Thursday, April 22nd - Friday, April 30th

First off, I didn't die or anything. I've been busy with end of the semester projects, that I have kept putting off posting here. And I have no pictures for today. A lot of what I've been working on I had to turn in for a grade.

One big project that was due last week was a redesign of a local business. My partner and I chose the cafe at the Barnes and Noble. It was a lot of fun sketching out the space and then choosing new materials from the design library. The final project for this class is to design a living room around the design elements in one chair. This one should be fun as well. :)

Earlier this evening I finished one of two projects for my drawing class. It feels so good and motivating to finish the other one. Both are due Monday so I do have some time still.

And finally, I've been editing the pieces for my creative writing class. Our portfolios are due Wednesday. I'm doing my reading on Monday, however, so I need to have it all together then.

I just hvave one week left of classes. None of mine are meeting during finals week. Then I have a month off until my two summer classes start.

I'll try to take a few photos of what I've been doing this weekend tomorrow.

Wednesday, April 21st

I'm just chipping away at both of my drawing projects. This is the street view from the window I picked in the studio. The perspective isn't perfect, but that's not what I'm really going for in this assignment.

Tuesday, April 20th

I decided to change the theme for my second project while I was brainstroming for ideas on how to execute it. My original theme was to be centered around my mother's Barbie and Ken from the early 1960's. I came up with the idea of typing works from that era on a typewriter and then drawing over. While experimenting with this idea, I liked it so much I wanted to make that my theme.

This is one of the pieces done. I'm not sure how many I will be doing yet.

Monday, April 19th

Today I worked on one of two final projects for my drawing class. This particular drawing is part of a collaboration project we have to do with an assigned artist's work. Mine is Jennifer Bartlett and I've chosen to run with the idea she had for her In the Garden installation. She created 200 drawings of the same garden she viewed out of her window while in France. Of course I cannot do all of that, so I'm going to do about 50 drawings of the view from the studio. In class today I was able to complete three of 50, so I have a lot of work ahead of me. Not to mention the other project for this class...

Sunday, April 18th

I love Sundays. I get all of my work done during the week, so I usually the whole day is spent with my boyfriend, but today he had to work. Because of this, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with a full day to myself. Sadly, I have been watching a marathon of Gossip Girl (love the show, it's sad because of the amount of time I've been sitting) instead of doing anything productive.

I did whip out my watercolors for awhile. I'm still not sure of myself using them and know that practice is what is needed.

Saturday, April 17th

I spent most of the day cleaning, but did take some time to play outside with the dogs. Jameson was the only one who wanted to chase bubbles. Angus just ran around him barking.

Thursday, April 15th and Friday, April 16th

Thursday was a complete bust for me creative-wise. It was another bad day, and after a string of them I hit a block. Instead I focused on a paper I had to write.

Today was a different story. My only class was cancelled due to a presentation scheduled at the same time, in the same room. I had wanted to attend, as it was on two subjects I love, art and physics. I overslept, however. This afternoon was a practicum on how to make a camera obscura. This I did not miss. I learned a lot and can't wait to play around with lenses when I have some time. My list of summer projects keeps growing.

I also had an epiphany as far as my schooling goes. I hit upon a way that I want to combine what I am learning with something I would like to do for a living. I don't want to go into too much detail here, as I want to delve a little deeping into this, but will talk about it more once I am sure. It will involve adding a few more minors to my degree.

I took a long walk with my dogs and just allowed my mind to wander. As soon as I got back, I was inspired to draw in my sketchbook. I bought a few nibs to use for ink drawing and played around with them, drawing some things I saw on my walk.

This is one of many that I did tonight. I enjoyed playing and can't wait to hone my skills some more.

Tuesday, April 13th and Wednesday, April 14th

Today I'm not posting any photos. I've just been finishing the work on my color book, assembling the pages, so there isn't really anything new to show. Also, this week has gone from bad to worse for me, and I'm just trying to get through. At least I have a wonderful boyfriend and my dogs to comfort me and cheer me up. I should have something new tomorrow.

