other drawing work throughout the semester...

Since October I have been working two days a week at one of the elementary school's in Menomonie (River Heights Elementary School). When the principal and a few teachers found out I was an art major, they started getting ideas! One of the teachers was a reading specialist, so she asked me if I would be willing to do a mural on her wall, using some of her favorite book characters. She printed off the images of the characters, and I arranged them into the final composition and such. Not having much experience painting AT ALL, I was a little hesitant and nervous as to how it would turn out, but I think it went quite well and was a great experience. I have included an image of the entire mural, and also a close up of two of my favorite completed areas.

As soon as I was finished with the mural, the principal already had another idea for me. She wanted me to paint some quotes on the students bathroom walls. After she gave me the sheet of quotes that she wanted, I used Photoshop to find a text I thought would work well with the specific quote. After that, I went back and chose a fitting color (which this idea I also used in the 2nd of my 2 final projects), and then a layout and placement on the wall for the quotes. Finally, I quickly sketched out the simple letters of the words, then painted them in the specific font.

I really enjoyed this project for the school because I got to do multiple steps, such as fonts, colors, layout, design, and the actual painting part. Another upside to this task was my agreement of actually putting quotes on walls. I have always loved quotes and find them inspirational. Also, most schools walls are much too boring and do not add to the excitement that could make a child want to go to school. By putting these quotes on the walls it makes the students interested and gets them thinking about the quote and its meaning. A couple of my favorite quote paintings are shown above.

Keep The Change You Filthy Animal: Drawing 3 Show piece

My piece for the final drawing III show in the student gallery was decided on for me... Although I did not like the whole piece that was chosen, it was suggested that I cut out the lined image in the corner of my second project, which was the only part of that piece that I had liked. This also happened to be the focal point of my second project, so I was happy to have that be the only portion focused on by cutting it out.

The body language and emotional feelings that are displayed by the figure basically culminate my feelings of an entire year, if not longer. It displays the troubles and defeated feeling of what I have been going through, and trying to figure out how to fix, therefore, it was a very personal image/piece to create.

Final 2 Projects

For the first of my final two projects I really wanted to try to duplicate the idea of Escher's tessellations again, but on a larger scale. The final product is not at all what I had in mind when I first started, but I could not decide how I wanted to do it, so I ended up 'just going with it' once again.

As I was looking at the larger shape I thought it looked a lot like a tree, so I started with the bottom middle piece and began a tree..but then changed my mind again and decided to make it one big tree, with the branches spreading out onto the other upper pieces. Since the tree shapes were black and white, I figured a solid color would look better with the background, and red seemed to be the answering contrasting color that worked well.

I see the overall idea of this piece revolving around the strength, growth, and mysteriousness of the tree, combined with the love, energy, and attention that the red brings in.



The other of my final project ideas was sort of a combination of the themes from the first two projects. I wanted use the first idea of the 'everyday path', and also the second theme of 'cluttered existence'. I also chose to experiment with the idea of the psychology of color in order to represent the feelings i have at each point in my paths.

There are eight squares in the piece, each representing the eight places I spend the most time in each week; 4 classes (Art History, Drawing 3, Aesthetics, Statistics), 2 jobs (River Heights Elementary School, Menards Distribution Center), and 2 'homes' (Menomonie, Rochester).

Model Drawing

This was not one of the main projects of the semester, but I thought I would include it anyways because we did work on it in class. I am not sure exactly what the date on this piece was, but I believe it was around, or right after, the second project. As I was still thinking about my word 'triangle' from the second project, I decided to incorporate that into this short piece as well. Although not finished, my idea was to have the head/skull where it is in the corner, and put smaller pieces of various parts of the models body and the backdrop inside the triangle.

#3 Artist Emulation... M.C. Escher

The third project of the semester was an emulation of one of our three influencial artists from our paper. With my three artists being Escher, Lichtenstein and a lesser-known John Robertson, I chose to go with M.C. Escher. I have always been drawn to Escher mostly because is work is very geometric and mathematical, which have both always been a strong point in my abilities.

