"At Semester's End"

I almost forgot to do my last post.

     It's that time again-- the end of the semester. For some reason, I don't really start "getting it" until around the end of semester; perhaps that is because I don't practice in my sketchbook the way I should. Oh well. I'm going to try to bring in a good haul this year; I'll try. Frankly, I keep digging that hole that traps me in low-budget time constraints. Not deliberately from laziness, more like from a mismanagement of time that causes priority battles and trepidation in the hours I should be working. For instance, that charcoal-- I can't stand it! It makes lovely drawings, but I never finished! At first, the prep took me too long, and then, I had to learn to dig with that eraser. Sadly, the first few weeks attacked my stamina as well. I kid not when I say that I need to work out. As a result of this, maybe one or two of my charcoal erasure drawings are actually finished, and they, as well as the others, need touch-ups. As far as charcoal practice in the sketchbook, that is actually something that I should have had a few two-page spreads of, but I spent too much time thinking about the best time and place to do it because I wanted to spray fix it and let it dry properly. You know how I am about charcoal dust. Alas, this conceptualization caged me, and I never actually did it. Unfortunate, I know. Drawing 2 has really made me appreciate line-only drawings.
     Which brings me to my next topic: the homework and portfolio. There are several homework assignments that it would have greatly benefited me to rework. But again, I waited too late to do it, so that won't happen either. I've got too much going on with 2D and 3D design for that now. On the bright side, seeing the drawings in their mediocre state at least serves as visual evidence of my process, pacing, and progress throughout the semester. As for the portfolio, I'm going to try to work at some of my in-class drawings a little before turning it in, as a lot of them are far from finished. I hope to come out of Drawing 2 with, heaven help me, a "C". At least I'll pass.
     Despite my disappointments, some good came out of the semester for my growth as an artist. I've slightly picked up my pacing, and I think that some of the experience has edified my confidence, so I hope to perform even better in my future classes. It takes two, baby-- two semesters. Also beneficial, of course, was the exposure to different drawing techniques. The ink wash was a lot of fun, but it was not exactly easy either, simply because of the drying process and the danger of over-inking. I killed the leaves in the center of that plant. Most of all though I'm going to miss our group; we became almost like a little family. I hope that every one has a relaxing and safe Christmas holiday.

The Collage as Fine Art

Max Ernst

This image doesn't relate exactly to what we are doing in class, but I think it's a good example of the way collage can be used to create artwork. One thing Ernst does here that I find successful is divide the space into five "frames": two large rectangles that take up most of the space, two smaller ones toward the bottom, and a single circle that is placed near the top of the picture plane, but is connected to the largest rectangle by a piece of something (cardboard?) and a bow. Although the piece is mostly collage, some drawing/painting is evident. The pattern on the two large rectangles and in the circle have some volume in themselves due to the slight change in value on the diagonal strips: a one-step gradation to darker blues. Another useful thing Ernst did with the space was to overlap some of the elements, creating a pseudo-layer of space. The precision of his cutouts is nicely counterbalanced by the places where Ernst chose to draw jagged lines.

   

Georges Braque

I had to choose the two pioneers of Cubism because I felt their work a perfect example for artists who use collage elements. Unfortunately, enlarging these kills the resolution, so to the analysis. The collage elements in Braque's piece are very simple yet the contrast in value is what makes it work so well. By carefully placing three pieces of yellow-brown paper and using light variations of black to define planes and objects Braque gives the illusion of shallow depth while integrating the collaged paper into the piece as a whole.

Pablo Picasso

What can I say, this one is exquisite. The compression of objects into an ovular frame emphasizes the composition, and the use of a burnt sienna border complements it further. Picasso uses a outline to define the separation between objects where the values become similar and to make the collaged pieces seem like part of the surface. Even though the space is flattened by the line work and pattern, the overlapping and use of warm and cool shades lends to this piece's elegance.

