My Fall Semester

I have my class's for fall set up. It should be a lot of work with 14.5 units and working part time.
My art class's are:
Design 1,
3D Design,
Glaze Calculation, (supposed to be a hard class)
And I am also taking more class's for graduation requirements;
Cultural Anthropology,
First Aid/CPR,
and a Tennis class
Should be a fun and challenging semester. I will post updates as a can.
That leaves me Just a Humanities class and a couple of ceramics class's for the spring semester and I should get my Visual Art-3D Design (AA Degree)  and Ceramics (AS Degree).
Have a great summer.

Art Class's Grades

Well it has been a while since I posted. Been busy doing a US History class during summer school for my GE graduation requirement. Wow, 3.5 hours a night, 4 nights a week, 5 weeks long. It was a very good class with a great professor. It is always good to have a professor that is passionate about the subject they teach. It makes the class a lot more fun and interesting. Got an A in it too, which helps make it more fun also.

Well my art class's from the spring semester turned out good. I got an B in Art history, I screwed up the final but the class even though it was hard was still a blast and I learned a lot about art from the Renaissance to Post-Impressionism. It really gave me a better understanding (and appreciation) of how and why art changes thru the years.

My Life Drawing class came out to another B. It was a fun class and I do want to take the more advanced life drawing class's when I can.

My Drawing 1 class came out to an A. I'm very happy with that grade. Great class for basic drawing skills. My final drawing got a 78 out of 100, a grade of C. I posted my final drawing for this class below. I need more practice on drawing drapery.

White & Black Charcoal on Grey Paper, 12.5x19 inches

Tone study

Charcoal on Paper 18x24

I had an okay week in class's. I think I blew my art history quiz. I confused styles of the dutch and french landscape paintings of the 1600's, DOH! Oh well, I should get a "C" on it at least. I've been getting B-'s and A-'s on all of them so far so 1 screw-up won't matter. Maybe it will be a B- this time.
We worked on this tone study drawing all class long on monday, about 4 hours of work.

Soft Pastels on Tan Pastel Paper 18x24

My life drawings did not come out so well. The face looks too flat, I covered up the highlights too much I think. Maybe I should have put shadows in just like if I was viewing her from the front.
 


















I do not like how this conte drawing came out.
I tried to draw her foot also in the extra space. I don't know what else to say about this one but that she had a nice tattoo, lol.

Well still gotta work on my final self portrait more to get it going. Hopefully this next week will be better.

More 2 Point Perspectives and Life Drawing Sketches

2 point perspectives interior and exterior

Well it was another good week of class's. My Drawing 1 teacher is really pushing 2 point perspective. With good reason I guess since it is very important to creating realistic drawings. This first one is just drawing the lines on some photos we had to find which shows us that indeed they converge on two points.

2 Point Perspective Drawing Graphite on Paper 18x24

This next one is after I added more items to my drawing. (the earlier drawing is on my last post) I forgot to put in curtains, some other students did some great drawings. I only got 3 extra credit points for the extra items on this drawing. But every little bit helps.

2 Point perspective sketch 18x24

 These are another 2 point perspective drawing that we started in class with hand sketching the items he set out.

2 Point Perspective Lines 72x24

When we got home we had to add some sheets and draw out the lines to the vanishing points to see how far off we draw things. I was surprised at how close I was. I was really close on the bottom items, but the higher the items got I was more off.

3x4 inch Thumbnail Sketches

It was a busy night in that class. The last 30 minutes or so we had to do some composition thumbnails for our next tone drawing that's going to be in charcoal. The check mark is the composition that I will be doing in class tonight.

Graphite on Paper 18x24

Soft Pastel on Ivy Colored Pastel Paper 18x24

Life drawing class is always fun but a bit frustrating, lol. I am certainly better with straight lines. We had a male model and I did 3 drawings.




















I do like working with the soft pastels.

Conte on Tan Pastel Paper 18x24

This was the first drawing of the night and I think I am finally starting to figure out why I draw people
with elongated bodies. First reason may be that I am either moving my viewfinder down as I am moving down the body.

















Or as you can see on my life drawing final project of a

Self Portrait Watercolor on Paper 72x18 inchs

life sized self-portrait, I wear long clothing and am
subconsiously making my drawing match that
preconceived ideal. Not that I am ideal, lol. I lined up this drawing with what I was wearing so it is accurate with the length of things. I did have to shorten up things a little to be able to fit on the 72 inch paper(I'm 73 inches tall). Either way I need to break myself of that bad habit. I am trying a new medium with the watercolors. First time trying them at all. Is that crazy or what to try a new thing for the final project? Still need to do a lot to it like shading, the folds and twist in my clothes, and the background. I still have 2-3 weeks to complete it. I'm basing it off the 3 photos on the right.