One of Escher's trademarks of his work are his tessellations, so I wanted to try to duplicate that idea. My thought was that I could handle the tessellation theme, so I wanted to make one that started as one object and morphed into another. I soon found out that this was a lot harder than I had bargained for!

Two other aspects of the piece that coordinate with Escher are the geometric block forms on the left, and the overall narrative story that moves through the work. Escher has many geometric architectural forms, all very blocky, and black, white, and/or gray. In regards to the theme, Escher always has strange little figures in his pieces that create narratives which will never be confirmed or denied...they seem there just to intrigue the viewer and make their own story. I feel that I emulated these aspects of Escher's works quite well, although I do wish the tessellation would have been longer and I had been able to do more ink-ed graphic pieces.

Drawing #2 Cluttered Existence, Triangles, Found Surface

For our second drawing we picked 3 words that we had to incorporate into our piece, mine came out to be cluttered existence, triangles, and found surface.

I wanted to use wood because I knew I was going to use paint and spraypaint, bringing in the spraypaint idea from the first piece, and also because I thought it would work well with the cluttered theme. I struggled to find an idea for a composition for this work, which may have helped with the clutter theme as well because I ended up 'winging' some of it. The small graphic images in each of the triangles represent portions of my life, or things in my life, that cause a 'cluttered existence' in my life.

The line-based figure in the bottom left corner is the focal point of the work because it culminates the feeling of the piece and my life. The figure looks defeated and tired, which has been how I felt the entire year with school, work, and life choices/decisions. I have felt like there has been so many things in my life the past year and I have just not had the time to deal with them all, and they have been so overwhelming that I have just not had the motivation to continue with them.

i am an... ISTJ ...yup

Brittany Schmelling...is an...
Introvert: 78
Sensing: 12
Thinking: 1
Judging: 44
The Myers-Briggs personality/type indicator basically described me perfectly. First, I am definitely an Introvert. I have a lot of opinions and thoughts, but I would rather keep them to myself and think, while hearing other people talk. As for Sensing, I do go with facts or what I know or think is right, instead of a more intuitive approach. I am definitely a Thinker...I think about what will be the result for almost everything I do, which also goes along with my Judging category. Managing and planning things out is something I have always done and enjoyed doing. That could also explain my slight 'neat-freak' quality and need to have everything organized.
One of the things I found a little ironic about the test was that it said my top 2 career paths should be in the management field, and before class I had been planning and mapping out the possibility of either switching my major to management or adding a human resources or project management minor...weird i know.

In regards to my drawing, my type appears to have a great influence. Structure and organization has a very geometric sense to it, which is very much present in my work. I enjoy organic forms, but when drawing, I always seem to produce structured, geometric works. Another contribution, not sure if it is good or bad, is the planning aspect. I try to plan, and usually do in my head, but a lot of the time it seems to change as it goes along. I guess if I was strictly sticking to my type I would most likely sketch out my ideas in order to plan what I was going to do, but that never seems to work out well...my head works better. As for overcoming weaknesses, I believe my sketching production should improve in order to make my drawings/compositions more successful.

My type has a lot of thoughts and ideas, but keeps them to ourselves. I think this idea of many thoughts about various subjects is present in my work. My two pieces so far in this class have been solely about my personal feelings and emotions right now, so the works are my introvert self explaining those thoughts.

The strong Introvert in me plays a major role in a group/critique setting. I have opinions, sometimes quite strong, but I never seem to share them. It is not that I am afraid of speaking up because that does not bother me. I think I would just rather let everyone else speak and listen to what they have to say. So, in order to address my weakness, I need to share the thoughts that I am thinking more and participate!