James Rosenquist

 This is a "thumbnail collage"; I like it most for its colors. The cool green and green-blues of the grass and treetop push back in space, especially since the paper collage object is complementary to the cool light-blue sky and the grass and treetop edge. The collage object is actually a pastel hue and has a pink-to-red-to-purple value range. Its edges are smooth and soft, contrasted by the projecting spikes of the collage paper from the right and left edges of the picture plane and the negative space they create. The icicle-edged "V" mask on top of the mid ground object creates another layer of space while emphasizing it. 

Kurt Schwitters

Last but not least, is a collage piece by Kurt Schwitters, a German artist. He was very famous for his collages and "mirtzpah" (I'm not sure about the spelling). Unfortunately, Hitler had all his mirtzpahs destroyed, but the photographs of them still exist. Anyway, here we have a piece that combines newspaper clippings and pieces of objects, for example a washer. Since this piece is nonrepresentational, the angular clippings and crisp edges give the piece a sense of unity, as does the presence of text in the top, bottom, left and right areas. The use of myriad objects contributes a sense of variety.


Finally, I have included a link to an article about another artist who uses collage in some of his work; Robert Rauschenberg.
http://www.brooklynrail.org/2006/04/art/robert-rauschenberg-combines

Astounding!

Albert Bierstadt, I've just discovered, was a Hudson River School artist, so those beautiful images of his on our 2nd blog assignment were not done by photographs, but painted.

I love ink washes! (at least with the brush)

Brush and ink is fun to work with; I feel like I have more control. It's certainly better than repeatedly dipping a stick into an ink well. Working with ink washes is probably the most agreeable thing we've done all semester; once I get past the initial line drawing, the process is relatively easy.
     I was very selective about the location I chose to draw; I didn't want to have to set up in a place where I had to find a support for my drawing board or drag a chair. I finally decided to go behind the library, where there's a patio with tables and chairs.

Noon

Late afternoon

Early evening

I wish I had done a preliminary sketch. Oh well. With the season and daylight savings time, the evening was not the best time to work, since the sun went behind the clouds. It was a beautiful day today, though, especially during high noon. I felt a sense of tranquility and placidity while working on this drawing. I was a little surprised to find myself enjoying this at first, since I generally don't like working outside, but today was a good day, apparently in more ways than one.  For once, I wasn't running from bees or anything like that, and the only thing that startled me and broke my concentration, briefly, was the loud slamming of an upstairs door to the balcony, which happened a few times.

Mark making that creates Value

Naturally, the hardest part of this assignment (thus the most time-consuming) was finding decent images from reputable sources, that wouldn't have copyright issues. It's just so hard to look for worthwhile images in the public domain, or maybe I'm supposed to spend a couple of hours sifting through Internet search results. In any case, this is why I hate these types of assignments. The posting is easy; it's the finding that causes me trouble. I just wish I could snap my fingers (or wrinkle my nose or shake my ponytail) and it's done. Alas. Well, here we go:

Georges Seurat

This is one of Seurat's sketches, probably a study for one of his paintings or pure practice, I don't know.  Here he uses hatch-like mark making to create a buildup of value, rather than his famous Pointillist color techniques. Even though this image has a largely grayscale range, I think it's successful in creating planes of value. There aren't many dark values, but there are lighter areas where he barely touched the paper, to indicate depth and separation of planes. He also conveys a deep sense of space, with more clarity towards the foreground of the picture plane. Notable, is the fact that he used a toned paper with only a dark medium, probably charcoal or conte, contributing to the grayscale contrast of the sketch.

Georges Seurat

This is an image of one of Seurat's paintings, which I 'borrowed' from IgoUgo.com. (For whatever reason, it's copyrighted.) I chose this image to give a sense of the work that Seurat is most famous for. I think that this piece is also successful in creating planes of value through mark making. Seurat uses a multiplicity of dabs of color to imply an outdoor scene. The color values in the objects contain subtleties, reflected lights upon the water's surface and direction of light source upon the tree line particularly. He has even included the reflection of the vessel in the mid ground, which acts as an area of emphasis. The painting also includes depth-of-field.

