Drawing Final Project - I Like It. Hate it! Kinda Pleased.

Continuing the (very) belated Spring 2013 Fiber Arts Degree posts with the last of the Spring 2013 Drawing Class Posts:

For our last Drawing class project we were required to create a large scale (4' x 4') layered piece with our choice of content. We were to consider combining 3 layers of the following: do a pattern with a stencil or something drawn/painted, something projected/traced onto the paper, and there should be a third layer, possibly a 3-dimensional element.

Hmmmm. I tossed around a variety of concepts and settled on using my ancestry as the subject matter.
Although I'm a good representation of the All-American "Mutt", the majority of my ancestors were Scott-Irish with a bit of Comanche Indian from my Grandfather.
I named it "Faded Heritage".

I decided I wanted to do a Tree of Life as the first "layer" so I plotted to find a basic drawing that I could project/trace onto the paper. I didn't have to look far and since my favorite was posted by the artist with supporting comments and had website print options, I presumed I wouldn't be infringing a copyright if I used it.
{My apologies…doing this post a year delayed, I can no longer find the design on the internet to give credit where it is definitely due. My profound compliments to the artist - you drew spiffiness.}

My fellow students and I took turns using the elderly {and near-burning hot} Artograph Tracer Projector in a darkened supply closet to trace our chosen pictures onto the 4' square of paper.
I then outlined the large pencil tracing in permanent ink marker and then overlaid it with indian ink (with which I was very enamored after the Landscape project). The instructor suggested I broaden the use of the ink and add shading to give the celtic over-under flow some dimension. I really liked the effect.

Somewhere along the lines (pun-intended!) I decided I wanted to flick indian ink speckles on the paper.

{Woo-hoo!} Stand back, I'm gonna splatter ink!

I also plotted the other layers:
I drew and cut out a celtic knot stencil and I tried to carve a stamp of the Comanche Nation seal from foam (sadly, it's more of an "ode" to the seal rather than something recognizable {sigh}):

And lastly I wanted to represent the Scottish Tartan of my family. I tried to mix the appropriate paint colors to emulate The Royal Stewart Tartan. I applied the paint onto drawing paper and, using my newly-learned Mixed Media Plaiting skills, cut it into strips and then wove it into paper-plaid squares.

I used the tartan-colored paint along with other paints leftover from the Color and Composition Final project to apply the celtic knot stencil onto the page…and I happily took the opportunity to flick more speckles of paint. {Color Speckles! Honestly, it was hard to stop…}

I got pretty colorful too. 

At this point, I rather liked the way the project was turning out.
CooPurr approved too.
{Ok, he would have approved more had I let him lay upon the crinkly, colorful paper…}

 

But I didn't much care for the idea of applying the plaid squares…they seemed to throw off the knots and speckles:

I did try to use the plaited squares as stamps on the project:

And I experimented with the best way to attach the woven paper pieces, but I still wasn't particularly pleased with the idea of that 3-D/third layer on top of the celtic stamps and tree.

Putting clear packing tape over the area that
I'd be sewing through seemed the best method. 

I could not seem to get past the tartan-layer so I actually attempted to turn in the project without the 3-D layer on the last day of class during the 15-minute review meeting with the instructor.
{Figuring I already had lots of layers of paint and ink…}

Allllllll my drawing work for the semester filled up all three
rows of desks in the class room.

However, the instructor convinced me that last layer was necessary and would improve the piece.
I agreed to do the deed, but the attitude when I got home was a bit grumpy. Here I'd thought I was alllll done, but now I needed to tack on woven bits of painted paper. {whiny sigh, grump, grrr}
{Although it was pretty darn nice of the instructor to let me have another day to tweak the project.}

I setup to work in the "outdoor studio"(back porch) because it's a cat-free zone but it was too windy so I even more grumpily moved inside.
I was well-into the "Hate it!" phase of this art piece. {sigh}

Shortly thereafter, I was gifted with the opportunity to save a life {"Drying feathers and a Loud Chirp"} and that stopped my whinging about re-finishing the drawing project.

After the attitude adjustment, I sewed on the woven tartan bits and turned in my final drawing project.

 

 

 

Although it didn't qualify for a place on the walls of the Pima College Library, it did hang in the Art Department "Gallery" all summer.