Monday, April 12th

Here's an updated photo of my large figure drawing. I'm not sure yet if I'm done with it or not. I think I'm going to ponder the photo tonight and make a decision from there.

I was actually on my way to buy some charcoal fixative that I could use when I am done, but my car died on the way there. That plan went out the window, and this has pretty much stranded me at home for now.

Sunday, April 11th

This is a peek at my large figure drawing. Today I worked on the blanket. I didn't want to do much on the figure since the model was not there. After drawing in the pattern of the blanket for some time, I decided I didn't like it at all. So I erased it and colored in with charcoal and conte crayon. I'm still not happy with it, but didn't know how to tweek it. When I'm undecided about something (and this can be anything at all), I step away and give myself time to mull it over. I usually like to sleep on it, as they say, to see if my brain can come up with a solution when I'm not pressing it to.

Tomorrow is the last day to work in class. This is due Wednesday.

Saturday, April 10th

Day two of the seminar, which was most of the day. We had various activities to do, all of which were to be done alone. I'm glad for that as I enjoy creating by myself the most. I filled a good chunk of my sketchbook today, but have more work to do. We have a month to complete the final assignment, which is to further develop two of our quick sketches into an innovative idea.

Friday, April 9th

I had a Sketching for Creativity seminar to attend tonight. I had mixed feelings over it, mostly due to the amount of other homework I have due in the next week. The first meeting involved learning techniques for drawing and putting them to practice in a sketchbook. Here's a shot of some of the sketching I did.

Thursday, April 8th

The return of the dreaded color wheel! This one didn't take as long to paint, as this is it. I'm proud of my color matching to my other wheel. It didn't take much tweaking to get them to the right hues.

The next month is going to be crazy for homework for me. This weekend, I have a creativity seminar to attend. The instructor sent an e-mail with a supplies list and told us that we will be filling an entire 100 page sketchbook over the two days. She also mentioned a project that will be due in May.

For drawing, I have the work on my large figure drawing, and also start the two final projects. I am committing to a 50 drawing project for one of them. I'm not sure how large a body of work I want to do for the second. Three more papers from gallery visits have to be written and I need to finish my sketchbook too.

This color book project is one of three left for my design fundamentals class. I'm hoping the other two don't involve group work like this one does.

My other classes have less work. In creative writing, I need to finalize my final portfolio I'm going to submit. I only have to read for one more workshop day as well. The portfolio needs to be 18-20 pages, which is not a problem for me right now. Art History is the class with the least amount of work: just two more tests and two movies to attend. One of the movies is next week. And lastly, for my design library class, I have to write one more paper and write up a summary of my journal I've been keeping.

It sounds like a lot, but as long as I make myself stick to a schedule, I will get it done.

Wednesday, April 7th

Today we started out last figure drawing of the semester. The size is 60" x 40", which is the largest piece I've ever worked on. We had classtime today and on Monday to work, and he is expecting everyone to put in about an hour a day outside of class as well. I've never taken time to sketch out studies before jumping in and wanted to give that a try for this. This is just one of the few I did.

I managed to get the figure drawn out on the paper, as well as the blanket she is lying on. We are able to put her in any kind of setting, and have no restrictions or requirements in this drawing, which is nice. I noticed a few of my classmates cutting off her feet because they didn't want to draw them. I'm planning on filling in the background and working on the blanket for the time outside of class. Monday will be the day I work on shading. That's the plan for now.

Tuesday, April 6th

For my drawing class, we had an assignment to sketch the hand five different ways and the foot five different ways. I could probably sketch the foot hundreds of times before I start to like what I'm doing. That will be for other days.