Albrecht Durer

Albrecht Durer--master sketcher, painter, and etcher. Here is an etching of the Madonna and Child, with crosshatching techniques and great attention to detail. We see Durer paying attention to the separation of planes, modeling of the forms,  and subtle gradations within the planes. His treatment of the etching forms a smooth modulation between white and ?10% grey- well, really, really dark gray, since I'm not sure about the percentage. And there are touches of black her and there. The key with this being an etching, is the proximity of the hatch marks and quantity, since you can't really achieve mark variation by cutting into a plate, i.e. thickness, weight. Also important to mention, is that Durer does not neglect the planes in the faces; only the halos behind the Madonna's and Child's heads fall flat within the broad circle with no value.

Kathy Kollwitz

Whenever I think of Katy Kollwitz, I think of The Peasant's Revolt. Unfortunately,  it doesn't have enough variation for me to use for this assignment; most of her work seems to be fairly dark. This piece, which appears to be an ink drawing was the best mark making example I could find. Although there aren't many grays, she does create distinctions among the objects within space through her mark making. The more discernible marks at toward the foreground contribute to a sense of depth within the picture plane, as the things that are farther away are less demarcated. Without drawing contours, Kollwitz gives the drawing clarity with her carefully controlled hatching and crosshatching. Where the draped forms of the bedding are concerned, she uses lines that conform to the curves of the drapery and the contours of the bedridden figure, instead of using strictly directional lines. Some use of ink wash is also visible.

I close this post with this obvious, impolite remark: There is some disturbing, disgusting shit posted online. Pardon my use of an expletive, and have a nice day.

Just for Laughs

Recall that I warned about the terror of the ink smudges. Well speaking of horrifying, smear-prone fluids, here's a little clip that ought to jog the collective memories of several generations of Americans. I present to you, the famous horror music from Psycho:

My Ink Landscape Drawing

The blogger is back!

(At least for one or two posts) I know all my adoring fans have anticipated my return. Thank you; you've been a beautiful crowd.

But seriously,

The landscape drawing was a very time-consuming, frustrating and relaxing experience all at once. Time-consuming because (well it's obvious) it's stick and ink; frustrating because of the many times I had to reload the stick and the occasional bugs flying near me (dear heavens, a bee stopped by to visit my paper; and relaxing because the sunlight was just beautiful, and I did it at home here in Jackson, MS, from the comfort of my own front door walkway. I stood 1 foot or so above my drawing board, which I had laid flat on a TV tray. This became a bit exhausting every now and then, but fortunately, I had brought my little chair outside to rest on. These are two shots of the scenic street "landscape".

In my opinion, these two photographs are much more attractive than the actual drawing I executed. Oh well; at least the pictures look good. And I did spend quite some time on it too. Of course I ran low on ink with no way to get any more, and blah, blah, blah. Plus I was exhausted, had other, more important matters to tend to, and the light changed drastically. But I think I would have overworked it if I had kept going. I neglected some structural details, since this is a landscape drawing.

Beware!

Here comes the zinger: ink smudges! Several times I had the misfortune of getting a little excess of ink on the paper, and trying to wipe it up with my finger was a bad idea. Behold, the birth of the smudge monster. Mwahahahahahaha!

Are you afraid of the dark?

Here's a nice episode for "Tales from the Crypt". Seriously though, drawing at nighttime is challenging, simply because you're drawing in the dark. I felt safer just doing it from the apartment balcony; people are crazy, especially in Memphis, apparently. And even though the security truck drives around the dorms, there are still weirdos who pass by on Poplar. Granted, drawing at night has an advantage over drawing during the day-- no mosquitoes, no sun glare, and no numerous groups of people passing be every 20 seconds. The traffic is a different story--I don't care what time it is, there are always at least three or four cars passing by at a time, but I guess that's what happens when you live on Poplar Avenue.

