Watercolor Wednesday - A Simple Start

Since I'm no longer taking art classes as part of my education, I'm trying to use this blog to help me keep improving my skills and most importantly, to keep drawing.

Over the last year, I've discovered that watercolor is one of my favorite mediums to work with  (probably second only to charcoal), so I decided to start filling the pages of my watercolor sketchbook and simultaneously keep improving my skills. I was partly inspired by my participation in last year's Inktober to try to find a theme to work with to accomplish this. Hence the "Watercolor Wednesday" idea.

For now, it just means that I'll devote a little time each Wednesday to working in watercolors. Who knows where I'll end up taking it though!

Some On Location Sketching

This last weekend, my church had our annual Lake Day; basically it's our church service, well, at the lake. Over the last couple of years, I've started to use the time before the service to get some quick sketching in. Usually that means some location sketching (meaning the landscape around me), but this years, I wanted to get some work in on my gestures as well.

There's not a huge amount of gestures here; gesture drawing (heck, probably figure drawing in general) is still one of my biggest, if not my biggest insecurity in my art. But, I wanted to post some gestures partly because it makes me feel uncomfortable to do so. Are they perfect? Probably not, yet not every piece of art I make has to be perfect the moment it moves from my pen to the paper. Gestures are still something that I need to work on, so I will continue to do so (hopefully...)

 And actually, given how pressed for time I was, these drawings are more loose than I might have orginially wanted to do...

A Final Look at School

This semester was a great end to six years of undergraduate work. I can't believe where I started and where I am now.

This is one of the first pieces I completed after graduating high school:

This is one of the last pieces I've completed as an undergraduate:

This is a good thing for every artist to remember: it really doesn't seem like you're improving in the day to day grind of being an artist. And in reality, maybe the improvements you make each day are pretty small, but the important thing is to continue working so that you can continue to make progress.

Anyway, what do my final projects look like? I've finished the first 50 pages of a screenplay (and I hope to finish it this summer) for one thing. I also...

Finished a portfolio for my printmaking class...

...made three rings out of bronze, one out of thread, pins and paperclips, a bell, and a brace...

And spent the entire semester trying to learn and enjoy where I'm at as much as I can. This is definitely not where I set out to be when I graduated high school with dreams of working at Pixar, yet I don't think I would trade where I am and where I'm going (even though I'm still not quite sure where that is...) I hope I continue to grow as an artist throughout my life.

I also want to take a moment to thank everyone who's been reading my blog! I've reached my 35th post since starting this blog back in 2011 and I've really enjoyed sharing my work with you! It's great to have an audience and I hope that my art has been bringing you joy. Please share my blog with others, I love showing people what my work means to me!

Creating 3D Outside of the Computer - Part 2

This week I've been working on the time consuming task of cleaning up my bronze pieces. This usually consists of sawing off sprues (which I absolutely loathe...you would not believe how many times I break saw blades), polishing, assembling and applying patinas.

This final project was the most challenging one I've done this year. I think I tend to think bigger than my abilities, which isn't a bad thing, but it can definitely end up challenging my current abilities. In this case, I decided to make a brace that I could wear, which involved more fabrication than I've ever done (though considering I've never really done any, that's not saying much.

After I sawed off the sprues and polished, I got to do two things that secretly terrify me: brazing and drilling. Thankfully I had a lot of really invaluable help from the awesome people in my class. As much as I would have liked to avoid those tasks, they were vital to getting the finished product I wanted.

Here's some close up shots of the work.

A huge, huge, HUGE thank you to everyone who helped me undertake this pretty ambitious task. Thanks to Yvonne, Shanna, Andrew, Justine, and Laurel for all your help!

Creating 3D Outside the Computer

I guess the theme of my last year as an undergrad is stepping outside of my comfort zone. Not only am I faced with worknig more abstractly, this semester I'm trying to learn a new skill, casting in metal. Now, I've worked in 3D before, but I've only worked on a computer, where there is an undo button and there's very little danger of injury. I've always been interested in making my own jewelry, so I decided to sign up for a class that focuses on making jewelry and small sculptures.