This is one of the better quick sketches I did:

Monday, April 5th

The book project is finally done. I wish would would have been able to paint on different paper. Cardstock and acrylics = wavy paper, which makes it hard to glue down onto the pages. I also am not fond of the size we had to make this project. Too much waste from the pages I had to cut down to size. I did utilize some of the scrap, but most of it was thrown away.

Apparently, this is a two part project, so I am not convinced this is the last I will see of this book.

Sunday, April 4th

Today was spent with my boyfriend and his family. I didn't have much time to work on anything, but was inspired to do a series of sketches from my day.

Here is one of the few I did:

Saturday, April 3rd

Awhile back I splurged on a couple of Lego sets: Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater and the Taj Mahal. I loved Legos as a child and somewhat regret giving them away years ago.

This is the completed Fallingwater. The Taj will take me some time to finish.

Friday, April 2nd

Today I forged ahead to finish the painting for the color wheel book. I can say I am glad to be done with that. Next up will be to cut out all of the pieces, arrange them on the pages of the book, and to write up the text. All of that is my goal for tomorrow. Sunday will be a day off from homework, as I will be going out of town with my boyfriend to his parent's house. Monday is day off from school again, so I'm planning that as a full work day as well.

Thursday, April 1

Today I decided to take a break from painting my color wheel and my other assignments. I do have a long weekend to get everything done, after all.

While lying on the couch reading, I got the idea to try to take portraits of my Scottie, Angus. Due to his dark coloring and that he loves coming at the camera too much, he makes it hard to get a good photo. Today the lighting was just right, and he was sitting nicely on the loveseat, staring at me as he is fond of doing.

Of course I couldn't just take pictures of him when Jameson, my Boston terrier, is also sitting nearby. He wasn't as enthusiastic though, as he would have loved it if we went back to bed.

Wednesday, March 31st

We had a different female model today and we were to draw her using a brush and ink. This was my second time using ink in this way. I really need to work on drawing hands and feet in relation to the rest of the figure. I can draw each of them on their own, but when I put it all together, the proportions are off. Because ink is so unforgiveable, I just embraced the mistakes.

And like the previous post, the paper used is not really suited for a wet medium.

Tuesday, March 30th

For a class project, I have to create a book on the color wheel. My instructor handed out the wheel for us to paint in, as well as strips for us to create tints and shades for each of the twelve colors. This is a very slow moving process, as we are supposed to paint within the lines (something I'm not a fan of in my own work). Today I started in on the primary colors. I'm going to do three colors each day for the next few days to finish. Then I have to mount the strips on paper for the book and type the written parts.

The other challenge to this project is we are painting in acrylics on cardstock. Not really the best canvas for a wet medium. If we could have picked, I would have used a heavier paper.

This is my progress so far:

Class Schedules

I wanted to share the classes I'm currently taking, which will explain why my projects are all over the place. Due to already having a degree, I don't have to take any general education classes. I have only classes for my major and minor, as well as other fun classes I pick.

This semester is:
Design Fundamentals, which touches a bit on drawing interior spaces
Drawing I
Creative Writing
Art History II
Creativity seminar (one Friday night and Saturday day in April)
Design Resources Management (basically cleaning and organizing the sample room for the interior design department, includes writing reaction papers and keeping a journal)

Summer:
History of Interiors I and II, both online lecture classes

So.. summer projects will be of my own creation.

Fall:
2D Design
Photography I
Beginning Sewing
Interior Graphics I: Residential (oh hand drafting, it's been a decade since we have met)
Interior Design Careers (weekend long seminar class)
Business and Techical Writing

Currently my major is Interior Design with a minor in art. I will be adding a business minor once I fill out the application for the business college. And I am contemplating other changes, like double majoring in ID and art, minoring in business, or adding a Woman's Studies minor, or even a language minor. Desicions, desicions....

Monday, March 29th

We are continuing working on figure drawing in my drawing class. Today my instructor hypnotized us so we could overcome our inhabitions and fears with putting lines on the paper.