It was a little strange to have a homework assignment that you actually have to wait till it's dark to do. But there's an excitement to drawing at night, if only a nervous one. The main thing going through my mind is, I want to get the hell back inside. Plus, it's cold now. Dang, Fall has hardly begun and the temperatures drop by nearly half of what they were two weeks ago. It's still pretty cool knowing that many artists, including the famous Leornardo da Vinci, did paintings and drawings at night. For the record, when it comes to being outside alone, I am afraid of the dark.

I just couldn't help myself

I found a couple of images of Claude Monet's Rouen Cathedral Facade series, and they are just so lovely next to each other in color that I decided to post them on my blog for all to see. When we discussed the time of day that we were to do this assignment (a.m. or p.m.), I immediately thought of Claude Monet because I knew he had painted a series of a cathedral facade at different times of the day. I think it's very interesting that he chose to paint an impression of the cathedral's facade about 12 different times on one day, just to study how the time of day would change the lighting and shadows of the paintings. Here are two of them (I didn't check to see what time of day these two are):

Decisions, decisions...

This video has an interesting viewpoint and treatment of space. Instead of being in the belfry or right up on the castle, the viewer is seeing the castle from a distance, as if standing on the edge of a precipice. The surprise is that the bat, which is the main subject of this video, flies out of the viewer's space and circles around to the castle. The castle is perched on an bow arc-shaped cliff and overlaps three mountains. The bright full moon is the lightest value, followed by the ghostly drifts of fog at the bottom of the foremost part of the picture plane. There is a subtle modulation in value, from unadulterated whites to grayish-blues and bluish-grays to dark blues and finally black. The curved forms also give this composition energy and a fluid sense of movement.

The thing I particularly like about this music video is the lighting and the occasional inclusion of red objects. The black-and-white color scheme appears, in some scenes, almost blurry, and the whitest whites almost cast a glare. The sweat on the DJ's high-resolution features adds to the dramatic mood the videographers were shooting for. The best relationships between positive and negative spaces in the video, however, are in the shots that contain architectural facets, for instance, the stairwells.

This short clip has an interesting perspective and point of view; the angle it is filmed from creates a right diagonal. The crow itself is the darkest value in the picture; however the modulation of the grays, whites, yellows, and greens make up for the lack of dramatic lighting. The relationship between the space in the landscape is fluid in parts, with curved cross diagonals, and a little more crisp in others, hence the fence, the fence pole, the airplane rudder, and the crow's legs. The emphases are placed in the mid ground planes and the vegetation of the foreground planes.

Images of works by Francisco Goya, Albert Bierstadt, Willem Claesz, and Paul Klee

 

 

 

Messy, messy, messy!

That's all I can really say about this. The end product of charcoal erasure drawing is beautiful, but the process quite frankly vexes me. Well I'll just have to get over it. But I do have good news. I'm in 2D and 3D design this semester, so having already taken Drawing I has been quite helpful to me, particularly where sketchbooking is concerned. Also, right now in 2D we are basically talking about and working with the same ideas as we are in Drawing II! It excites me to have similar types of homework assignments for two classes.

I just read the most fascinating article on CNN.com about video games and art. It includes brief allusions to Michelangelo's David and Van Goh's Starry Night. Whether or not every one agrees with the notion of some video games being called "art" the article points out some interesting considerations and makes a good point, and the opening paragraphs consist of Webster's and Oxford English Dictionary's definition of the word art. It's just an article I happened upon, but unfortunately I would have to sign in to CNN.com to have transfer it to the blog, and I am not getting a membership for that. So, if anybody is interested, please go to http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/gaming.gadgets/08/31/video.games.art.steinberg/index.html?iref=NS1 (this is not an active hyperlink).

Newly refurbished!!