And….I'm kinda pleased with it. Kinda. The plaited tartan bits make the piece more interesting, but…

More Landscape - this time in Ink. Plus Photos from an Inky Dark Night

Continuing the belated Spring 2013 Fiber Arts Degree posts:

After the intro to Landscape drawing, we embarked on a larger landscape project.
Outside. In early April.
It was still pretty nice outside and a lovely way to spend our morning class time.

The instructor walked us over to the Library complex and asked us to draw a part of that building - particularly the windows - including the reflections and whatever we could see inside. He also introduced us to drawing leaves in sunshine and shade.

After our sketch was setup, we were to consider the levels of shade involved and we were to paint our drawing with Indian Ink.

Did you notice the per-drop ink gradation test I did on
the right side of the watercolor paper?

I worked on this in my Cat-Free "Studio" - our backyard porch.
(You are correct. There was NO Way I was going to have glasses of watery Indian Ink available to the cats for sniffing, pawing, splashing, paw-printing....{shudder}.)

Obviously, my grasp of sun and shadow and, well, drawing in general still has quite a ways to go.
However, I decided playing with watered down Indian Ink required a fair amount of patience, was very meticulous, and rather fun. If it weren't for the due date, I could have worked on that landscape for a  month.

But I didn't have a month so this is what was turned in:

In a more current timeline, last month I realized one of our Night Blooming Cereus plants had blooms on the cusp of opening:

 

 

I stayed up late and went to look at the open blossoms...but...they weren't quite open yet.

Days later I was up late again and went to go look at the Night Blooming Cereus and it was blooming. At the time, I didn't connect my collecting a flashlight and the camera with the pictures I'd seen on the Touch the Wind blog in July, but his lovely nighttime bloom photos most likely did make an impression on my brain and inspire some of my photographs.

I took over 50 pictures - generally holding the flashlight between my knees and, at one point, fending off a large Sphinx Moth that may have felt I had loitered over his flowers for too long. {wry grin}
Here's a few of the keepers:

Did you notice the other insect in this photo shoot?
{Bottom, just off center - on the petal...}

No, wait - Conte IS Charcoal and a Published Drawing

Continuing the belated Spring 2013 Fiber Arts Degree posts:

After portraiture, the drawing class moved onto... Landscape!

Yep and I knew as much about that as I did about any other drawing topic. {wry grin}

And by then I had learned the teacher would send us off with a "draw this" experimentation vibe and after we gave it a shot he'd give us some instruction and we'd move forward.
So, when he sent us off to find some landscape and draw it...I just gave it a wild shot.
{S'ok, laugh if you need to}.

Sadly, my landscape skills didn't improve much even after instruction...it boggled me.

 

We were assigned to do a couple of smallish landscape drawings with Conte Crayons.
{sigh} I totally spaced that conte really is charcoal and I could have applied my semi-experience with Charcoal drawing but I did this instead. Ah, well.

I was pleased with the shading I did on the
top bricks...but otherwise...{sigh}

Moving on...

A side project was offered to the drawing classes to create a drawing to go with the winning short stories from the college writing contest. The highlight of that day - one of my classmates, a young lady who draws beautifully, found out her story had been one of the winning entries selected because it was in the pile of stories offered for us to review. She was so delighted! What a smile!

The instructor urged us to pick one of the winning entries and try creating an illustration to go with the story.
I knew it was a stretch for me and I was also aware that there were many other folks that could really draw and do a much better job on the art than I would. I made the teacher promise to offer the story I selected to other drawing students so my writer would have drawing options for his story.

I chose a story about a teacher making a regular visit to a prison to support the educational pursuits of the inmates. My drawing attempts were inspired by the description of the teacher's observations about the prison grounds, the student-inmates' desire to learn and how the students interact and support each other in the classroom, discarding prison pressures and prejudices away from the eyes of the other inmates.

Trying to draw barbed wire and razor wire with a
butterfly as one of the blades.

Trying to draw a book with razor wire book mark. 

Although I'm pretty sure they published all the drawings that were submitted, I was still very pleased that my drawing was included in the 2013 East Campus Writing Contest publication.

This is the drawing I submitted. An open book with a razor-wire bookmark casting a shadow of a butterfly.
Learning. Prison. The hope of metamorphosis.

I think education can change lives.
Blessings be.