Woman drawn from the inside out

I found this on YouTube and thought it a good thing to share with the class.

One of the many, very good reasons to own a drawing tablet

for your computer.

Picasso drawing in the air with a light pen

How ahead of your time can one person be? 

I know the man had issues, but he's still undeniably brilliant.

Attention Deficit

Everything has the potential to become art. Everything man made is designed or engineered, from the wrapper of your dollar menu fast food burger, the lighting in this very room, your neighbors candy colored vehicle, and even the discarded cigmo butts which litter the sidewalk. To an artistically observant person even the most mundane environment can cause sensory overload. Teachers encourage future intellects to block out exterior stimulation through concentration. It’s my belief that the simple act of observation is too rarely practiced. It is a pity that the contentment and also the entertainment one can get from letting their mind wander is often restricted.  Conversely, I’ve thrown my Adderall to the dogs and embraced nomadic thoughts in opposition to regimented focus. My ideation is constantly reversing, shifting, and expanding. Which is okay, directions are for destinations. My art has no destination; it is simply meant to be observed, to be absorbed, and to inspire the viewer to free their psyche. 

Sarah Dwyer

Sarah Dwyers work is derived from a variety of sources... master paintings, media images, and issues of National Geographic. Her work depicts lost environments. Some appear figurative, while others are representations of recognizable scenes. Her palette is vast, she embellishes with gold, and works and reworks to make the final image. The artist is a former environmental economist, but her paintings are hardly one-dimensional warnings about our future, rather they show that the celebration and destruction of nature are intertwined. 

As of late environmentalism has been a frequenting my thoughts, and will likely show up in my future work.

Expression study

These are just a few examples of a study I did on expressions.

I have about 30 total, but these are my favorites. They're each 4in x 4in, and done with white acrylic paint and charcoal. I really like the way charcoal mixes with acrylic. It gives everything a warm, grainy look... almost like dry brushing.

The Creation of Andrea

The Creation of Andrea

So yeah... this is exactly what it looks like. I took Michelangelo's "Creation of Adam" and replaced Adam with myself. It's done with watercolors on one of those huge pieces of stonehenge paper. It took about 12 hours to complete... so not too shabby. It's going to be hung above my bed as soon as I can afford to get it framed. And yes, I am aware that some would consider it mildly blasphemous. I however do not.

(Nor is it intended to be a "feminist" piece.)

Top 5

Here are some of my favorite drawings from this semester.

I've learned what some of my strengths and weaknesses are and developed a better eye for details. I've also learned basic anatomy, which I always struggled with before. (the other day I pulled out some old sketchbooks from middle-school and earlier, apparently I used to believe that the head was connected directly to the shoulders, and the rib cage was it's own floating entity around the spinal column (which looked kind of like one of those bendable drinking straws.)) I've also gained an appreciation for anatomical studies, I learned a lot from picking at the bones and skull then drawing them based on plainer changes. It's important for one to develop proficient technical skills so creative license can be used without any restrictions. I also feel that I've learned to slow down when drawing, I now look, think, then lay down a line. Whereas before I would lay down lines based on emotion or rough estimates of the actual location. So now my drawings are much more accurate and detailed. 

After about 4 or 5 lang drawings of the pelvis I finally came out with this one, which I'm pretty happy with. It's a segment from the full scale skeleton drawings, and probably my favorite part to look at in the whole drawing.

----------------------------------
This skull took roughly an hour. I wanted to keep going but I didn't know what else to do, so i stopped out of fear of over working it. The teeth inspire regular flossing.

------------------------------------------
My feeling is that this was my only successful self-portrait, although it too is flawed. Indeed, I have never looked at myself for so long a period before.

--------------------------------------------------
Here's a 30 minute drawing of Charles. I think I could spend 30 days drawing him and never get bored. 

-----------------------------------------------------
This was really the only long drawing we got to do of a live figure this semester. It still needs some anatomical work, his torso is too long and that forearm is driving me nuts.

It might be more fun to view on its side, it looks kind of like he's jumping. 

 I liked working in brown, that may become a more common color in my art.