     Hello, drawing 2! I am a returning student to MCA, but I'm still considered a freshman because I don't have enough credits. Anyway, I am here, primarily, so I can get the training to become a cartoon animator, and, hopefully, to eventually become a producer. I came to MCA because during my senior year in high school, a representative of MCA came and gave a presentation to our art class. I was an APAC (Academic and Performing Arts Complex) in high school, and I feel very privileged to have been in the APAC Visual Arts program. Obviously, once I receive my degree, I would like to get a job that will give me a decent financial start, and then, carve my pathway to animating and producing cartoons.
    Despite my huge ambitions, I am open to other career paths and am glad to receive the opportunity to attend MCA. As a bonus, it is relatively close to my home in Jackson, Mississippi. It is the closest art school to my home, and art school is where I wanted to go when I graduated. Hoorah! So, I am trying to stay as close to home as possible, and hopefully, I will be as blessed as I have been so far and get the opportunity to found a cartoon studio in, of all places, Jackson, MS! Work hard, dream big, and do what you love! (Always have some back-up options, in case your first dream doesn't work out.)

HELLO!!

I have returned, folks. I...am reborn!!
I don't have anything neat and newfangled to post yet but after a month's deliberation and respite I decided to return to the blog, if only for less than a handful of followers. snicker, snicker But, since my site already has such a cool name, I won't be changing the title. (I should change the note under the title though, since I'm not in Drawing I anymore). I hope someone, other than myself, is enjoying the site. Ciao for now!
P.S. This blog is still going to be about art.

At Semester's End...

Well everybody, I have that feeling again--that nostalgic feeling, and we're not even gone yet. I have grown used to struggling to get to class on time with my cumbersome Drawing equipment every Monday and Wednesday. I have grown used to drawing while listening to Prof. Jason's music, and laughing to myself when a song comes on that's full of obscenities to the point of being hilarious. I started liking this hatching and cross-hatching exercise. It's probably one of the most fun things we've done all semester.
     I have to say that I wish I had done a better job in this class; not just in Drawing class but my other classes too. I've grown as a draftsperson overall this semester; I can now nearly finish some in-class assignments, which is a huge stride for me since I could hardly fill up the page or get more than halfway finished in high school art. And, now I can draw on huge paper like 22" x 30" without getting overwhelmed. At the beginning of the semester, I thought 18" x 24" was big. Hah! Anyway, drawing in general has become much easier for me, partially because I trained myself to hold the pencil correctly from the beginning of the semester and partially because I had to move faster if I wanted to even come close to getting the numerous in-class assignments done. Not that every class period had a lot of assignments; I was just so used to high school, in which we would spend a 3-week session with one of our 3 art teachers at a time, and were expected to produce three artworks in that time. Some days in Drawing I, we've done two or three drawings in one class period.
     I've always found it a big advantage that we were only producing drawings with line. In high school, we had to shade or paint or whatever to make a complete composition. We had one sketchbook homework assignment every week, but I sometimes had difficulty finishing those, and that was in a thin sketchbook, compared to the one we're required to have here. Now, I can make two-page spreads with little to no difficulty, depending on what the spread is about. That's a huge improvement from one page a week, worked on for two hours, or more, in my books. So, I actually think I've grown a lot as an artist in this class, although I still have a ways to go. Some of you guys draw great compositions and at a much faster pace than I do. I think I'm the slowest drawer at this school (at least in the class anyway). And, sorry Ira, but I have to say you always do such professional quality drawings, in my opinion. You other guys are good too, and we each have our unique drawing style. Actually, Ira's drawing style reminds me of a classmate I had in high school who did high-quality work too. Of course, everyone should be good in at least some of the areas; that's why we're all here at Memphis College of Art in the first place, right?
      I wish I had managed my time better this semester and made my blog more interesting, informative, and entertaining. Some of you I may see next semester, some of you I may not. It's been an interesting semester and I'll miss going to class with you guys (somewhat). So, I hope every one got from this class what I did this semester, and maybe I'll see you next semester. Bye!