Ordinary/Extrordinary Drawing Critique Summary

I am not sure what the right word for the critique for my Ordinary/Extrordinary drawing would be...the piece had more of a personal concept that maybe everyone did not see at first. The idea of feeling trapped and not having much freedom seemed to be quite recognizable, which is good since that was the main message.
However, I think there was too much of a personal idea in it for people to truly see it. The icon man and woman spray painting graffiti appeared to be well-liked and fit the idea of the piece. The background and pipes on the other hand, did not go over well. Some people thought that the boxed-in idea of adding the pipe outline was over-doing the idea, however that was my intent. Comments on the brick background were also mixed, which I agreed with as well. I was not sure what I was going to do with the background when I started, but I thought the brick might work well with the graffiti idea. I do agree with the comments I received on the background and pipe areas, but I am not sure what I would have done differently with them. But yes, they could have been done differently to make the piece stronger.
The idea of my drawing came after I had chosen the images and started sketching a few out. I had all these images of the place I have begun to come sick of, so that is where the images took me. I started with the slide picture, taken from a small playground by my house that I pass every day. I always seem to think about the contrasting ideas of the playground...the intended 'fun', childish aspect, combined with the abandoned, lonely feeling that the playground has. I then added the rest of the Stout images, the 'Polytechnic' lightpole flag, the iconic male/female symbols, the light socket, the bland brick, etc. I tried to sketch out a composition with all the chosen images, but it did not seem to be working, so the final drawing is simply a collage of my thoughts.

'Art Lessons' Reflection

I found this book as very easy and informative reading. The author has had so many experiences to share with the reader, which makes you really think about things and relate them to your own life. As she talked about all the different cultures and monuments she has studied I began to realize how little I know about these things! She mentioned a lot of foreign places, people, and things that I have not heard of, so it made me interested and wanting to find out what she has seen.

The portion of this reading that I related to the most was about schooling. Haynes has been in school for so many years, while also taking time off here and there to travel and go explore other places. Her art has always been a part and focus of her studies, but she mentions that writing and other areas of study have also captured her attention. I have begun to feel the same way through the past few years. Art has been something I have done my whole life, and when deciding where to go to school and what for, I knew that had to be it. Not only did I enjoy it, but I really couldn't see myself doing anything else, like sitting behind a desk or a 'boring' job like that. Having explored three different, but similar majors, graphic design, industrial design, and now art education, I still enjoy art and think I want to continue it, but at the same time I wonder if art education is what I want to do for the rest of my career. Here path of taking some time off during her schooling is something I have seriously considered at points over the last two years. Not only has the stresses of money, work, and time become a major issue, but also the matter of if I should continue with the path that I am on. Overall I really enjoyed reading the first few chapter of this book, and I am looking forward to more stories, information, and advice throughout the book.

DRAWing III INtroDUction

I am Brittany Schmelling, currently a senior Art Education major at UW-Stout. I chose to take Drawing III as part of my drawing concentration for my major. As a future art educator, this class will allow me to practice and advance my drawing skills and explore more ideas/mediums in order to better assist me when it comes time to teach. I feel that I still have a lot to learn in a short amount of time before 'the real world,' so I am looking forward to a lot of practice, exploration, and learning this semester. I took Life Drawing I last semester and it went a lot better than I had expected, so I see good things happening this semester as well.

I included images of previous work below, there are more images under the other tabs from past blog posts.

Images...
life drawing- skull
life drawing- figure
printmaking- wint '09
drawing I- fall '06- peanuts, popcorn & tape

Life Drawing Conclusion

The semester is over...and I have learned a lot. The first half of the semester was a lot of introduction to the body, the muscles, and how everything worked, which really helped me with my drawing. I avoided drawing the human figure at all costs before I came in to this class, but now I am looking forward to opportunities to draw the body.
This second half has seemed to be more on practicing and perfecting techniques and basic concepts. I have seen my line quality and variation get better, and I have also loosened up with my drawing and let it not be so 'perfect', like my first large shell drawing was. The shell was difficult because I do not usually care to draw on a large scale, but it helped with the contours and getting the line quality better. The introduction of the washes was a nice touch that really helped the shell drawings, but I wish we had time to do another in order to fix our mistakes from the first one.
Overall I really enjoyed this class and I got so much good information and practice out of it. My view of drawing the human body has completely changed and I am looking forward to do more figure drawings in future classes or on my own time!

