Amy would like to see me getting ready to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows! She always seems to appreciate my side comments about it the boy who lived during class! 


"I HAVE SEEN YOUR HEART HARRY AND IT IS MINE!" 

INDIA INK

Hello to all! 
I would like to say that this week with life drawing has been a good one. It didn't hurt that class was canceled on Tuesday. I was prepared for class, because Annie, Julia and I worked on the muscles together again. I think that out of all the clay muscles assignments, this one was one of the better ones, I liked the way things turned out with lower leg muscles. I'll have to take pictures of that, but I left the mannequin in the locker in APPA. 




Announcement: I AM IN LOVE WITH INDIA INK! I went out and decided to go buy more because I have fallen in love. I can not wait to play around with the shell that is due on the 2nd, and see how my final picture will look. I have always loved painting and drawing it was was just a breath of fresh-artistic-inspiring air to be able to do both in the same project. I found myself doing mini studies of the shell on my own time later that evening, and playing around with ink and water. 


I forgot to bring my Shell to class so the pictures I post are of a leg bone with a socket I suspect.  I chose to buy brick red, and it is a very beautiful ink wash, however, drawing a bone.. made it look like I just ripped it out of someones leg. very morbid and  graphic..  haha 

Here is my close up cross contour study of the bone I found in class. 

my bloody bone! creepy but fun!

Annie Julia and I sprinting to the Terrace for a fast lunch break! 

My lovely art supporters working hard! 

WEEK 9 part. 2

I have no idea what post this is, but I do know it's Sunday, and one needs to get up here so the TA can read it. I hope she noticed that I added a few things, and commented on other peoples works. All I found myself saying to others was "good job!" and "thats beautiful!" I find myself being critical in class, and interested in browsing around my peers and complimenting them on works that I like. I know it's not exactly 'constructive', but I do know that a compliment is a good thing to throw out there every now and then. Sometimes you just need to know about one so you have a little motivation to keep doing what you're doing. 

Tuesday was interesting, getting to learn about the feet, and when I did look at peoples feet that they posted, and they were really fun to look at. I found myself intimidated when Amy said that that was the next thing that would be studying. Ive always been ashamed of my hands because they are still drawn like how they were when I was a child. I was actually kind of not too embarrassed about my feet drawing of the model. I did a whole bunch of different versions of them also. I did some gesture drawings, and some longer drawing. I found myself doing my own little study in class. It was fun, and I like that we are finally starting to get lengthened time where we can also try to figure it out ourselves. 

On Thursday was my MPR and of course, it was the most aggressive critique of my life. From seeing my grade that I got in this class for the midterm and going through a tough panel, I allowed myself to marinate in some self pity for about a day, and then I finally got a burt of "what doesnt kill you makes your stronger." Im going to try to make sure these posts are up to par. 

Like I stated in my post of WEEK 9... part. 1, I am at home, and my current stuff (the feet drawing) are in my locker in APPA. Im driving back to my home in Menom in about two hours and plan to pick up that stuff. I am looking forward to posting my drawings from Tuesday up along with my one long drawing of the model on Thursday, when she was sitting above us in a chair, like the drawing model queen! =) 

Heres one of my better drawings of the model's foot.

Here is a cross contour study I did during our long period of drawing. I did this one first then the one that was shown above, 

Now here is my beter drawing of her legs. The farther leg looks kind of funny in the picture. but I used my mark making on her knee. 

WEEK 9

I am sitting at my home in Eagan, in my dining room with a glass of cheap wine. I am trying to play catch up with these journal entries, because I was disappointed in my mid-term grade. A quick fix is to put more thought and length into these BLOGGER entries. So that is exactly what I am going to try to do. 
Last week was probably one of the worst weeks out of my whole academic career. I had a lot of stress and build up. Like others lots of school demands and it was starting to take a toll mentally on myself. my grades were coming back from all my midterms and even thought i studied and engaged myself into my work, my grades sadly didnt reflect my efforts. It was like slaps in the face, day after day, and with MPR around the corner it made matters worse. 


but you know, what doesnt kill you (which i thought i was almost dead) makes you stronger, so after a day of marinating in some minor self pity I rose above it and I'm going to try to do my best to change, and make corrections to whatever needs fixing before the end of the semester. 