Pickahu! I choose you! (Just kidding everybody).

Seriously though, it's a little hard to pick a medium of choice, since I have my qualms with all of them. But, they each have their own advantages.

Graphite Pencils - these are the cleanest of the materials we've used this semester, but they break in-two after being knocked around between travels. They're a bit fragile, being pure graphite, and they don't always act right in a sharpener, unless, of course, it's just my sharpener or the pencils I chose to buy. Other than that, they're pretty easy to work with, except for one thing: line variation. It's not hard to get those thinner lines, but even with 6B you have to put down a little extra pressure to get what you want sometimes.

Charcoal Pencils - talk about a mess. They don't always like to act right in the sharpener either, but there not as easy to break as a graphite pencil; that's not to speak for the charcoal tip. Besides that, they leave a big mess in charcoal gratings and all over the paper, with the ruler. They rub of on you pretty easily too, unfortunately. It's hard to get the light, crisp lines even with 2B charcoal (at least to me it is). And it is extremely difficult to erase if you mess up, as we all know. But once you acquire some skill, they make lovely drawings.

Conte - conte, conte, conte. This is the king of the evils. It doesn't smudge quite as easily as charcoal, but it still smudges. And it gets all over your hands as you draw. Worst of all though, you can't sharpen it like the other materials. I hate rubbing that thing on paper because it takes forever to get even edges. I've tried to expedite my troubles by sharpening it with an Exacto blade, but when it comes to the conte crayon, it's not always so exact. But it works -- to a degree, and it saves some trouble. This medium is the easiest too get crisp, thin lines from. Thick, dark lines aren't hard either, but they wear down the edge quicker, which is annoying. Conte also makes beautiful drawings, on the bright side.

When it comes to my medium of choice, I'll say charcoal. Despite my misadventures and qualms with it, it is pretty fun to work with, when I'm not working at the last minute.

Does anyone else feel slightly nostalgic?

It's been a while again folks, but I'm back (again again). Anyway, the semester's winding down and I kind of regret it -- only kind of. What I kind of regret is that I didn't reach my personal goal of making this blog and my sketchbook five-star, kick-butt material. Oh well, there's always next semester for me to be a better student.

Guess Who's Back? - Back Again.

Susan Rothenberg- According to Michael Auping, the Chief Curator of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and longtime associate of Rothenberg, the art world began to embrace "figurative painting" anew via the New Image Painting movement, "a movement that would explore ways of re-engaging figuration"(11). Rothenberg's opportunity can be interpreted as the result of Georgia O' Keefe's innovations decades earlier, although their ideas are not related, writes Barbara Buhler Lynes, Director of the O' Keefe Research Center and Curator at the O' Keefe Museum (9). What these two artists do have in common is that they both work with "the opposing forces of abstraction and figuration" (8). That's just a little context for you: here's the nitty-gritty:

Susan Rothenberg, Cabin Fever, 1976

I guess this is oil on canvas. I like the resemblance it bares to cave paintings. Actually, the cave paintings in Lascaux are among her influences. The gestural quality, to me, is most evident in the brushstrokes. In Art History, we call this a "painterly" technique. Even though this painting is on a mostly monochromatic color-scale, the browns range from a light greenish-brown to a medium reddish-brown. The black, shadowy outline, stroked on the underbelly, under the legs and on the horses head and neck, give the horse a position in space, while intimating a sense of movement. And the shapes stroked behind the legs nearer us indicate the legs on the horse's other side as being in shadow.

I like to practice MLA-style citations, but I guess I should start trying to practice Chicago documentation.

Work Cited

Auping, Michael. Susan Rothenberg: Moving in Place. Ed. Stefanie Ball Piwetz. 2009. New York:     Delmonico Books/Prestel. Print. 8-11.