Link to second half semester work images:
http://s606.photobucket.com/albums/tt147/BSoccer1030/FINAL%20LD%20blog/

T-Giving 1-Day Week

The BIG shell cross contour drawing was a bit of a struggle...once again, I was not crazy about the shell I had to draw. Like the first one, this shell was very smooth and plain looking, making it a little boring to try to work from. Aside from my feelings towards the shell, I do not think the drawing was a strong one. I felt one of the only decent aspects of it was my line weight, being dark at the closer areas and fading to light farther away.
There are plenty of not-so-good areas of this shell drawing. I felt it was harder to get the correct proportions with the larger paper. the front and back are pretty good, but the middle section (the largest of the smaller swirls) is way too long. I also thought that the angle I chose to draw from could have been more exciting. This long axis direction is plain and very simple. The final bad aspect is that the lines are very even and conformed, making it very exact and boring.

One the next drawing I have quite a few things to work on. My first drawing was very boring and a little flat, so I need to make it more alive and playful. I will do this by not making sure my lines are not completely erased and uniform. Using my whole arm, and not just my wrist, will also help with my line variation. Distancing the space between each of my lines will also help it feel more alive and add to the surface variation. The final thing will be to choose a different, more intense angle that allows me to capture more of the shell's unique aspects.

FIELD TRIP WEEK

So...this was the week of the field trip to the Bodies exhibition and the MIA. Unfortunately I woke up Monday morning with the flu and proceeded to lay in bed all day. I attempted to get up Tuesday morning and try to make it on the field trip, but when I got up I was still not feeling well enough to be sitting on a bus and walking around. So I did not get to experience the exhibit, which I am genuinely upset about. I was really looking forward to seeing it and getting to sketch and have a better understanding of the body in 3D. Not happy...

Aside from that, Thursday we started the skull and it went well I thought. I'm not sure what it was about the skull, but I felt more comfortable and confident drawing that then the actual whole human figure. It was nice to be able to look at the skull and see the various sizes and proportions of everything. I am looking forward to being able to draw the face and some features in the coming class periods, and continuing to work on my line variation.

the week after Midterm...

We focused on the legs more this week and my manikin is getting better. After completely redoing the quads, I feel like I am enjoying working with the clay much more and spending more quality time on it. I can definitely see improvement on the quality of my leg muscles, which should also help in drawing.
The longer poses got better this week too. I spent more time focusing on the proportions and getting everything mapped out before going too in-depth with it. I struggled a bit with the rib cage and kept making it too long. Hopefully I can straighten that out in the next couple sessions so I can spend more time on the other areas.
Overall, I feel like there has been definite progress made this week, both in the drawing and clay areas. I would like to continue doing well on the manikin, and also work on my lines (weight and variation) in the next few weeks.

MIDTERM PORTFOLIO POST

• I have learned quite a bit already this semester. In past classes instructors have said 'here is this thing, draw it.' So, to actually be shown what is underneath what you're drawing, and what makes up that figure, is extremely helpful. I have learned more anatomy and terms than I have ever learned in any science class, and I appreciate that. I have also increased my knowledge of the human figure so I would be able to draw it from memory, which is something I have never been able to do.

• My strengths and weaknesses are slightly sketchy at the moment, meaning that I am not sure how to critique them. For my drawings, I feel that I am pretty good with the 3-5 minute gestures because it gives me just the right amount of time to get all the information down. However, my 30 second gestures are a different story because I do not allow myself to enough time to get the full figure sometimes. Another area I believe I am doing well in are my proportions. Most of my drawings seem quite accurate, or close too it. Another weakness I would include is my understanding of planes. The last two class periods with long drawings, I have had an odd angle of the pelvis and have struggled with it. Understanding that form and the planes that make that up will greatly improve my drawings. As for the manikin, I think there are at least two areas that I could improve on that. One is the thickness of my muscle pieces. It is hard sometimes to see the thickness of the pieces in the book, and I feel like my pieces get a little big sometimes. The other weakness spot could be the curves of the muscles. I noticed first with my back, then the gluts, that my muscles lack curvature sometimes, so being more organic with them would be better.