Life drawing is one of my favorite classes, and one that challenges me the most. I really was not used to standing and drawing, but on the other hand now i do like it because it allows me to get my whole arm into the drawing.


Amy is so mesmerizing to watch when shes drawing. She makes it seem so effortless. I hope that I can achieve at least one faction of her talent and knowledge that she has gained over her years of studying. 
I'm coming to show that i am picking up on proportions and  and when amy does come around and check i am only a few marks off. 


I am learning this year that Professors are there to help, not judge. I've lost sight of this and I am taking more of a stand for myself, my education and my ability to improve and really stalk amy down, and ask her how im doing. Talk to her when she isn't doing a demo. I usually find myself hiding and ducking down, and hoping that she doesnt see mor or forgets to come talk to me. This needs to change. Instead i need to be communicating with her and flagging her down.  I'm looking forward to seeing how my drawing improve and then it will be a win-win because I will be more motivated to post them up, and be available to get feed back from my peers! 

Looking back on some of my first things, this is one of my first shell drawings that i did in class. I am actually kind of  pleased with it. 

Heres probably my better figure drawing. I think compared to the shell I have come a long way!

WEEK 8

This week in Life Drawing I feel was one of the more successful weeks for me. Both days I left class feeling confident and happy about the work that I completed in class. Both days I noticed that for once, my proportions are finally starting to get closer and closer to accuracy. 


I've been enjoying the long 2 hour drawings we've been doing in class. Today I feel like I had the most fun, and may have produced my best figure drawing. Of course it was dark but it was proportionate for the most part. Ever since I've started to work on the Drawing horses, I find my patience not running out like it usually does when I stand. 


I need to take a picture of that and have Amy give me back my shell drawing so I can present it for MPR. Because of this I am a little cranky with the demands of school. I'm trying to keep my head above water and stay productive. Instead of blogging about what has been going on in class, and my improvements; I find myself prioritizing what needs to get done. Blogging usually takes a back seat. I'm sure this week I will be unfocused, and more concentrated about getting things done on time.. i.e the 2nd contour drawing. Once thursday is over, I'll be able to breathe a little bet more, and maybe focus my attention on the muscles. 

A fast gesture drawing. As you can see, I love to elongate the torso. I didnt bring back any of my recent drawings to show my improvement but I plan to photograph my improvements. 

WEEK 6/7 (?)

I know that since we had no class one week, Amy told our class that we didn't have to do a post that week. I still ended up taking pictures of my cross contour shell drawing, but what I'm trying to get at is I don't know if I'm behind with my Blogs. 


School is picking up, and I have mid-program review coming up, other classes are getting more crazy, and sadly, last week Life Drawing took a place on "the back burner" for me.


I have constructed my thigh muscles, which was a lot of work but like I keep blogging, about how working with the clay muscles gets easier. But, it is and it isn't. I find when I am working and focused it's not that bad. When I'm finished I find myself just being mentally strained and annoyed with the clay. It's a lot of strange emotions. 


I feel like I was able to catch up with the expectations for class tomorrow. I got flickr set up. I'm kind of nervous to talk about my art. I feel like I am improving, yet I know there's more I am hoping to make proportional figures by the end of the semester. 

I uploaded this sketch onto my flickr. Although the proportions are not correct, I like that I'm starting to develop my own stylized figures. 

Here is another longer gesture drawing. It's kind of mixed up but I'll find my way. 

FLICKR ACCOUNT

Alisha Peterson's Flickr Account!


Here is my newly made Flickr account. I have never made one before, but it is fun to see my art uploaded to share with my peers. 


The works contains long and short time periods of gesture drawings, clay manikin muscles, and a cross contour study of a shell. 

