Mid-Semester Thoughts & Reflection
It is hard to believe I’m halfway through my second-to-last semester of grad school! I’ve been at it for almost three years now, and I can say that the consistent work I’ve completed this semester in my Graduate Life Drawing class has taught me some of the most important lessons so far. This semester, as I’ve embarked on the uphill battle that is thesis, this class has been a much-needed creative outlet.
Live Drawing at a Gallery Event.
Getting to be in a setting with equally passionate artists, all singularly focused on drawing the same person (or animals), has been such a joy and challenge! There is a specific adrenaline rush of working alongside your peers, with reminders from your Professor every few minutes of how little time you have left to create a resolved drawing (sometimes in front of an audience, no less!)
For the first half of this semester, it has been very helpful to step away from working with color for a bit, as I find it to be what I rely on to make my work exciting. Taking this away has revealed where my work is strong and where it still needs improvement.
Even though charcoal is a dry medium, it has a painterly quality that has been so exciting to work with. If you have not already tried it, I highly recommend. But just know, you have to embrace the mess and clouds of charcoal dust. You might look like you’ve finished up a shift at the coal mines by the end, but that is part of the process!
Live Drawing in Class
Over the course of this semester, I have improved in my ability to draw accurately from life. My first drawing was quite rough and shaky. By the end, I was able to speed up and refine the process considerably. It was not such a frightening task by the end.
However, I really struggle with drawing moving animals. I already have a hard time drawing without reference (anyone else an artist with aphantasia?). So drawing from moving animals was particularly frustrating, because you have to fill in significant gaps in your drawing from memory. I don’t often sketch animals at all, so I imagine the more I practice from reference, the greater my ability to do this will become.
Remaining Goals
As we transition to urban sketching and plein air painting, I have several goals that are just waiting to be developed.
Firstly, I would like to continue working on artistic interpretation. Throughout grad school, I feel as though I’ve just begun developing my artistic voice, a process I’ve heard takes many decades. Urban sketching is totally new to me, so as we begin, I will need to continually remind myself to interpret the scene I am viewing.
How can I tell a story with my sketch? How can I express the unique way that I see the world? How can I do this without color?
These questions (minus the last one) also apply to plein air painting. I am particularly excited about this unit, as many of the artists I admire say that painting landscapes from life is the only way to truly capture the brilliance of color as we experience it. I would like to continue developing my ability to capture feeling through heightened color. Once again, this is a key aspect of artistic interpretation.
Outside of class, I would like to continue to develop these skills by practicing with small pastel studies. I have found this medium to be excellent practice with color, as you are working quickly with pure pigment. I would also like to continue studying resources that have been instrumental in my artistic development, including books and instructional videos by my favorite master artists.
Landscape studies painted from photos last semester.
I am so excited and blessed to continue this journey of artistic improvement! Even though grad school will be wrapping up in less than a year for me, this journey of improvement will continue throughout my life!