People who know me best probably know that I'm not big on fire. I don't like handling it (and some even joke that I shouldn't) because I worry I'm going to become the next "don't do this" example. So the thought of working with soddering irons, kilns, molten metal and open flames in general sort of concerned me. But I'm also so glad I've taken this class; I even wish that I had explored this sooner in my school career.

I've been planning on posting pictures of my finished work, but today I've decided to post the pictures of the process. It's not exactly a demo, but it's cool to show the process. The photos are a combination of the last two projects I've done.

First, I made a plaster model that I'll build the wax mold on top of:

 

Next, I'll either dip it in wax (sort of like candlemaking) or I'll build wax on top of it.

    

After the wax hardens, I carved and sculpted (pictures of that coming in a future post). After I finished, I mixed up investment and poured it over the wax model to be baked in the kiln.

Once that's done, it comes out of the kiln, and if nothing seems wrong, I can start getting the meta ready. I've been working in bronze (mostly because it's cheap, but I also like the color of bronze).

 

Metal goes into a cruicbe to be metlted, then it's centrifugally casted (basically, put in a washing machine for a couple of minutes)

 

Once it's done, it's time to quench and cool off the metal.

This is usually one of my favorite parts, but yesterday, a combination of steam and scorching hot water left me wishing I didn't have to do it.

After the casting's done, I spend the rest of the project cleaning it up. The piece I'm currently working on is only in the beginning stages of clean up, so it only looks like this:

But I'm looking forward to cleaning and assembling this piece. Keep watch for a post in the next couple of weeks where I show off my finished projects!

 

 

Inktober - 31 Days of Solitude (Part 6)

Here's the final round of sketches. Overall, I'm really proud of the work that I accomplished. Not everything is perfect, some are definitely better than others, but the point is that I got in and sketched, no matter what I thought was going to be good or not. This helped build up my confidence in my drawing.

Not every line I make in drawing is going to be perfect, but that shouldn't stop me from continuing to draw

Enjoy!

Inktober - 31 Days of Solitude (Part 5)

This round of sketches is one that I'm particularly proud of. Enjoy!

Inktober - 31 Days of Solitude (Part 4)

Round four of sketches (onto the second half of the month!)

Enjoy!

Inktober - 31 Days of Solitude (Part 2)

Round 2 of my Inktober sketches. Enjoy!

Inktober - 31 Days of Solitude (Part 1)

In an effort to get back to filling sketchbook pages (which I'm still really inconsistent with...I got this sketchbook as a Christmas gift last year), I decided to participate in Inktober 2014.

For those of you unfamiliar with it, Inktober takes place each year in October - it's a time where artists take a little time each day in October to complete a drawing in ink. It's a chance to improve our skills and (for me at least) get drawing on a regular basis.

I was hoping to start posting my drawings on November 1st but, then again, life happens (and I get lazy). Still, this is really the first time that I'm posting things from my sketchbook. Usually, I'm so concerned with whether or not the things in it look good (especially compared to some of the other artists I know). But I'm tired of letting insecurities dictate how and when I make art, so here they are.

Why the title? "31 Days of Solitude" refers to the direction the work that I created seemed to take. Because of where I am in life right now (not really busy) and where a great majority of my friends are (super busy), I'm spending a lot of time by myself. While it's not always perfect, I feel like solitude is a blessing in many ways. There is a difference between being alone and being lonely, and I have experienced both lately, so I supposed they both end up in these pages.

Anyway, enough talk, here's the first batch of sketches:

(I wasn't going to comment on any of my work, but I have to say, this sketch is one of the ones I'm most proud of in my sketchbook. I'm thinking of turning it into a digital painting to work on those skills).

Look for more from my Inktober efforts tomorrow!