Another week of class's

Had a good drawing 1 class working on 2 point perspectives. I am very happy with my progress with it once I got the hang of it. Here are a couple of homework projects for that class. Unfortunately I did not score the highest on this first one I only got 5 extra credit points not 10. I was not creative enough with my boxes, just more clear and filled up the space better. Oh well. I guess my new mantra I should be saying over and over should be "Loosen up and get more creative, Loosen up and get more creative" Hmm

2 Point Perspective Graphite on Paper 18x24

2 Point Perspective Homework. Still need to add more items

I am not so happy with my life drawing class. It was alternate media day (Bah! or maybe that is the wrong attitude, lol) I need to loosen up and get more creative. I brought in cardboard and a type of wood paper for the surfaces and make-up and chalk for pool cues to use as the medium. I did not really enjoy my choices too much. My first drawing on the cardboard with make-up I can't stand so I tossed it. The wood paper was fantastic but my use of the cardboard sucked, just my opinion. Some other class mates did a fantastic job with just trash. Damn them, lol. I did try to loosen up and do some expressive figure drawing and I did like the outcome on a couple of my drawings with soft pastels. My proportions are definitely off but I like the effect on this first drawing.  The clear coat did effect the brightness of the pastels. I did not like the second soft pastel drawing that much due to not getting the twist in her body correct.

Soft Pastel on Wood Veneer Paper 16x25

Soft Pastel on Pastel Paper 18x24

Oil pastels were a bit more challenging for me though. I will need to keep trying to use them to see if I like them. I do not like this either of these and the yellow craft cardboard was a pain to draw on. But it was an experience that was at least for me an experiment.  I am going to keep trying the watercolor washes, I do like the effect. I still have to do 2 india ink drawings and I think they would look good on a washed background.

Oil Pastel on Watercolor Paper with wash 18x24

Oil Pastel on Cardboard 18x24

Perspective Studies for Homework

Well it was a good week in my class's. Actually got a 'B-' on my art history midterm, I was expecting a 'C'. It always feels good to get a better grade than what I was expecting. Getting a 'B-' on my life drawing museum report was great also.
We've been working on linear perspective in my Drawing 1 class. I feel much more confident in this class than life drawing. My background in drafting and design really helps out in it. Here is some of my homework on perspective.

1 Point Perspective Homework Graphite on 18x24 Paper

1 Point Perspective Homework Graphite on 18x24 Paper

2 Point Perspective Homework Graphite on 18x24 Paper, Still need to add more boxes

 
and from my Life drawing class from last night.

Conte Charcoal on 18x24 Tan Pastel Paper

Soft Pastels on 18x24 Ivy Pastel Paper

Some of the Landscapes I Designed

Well since I did landscape designs for over a decade I guess some of them should qualify as artistic or creative. I love designing waterfeatures and pools. To think of something in my head, put it on paper, then see it being built and then finished is really cool (at least when the owner can afford to let it be built, lol). Here are just a few of them that I designed. Click on the pictures to see them better.

Before starting not the play area the kids liked

During Construction (Guniting) and rebar & plumbing work on waterfalls

Finished! Now the kids will want to stay home and play.

37' Long Waterfall/Stream

30'x50' Pond for his Koi

Finished lap pool in small yard

Water Features

Sheer Rain in Concrete Bridge

Nice Back Yard with pre-fab spa and raised patio

Raised covered patio sitting area

Nice pond with stepping stones to fire pit

Nice pond for relaxing. White structure was there before we started

Before construction, Owner wanted bigger spa and shallower pool

10 person spa with grotto and counter, also a baja shelf

His BBQ/fire pit area for entertaining with all the toys

The Brewery ArtWalk

This weekend I went to The Brewery ArtWalk in L.A. It was a very hot 90 degrees and a lot of walking but it was a lot of fun meeting and talking to artists in their studios. Some of my favorites were: Ann Erpino which has fantastic creative paintings.  Lets Play Dead who's dolls are fascinating. Ted Meyer I really liked his figurative paintings, they were very very good, but his series on scars really moved me and made me think. My scars are a lot smaller than some of the other peoples scars. I'm lucky that I didn't have to go through what some of them did with their scars. Scott Miller had some fantastic sculptural flowers on masonite. Bruce Grey sculptures were great and creative.  Victoria Sebanz photos were beautiful and here mixed media was very interesting. She explained what influenced her with the pieces and that she took the time to explain it was very nice of her. It was overall a very inspiring day. If you have a chance to go to the next one, you really should do it.
Here are a few cards I picked up.

Tone Study

Tone Study Graphite on Paper 9"x12"

Here is a drawing I've been working on for a couple of days. It is a study for tonal gradation.
The photo and photoshop work did not work very good, it is somewhat smoother in gradation.

More of my Ceramics

Here are some of my ceramics I made them around 1999-2000. I always did like throwing large plates and bowls.

Raku Plate 14"

Raku Plate 13"

Raku Bowl 14"

Stoneware Bowl 15" Red Glaze with Rutile wash on rim

Stoneware Vase with Ash Glaze 11"

I did not make this flower bowl, another student did. It is one of my favorite pieces though.

Flower Shaped Stoneware Bowl 14"

Tonal Drawings

Tonal Pot

Did two drawings using tonal values. Blacken the background and then lighten and darken to bring out the values. I think the pastel paper is too rough, it was hard to remove the background with the chamois. Have to try this again with charcoal paper when I get some.
The exercises are out of the book:

Life Drawing in Charcoal
by Douglas R. Graves