Contour Self-Portraits

Charcoal pencil (2B)

                      Black Conte

Bamboo brush and ink

Sharpened stick and ink

        This is probably going to be the quickest homework assignment we will have all semester. The physical undertaking was relatively easy and fun, but my portraits each turned out a scribbled mess. I should have done what Angelique did and practiced getting familiar with my facial contours in my sketchbook. I didn't know for sure if we were supposed to include the contours of facial features, but I attempted to anyway because it made sense to me to include them. Sadly, you can't actually make out any of these details on my drawings. They kind of remind me of Picasso's drawings, but that wasn't the goal, so I'm embarrassed about putting these on the wall in class today. By the way, I don't know which 'gauge' my brush is, but those lines were incredibly thick. On two of my drawings, I was so dissatisfied with the initial result that I used the extra white space to try another self-portrait next to the 'terrible' one. It looks like my eyes and my hand still aren't cooperating with each other.

By the way...

I ran into Professor Fred Burton in the library today, and asked him for some research advice pertaining to sketchbooks (particularly in IPC).  Toward the end of his good advice, he advised me to look up an artist called Peter Beard for good examples of dedicated sketchbook-keeping.  After a bust on ARTstor, I "Googled" him, and the first link was to his website, www.peterbeard.com.  I clicked on the link to some of his 'selected works,' and they were spectacular.  I don't know what is meant by "gelatin" as a medium because I'm sure he doesn't mean he used the gelatin we eat, but I don't know.  Any way, he actually smeared some blood on parts of the pages as part of the composition.  I'm assuming it's real blood, but I wonder if it's his own... Each page was occupied by a black-and-white photograph of an African animal in its native surroundings, blood smears applied like soft pastels, and extensive notes written in ink, surrounding the photograph as a frame.  This covered the whole page.  I didn't look at but a handful, so I'm sure all the rest don't have all the same materials because on of the last ones I looked at didn't.  But the theme among the ones I viewed was unified.  Beard currently lives in Kenya, but he's originally an American citizen.  The site also mentioned him as living in New York, so I assume that means he stays in New York for a time and goes back to Kenya as his main residence.  If you get a moment, check the site out.

Planet of the Drapes!

This was one bad mama jama.  The hardest part for me was making a light, rough outline to break into planes.  First of all, even 2B charcoal pencils aren't too light, but that was okay since I was just going to come over them with the darker pencils, to push the line variation.  I actually had fun doing this one though because it didn't have to be a whole room, and I got to put my guitar in it!  Another challenge was making the background more interesting.  The composition I chose had nothing to show for the upper right corner of the picture plane except white wall.  I wasn't exactly sure of what to put there, but I ended up drawing some horizontal lines to serve as a wallpaper design.  I'm not sure I took care of that empty space so well but at least it's not naked.  The hardest part of all, though, was keeping the paper clean.  I found that I like drawing with charcoal pencils, except for the mess.  Not that long ago I couldn't stand to have any type of graphite or charcoal on me.  I'm not so OCD about it now except that charcoal smudges more easily than graphite and it got on my fingers and got smudged a bit by the ruler.  I don't like not being able to keep my paper clean.  Overall, the experience wasn't bad; I like breaking drapery into planes, plus it reminded me of a drapery homework assignment I once had in high school art.  It wasn't planar analysis, but I like drawing the curves and folds of drapery.

