This Semester's Work (really just playing with the new camera)

Well, as depressed as I have been about this semester's work thus far, I really wanted to play with the new camera so I decided I would take some pictures of the work thus far. I'm embarrassed to even put most of it up here, but thankfully, not many people will see it, so I suppose I can rest at ease. :o)

The first project in drawing this semester had to be in graphite. The requirements were to compose a continuous field, so that it looked as though whatever we drew continued off the page, and that was of something personal. I had such a hard time with this project (just deciding on a subject matter) and started the project a couple of different times with different items, but this is ultimately what I decided on - shoes.

I was definitely not in love with this project and was just glad for it to be over. I think it shows too, as the project just looks like a mess of crap on the page. Then we have the first project in painting. Not having painted before (other than little swatches for color theory or painting my house), I was really not looking forward to this. On top of it all, the first project was in black and gray, which struck me as strange. Isn't the point of painting to have it be in color? hmmm... Well, the project turned into just a crappy montage of things that I identify with, so here's this "masterpiece." (ha,ha,ha)

Seriously, I think first graders could do a better job than I did on this, but I was once again, just glad that the project was over with and that I could move on to something else. Luckily, one of the next drawing projects was about to begin. This one was to be of some kind of still life, and since I've felt the pressure on my brain to just "pick something" all semester, I went with an obvious choice of fruit.

This one is going to be part of a bonfire in the very near future. I spent so much time working on the darn thing, and it still looked horrible. The colored pencils were not my friend, and they were shockingly time consuming - even more so than graphite because of the layering process. I had hopes that one of the next paintings would go better, but as I have foreshadowed the demise of this semester for several months now, I'm sure you can guess how that went.

I never actually finished the painting and wound up turning it in as it currently stands. I was just so unbelievable frustrated, that I just gave up and decided it was time to move on to something else... fortunately, I had plenty to work on. One of the last projects has been this following piece, which is also still not complete (though I do need to complete it), but at least with this one, I had fun playing with the paint. It might look like a giant mess, but it was certainly fun.

Interestingly boring, isn't it? Yes, yet another sill life project that I picked something boring to complete. But, at least the process was interesting, even if the subject is not. One of these days I'll get 'er done too. One of the last projects in drawing could be of nearly anything, but had to be composed in a panoramic picture plane. If you've never worked with oil pastels, I assure you it is a giant pain in the rear.

The project ended up looking like someone had taken a crayon and just smeared it all over the paper. What a mess!

The good news (and sort of bad news at the same time) is that the semester isn't yet over. I do hope to produce something worthy of praise before the end, but I suppose even if that doesn't happen, there's always next semester. I am doing my best to remember that this is all a process and that I should enjoy the journey along the way.