This week we finished the skeleton drawings and prepared for our show "Skin and Bones: A Life Drawing II Exhibition." I attended the opening of the show, which was a little slow due to the senior show exhibitions, but the skeletons and the portraits looked great as a class. We were able to make the room look quite presentable as a gallery space. The food was good and it always feels nice to exhibit work that's had long hours put into it with positive results. It takes a little bit of extra work, but it's worth it.
I am very proud of my skeleton drawing. I enjoy the energy it has with evidence of my process. I think it shows my progression this semester in being able to break away from my traditional techniques and explore figure drawing through a more expressive approach. Most of my drawings are very tight and clean. I was determined to keep it as an expressive structural line drawing since my ability to over render is evident in the rest of my work during the semester. I think I was successful in capturing the posture of the skeleton and I have a much better understanding of the bones as structural forms. My focus was to get away from drawing what I see and adding a little bit of what I know of the form to the actual drawing. Drawing the planes of the bones definitely made for a much more successful and coherent skeleton. The incorporation of contour lines also greatly benefited my overall drawing. Looking back to my portraits, I wish I would have depended less on shading the form and more on the linework. I think my initial skull drawings are my favorite pieces from the semester. They showcase my understanding of the form through line and little shading. It is interesting that I enjoy the pieces from the beginning of the semester, which are usually much less successful than the work from the end of the semester. I think I was able to obtain a sort of aliveness and freshness in the skulls that I wasn't able to show in the portraits and the skeleton. This could be due to my schedule with three studio classes and an overwhelming amount of projects that wore me out as the semester progressed. Overall I enjoyed life drawing II as a kind of academic break in the rest of my studios and I am happy with the work I have created and the things I've learned. I plan on taking Life Drawing II again next semester as an independent study that will hopefully enhance the work I am creating for my senior show. One more semester, a senior show, and graduation! How time flies!