The Jackson Pollock Experiment

     Jackson Pollock, born in 1912, in Cody, Wyoming, had a short, rough life.  He grew up in California and Arizona in the 1920s.  Amazingly, he became one of the highest-regarded artists of the 20th century, even though he was troubled drunkard since he was eighteen.  Pollock is best known for pioneering gestural painting; he also occasionally used Indian symbolism in his paintings, inspired by his childhood explorations of Indian mounds with his brothers.  His success landed him a feature article in Time magazine in 1956, which named him "Jack the Dripper."  In his later years as an artist, Pollock preferred to use sticks, trowels, and knives in his later, mural-sized works as well as dripping paint onto the canvas.  He started painting these large pieces, laying canvas on the floor, in 1947 because he "felt closer to his work" and "declared that easel painting was a dying form."
     After dropping out of high school, Pollock joined his older brother Charles Cecil Pollock, at the Art Students League in New York.  There he briefly studied under Thomas Hart Benton, who had a lasting influence on Pollock's work.  Benton taught Pollock "theories of rhythmic balance, dynamic sequence, and 'muscular action painting.'  Benton believed that the act of creating the painting was more important than any finished work.  Pollock was also influenced by Mexican muralists Diego Rivera, Jose Orozco, and David Siquieros.  He also drew inspiration from non-traditional artistic movements such as Cubism, Abstract Expressionism, Surrealist automatism, and the "biomorphic forms of Joan Miro."  Eventually, he married the Russian Jewish artist, Lee Krasner, who became his best source of inspiration, influence, and encouragement in the mid-1940s.  Inspired by her theories, Pollock began using a technique of painting with "drips, smears, and giant circular motions over smaller geometric shapes."
     Although Jackson Pollock met his demise in a single-car accident in 1956, at the age of 44, his work continues to have a "monumental influence on American Art."  Ironically, the fatal auto-accident was a result of his long-standing addiction to alcohol.

Source:
"Biography from the Archives of AskART."  AskART: The Artists' Bluebook--Worldwide edition.  AskART, Inc. 2000-2010.  Web.  26 Feb. 2010.  
     Artnews.  May 1999.
     Baigell, Matthew.  Dictionary of American Art.
     Landau, Ellen.  Jackson Pollock.

Whew!  I had to test researching an artist for a blog.  I've always found Internet research annoying anyway because there are so many results to look through.  I wish I were a search wizard, but maybe I'll get better at it sooner or later.  I didn't want to post this blog without crediting the source first, so I attempted use of the MLA documentation style for the source listing.  Due to the structure of the website,  it was extremely annoying and time-consuming, and it's probably not even 100% correct.  But I gave the information that was available for the article I used.  I don't think I'll use AskART again; it doesn't seem to be student research-friendly.  

I got it the third time!

I wasn't entirely sure about posting these two but they are in the public domain.   Above you see a lovely drawing of the "Steps to the Castle," or something like that.  And to the right you see an architectural drawing for a cathedral in Spain.

Pompeii Fresco

Another beautiful demonstration of one-point perspective.  This image was originally from some man's villa.  It's actually a very good photographic reproduction of the actual image, which is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.  The artist was not named.

Two-point: "Reconstruction of the temple of Jerusalem"

 

Artist: Maitre de l'Echevinage

This one is a photocopy of a work from the National Library of France, which is now in the public domain.  It, according to the source, comes from William of Tyre, Histoire d'Outremer.

One-point Walkway

Here is a beautiful demonstration of a one-point perspective photograph.
Subject:  Tennoji Park, Osaka Japan
Artist: Laitche

Bar Code Burnout

The first homework assignment wasn't very difficult, but it was very time consuming, and my arm got tired. I was challenging to think of a different composition of vertical lines for each section, but I tried to establish a pattern in each of them. 18x24 is a big sheet of paper for me because I'm used to working small, but I can understand why it has to be that size. It took me a while to get used to holding the pencil between my thumb and my index finger; it still feels a little awkward. The hardest part for me was maintaining the control on the pencil. When I tried faster line speeds, the pencils tended to slide a little farther than I wanted them to. I also tried to vary the line weight, but I need more practice. It was practically impossible for me to get all the lines needle-straight, but I think I tried my best. I didn't want to be too meticulous, so I tried to lighten up some. I hope it's okay that my paper is turned horizontally instead of vertically. Sectioning of the paper annoyed me because I wanted all my horizontal lines to be perfectly straight, but somehow I got a little of balance toward the bottom. 24 inches is a long drag line to keep the lines centered.