I can't say for sure that I actually was hypnotized, but I did feel more relaxed. Here is the result:

Sunday, March 28th

I spent the day working on a short story draft for my creative writing class. For Monday we were to either revise one we had written previously or come with a new one. I felt no passion for my first story, so new was the route I went. I came up with four pages single spaced.

Here's the first section, just to get a taste. I won't be posting the entire thing, obviously.

Betsy lived a simple life. She woke up every morning at 5 A.M. and stuck to the same routine: stretch gently for 10 minutes, start the coffee maker, feed the cat, jump in the shower, and then pour a bowl of cereal to enjoy with her coffee. During weekdays, she then puts on the work outfit she picked out the previous night before drying her hair and putting on her makeup. If it is Saturday, she would take a second cup of coffee out to her balcony to watch the morning come alive before getting ready for the day. Sundays she gets dressed for church. She always picks out her clothing the night before. She feels this saves precious time and she dislikes being late to anything.

Today is a Tuesday. Betsy dons a gray pantsuit. She decides that today she will add a few curls to her shoulder-length brown bob. Last week she applied for a different position at work and has been making strides to stand out a little bit every day. She currently is a receptionist for a mid-size chiropractor’s office. Betsy applied for an opening in the accounting department. It’s silly that she thinks of it as an entirely different department, since there are only two people holding those jobs. One of the women is retiring at the end of the month. This is the perfect opportunity to move up. She gives her cat, Pounce, a pat on the head before leaving her one bedroom apartment for the day.

Saturday, March 27th

Today was pretty uneventful for projects. I had a paper to write for a class, so that took up a chunk of the day.

I did decide to finally try my hand at knitting. A couple years ago I bought the book Stitch N Bitch and some supplies. I played around with it, but never got too far. At that time, I mastered casting on, but would usually drop a stitch or two when doing the actual knitting. And binding off terrified me.

Finding the time to learn a new task is sometimes a challenge for me. Tonight I had a good piece of time, so I set to it. Once I began, my fingers remembered the knit stitch pretty quickly. Of course I'm not a pro or anything yet, but I do feel confident enough that I could complete a full project. I'm going to start with the usual, a scarf. I should be able to find the time to finish by next fall. ;)

This is just a little sample piece to practice the knit stitch and binding off. I'm proud that I didn't drop any of the stitches. Next up will be learning how to purl.

Friday, March 26th

In all of my years of taking art classes throughout grade school and high school, I never had to complete a self-portrait. I did a few of them on my own, but they were just basic drawings of my head.


For this assignment in my drawing class, we were told to be creative in our portrait, and to draw more than just our face. My idea came to me as I was trying to fall asleep last night.

The words read "I may have my head in the clouds, but my feet are well set on the ground".

I used graphite on paper for this, which is a departure from my usual charcoal when I draw. I'm not completely happy with my head, mostly because I made myself a little cross-eyed. But for this being my third or fourth time drawing myself, I'm pretty proud of it.

Thursday, March 25th

I didn't post anything yesterday, but I sure did take some photos. It's been warm most of the month, except for the past couple days, when the temperature dipped below freezing during the day. Because of this, the sump pump hose also froze, so it was pulled off to thaw. In the meantime, water was still being ran through the sump pump.

This is the effect of the low temps:

Of course, this ice build up is not helping the inside of the hose thaw...

Welcome!

I have been contemplating a site like this since I started school in January. What finally pushed me to it was stumbling upon the Creative Every Day Challenge. As it is late for me now, I will begin posting tomorrow. I won't commit to posting every single day, but promise to produce something every day.

Things to expect will be drawings, photographs, paintings, writings, food creations, and maybe something musical. The items posted will be new creations, as I feel it would be cheating to post something I did awhile back. If I do share an old creation, it will be noted.

Over the weekend I have a couple assignments to complete. One is a self-portrait for my drawing class and the other is to write a short story. I also will be creating a color wheel book for my design class. These will more than likely show up here.

I hope you enjoy what I have to offer.