• There are a few things I would like to learn or get better at. The first thing I'd like to improve on is definitely my lines. I do not like my lines at all, and they often look pretty flat. Some variation in thickness and weight would be good and improve my drawings drastically. Another area of learning, or just getting better at, as previously mentioned, is my understanding of the pelvis and how to draw it from every angle. The front and back view are relatively simple, but once the model moves in an abnormal position, it takes a little thinking to figure it out.
  

• Overall, the first half of the semester has gone pretty good. At times I have found myself getting a little bored with the repetition of drawing for 3 hours, but I should stick with it and focus on working on my weaknesses. I enjoyed the first half, so I am looking forward to what the second half of the semester brings.

Link to image site:
http://s606.photobucket.com/albums/tt147/BSoccer1030/

Week #5

The clay got better with the second assignment. The first ones were a little big, but this time I think I got the thickness' and sizes much closer. I started to enjoy it a little bit after I got the hang of it. I decided to go without buying the clay tools, so I thinks it's slightly harder just working with your hands. As we build each section, it greatly improves my understanding of the muscles, and helps a lot in the drawing portion.
Drawing with the model on Thursday was nice to get more practice with the pelvis area. The rib cage is coming along, but it definitely needs a little more practice. For the long pose I found I had an odd angle, so I had some trouble figuring out the pelvis and what directions it was going in. The foreshortening was also tough to deal with, but overall I don't think it turned out too bad.
Some things to work on are still line variation...it still looks odd..and also using the planes to figure out the pelvis will help a lot.

Week #4

I am enjoying having a better understanding of the rib cage area while drawing. It makes it a lot easier when you know what you are drawing. The lectures helped tremendously in showing and explaining everything. Again, having things explained in 'art' terms is so much easier to understand.
The short gesture drawings are still a bit tough because I tend to want to do too much detail right away. I can definitely work on focusing on what is wanted.
The longer poses went pretty well. I liked having time to get everything down and correct my mistakes. Something I will need to work on is line quality and weight. I tend to have the same line quality throughout the drawing, so changing it up will hopefully add some more depth and dimension.

Week #3

Starting the maniken...at first I didn't really know how I felt about the clay muscles. I thought it was going okay until I got to about the third or fourth muscle on the neck area and realized my first couple were probably a little fat. It was slightly frustrating, but after a while it did get better. The book was very good and helpful with showing all the connection points, but it got a little tougher because the maniken is slightly different from the one used in the book, so it's hard to tell sometimes.
After the first assigned muscles I am very thankful for this project because it definitely gives you a better understanding of how the body works. I never paid attention to anything having to do with the body, because it was always talked about in 'sciencey' terms, which I am horrible at.

Week #2

Week #2
The second week of Life Drawing went pretty well. I continued to enjoy the gesture drawing, but I found a difference in my drawing with the new model. The first week we had a female who seemed extremely comfortable with modeling and did very good poses for drawing. The second week was a little tougher...the male seemed quite nervous and not as comfortable yet, and his poses showed that. He was a little tense and unsure of how to vary his poses, so it was a little harder to draw them.

The shell drawing was a bit difficult as well. I began to grasp the contour concept a little better, but i was pretty BORED with my shell, and it probably shows in the drawing. My shell was extremely smooth throughout, with hardly any variation, only a little spiraling at one end. My lineweight is the same throughout, also making it look flat. For the next shell drawing I will try to correct all of these mistakes, varying the line thickness and weight more from side-to-side and front-to-back. I will also look for a different angle to draw from, so maybe I can find more variation in the shape.

Week #1

The first week of Life Drawing went pretty well.  While studying abroad in London this past summer, one of our requirements was to do 100 figure drawings in our sketchbook (i.e. people at train stations, on buses, etc).  We also did a couple of exercises with the same timed drawing format we are using for our gesture drawings in this class.  Having not done much drawing since freshman year, that assignment has greatly helped me in this class. Not only did I get back into the swing of drawing, but it also gave me practice in basic figure/form drawing.  I enjoyed the first weeks activities and am looking forward to this week.  I am looking to improve on fitting the whole figure in the box on the page...I got a little big on a few of them.  Also, the first attempt at a cross contour drawing went OK for a first shot, but hopefully it will come along better with some pratice with the shell assignments.