CROSS CONTOUR drawing

Here is my process to my Cross Contour process. I began with setting up and spreading out in the kitchen. I found my scale to be extremely hard. I have always struggled with large proportions. I do think that I was able to achieve a good size, yet something that must be improved on is my LINES! This is something I know is a struggle for me. I have noticed that its something that possessed all the better drawings I see in class when we share, and I NEED to learn how to take time and honestly think very hard about the lines I put down.

I am fairly glad with the way things look but as always Amy keeps reminding us that even the best artists can improve and usually always put a "wrong" mark down. I know this needs improvement and I am interested in maybe reaching out and going to a tuesday free life drawing class. I think that the extra time will allow me to play around with other ideas and and methods i have and also of course give me practice. 

Getting set up to draw. 

First few lines put down. Again, I know I have heavy mark making. 

I like how this ended up. I didn't want to over work it (I have a tendency to do so.) I'm fairly happy with this. Although i know this needs improvements, but i do like that i did not over work it. If Im prone to anything it would be adding too many more harsh lines. I know that maybe my long axis needs to be fixed. but I will see about how my review goes. What i am most interested in, is the India Ink. I saw a few in the halls in the spring and I can not wait to see how mine will turn out. Until then i need as much practice as i can get to make sure that i can produce something that reflects how genuine interest in this class. 

WEEK 5

Hello to all!


Wow this week was an interesting one. Class was cancelled both days! Tuesday the classroom was too warm for the whole class to be drawing in. I liked the idea to get more of muscles to sculpt and have the rest of the class time to go get that finished. We had Annie and Matt come over and it was a lot of fun to work with other class mates. Each assignment with the clay I am starting to become more confident. Or maybe it's because I am working with class mates to figure it out. It is comforting to know that I'm not the only one gets a little confused.


We do have the contour drawing with our shells that are due on Tuesday, sadly I have not started that. I am interested to start. I am excited about the subject, I think that the shell is really pretty. I just know that it's going to take a lot of time, and this semester is picking up very fast.


Thursday, was a hectic day! Fire drills were going off everywhere in Applied Arts. When they were finally over the class hung out in the room for quite some time before we all realized that Amy had called in sick that morning! Haha, it was kind of funny, and the chance that the whole week of class was cancelled was kind of a nice break. I am looking forward to having it this week. As much mental work it is to stay so focused, when I was out of class I realized how long it is that we are actually drawing. That time is really long, and It did make me appreciate the time I have during the week to have 6 hours of practice.

This would be me, kind of intimidated by the skeleton

Julia, Annie, and myself having a clay party! Much more fun with other =) 

WEEK 4

OOPS!  


I forgot my password to my gmail. I almost started to panic. 


During life drawing this week, Thursday's class probably was the most significant for me. Amy had us extend our drawing utensils so were were forced to draw lightly and slowly. This has been an issue that I have struggled with pretty much since I was little. I love to mark make, and draw hard. Plus I also have discovered I draw pretty fast. This was so much help for me. I finally started to get the hang of it by the end of class, and it kept my attention span. I notice myself keeping a short attention span during this class, which is very unusual. I'm very interested in improving, and if I start to keep in mind that I need to slow down, and LIGHTLY draw, I'll be better at observing what is in front of me. 


We also got our first project to draw (as pretty as we can) a cross contour drawing of out shells. 
I love my shell because the shape of it is so beautiful. The contrast between the rough, and smooth curves of it will be fun for this assignment. We are also told that this piece should be done within 5 to 6 hrs. With my new found mental-notes from Thursday, I think this will be a great start to try to practice and exercise this idea. 


Lots to do! and it's fun that the ball of the class started to roll, and we are into the actual meat of the class. I'm looking forward to a week of hopefully, lighter drawings, slower speed, and practice. I know I have not put many pictures up on my blog yet. Sadly I can't find my Camera charger.. It's very annoying but I've decided I need to go to the Resource Center and rent one out. I hope to have some pictures to share with you later this week! I'm finally starting to produce some forms that I would like to share, until then.. 


Take care everyone and happy drawing! 

This is one of my first gesture drawings that I was practicing in class. I think I was fairly successful at showing that she was bending over her knees with her back to me. 

trying hard to find the pubis bone