What's New?

What's new with me? I bought a condo, that's one thing. I am so excited to decorate a place of my very own. There are mounds of boxes to be unpacked, but first I have certain tasks to be completed. Last night I made a mess in the kitchen. Can you guess what's going on in the picture above? If not, I'll be talking more about it at a later date.

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For now, let's talk about Drawing class. I have quite a few drawings to post but first, let's see what I walked into last Thursday night.

These two young men in my class felt compelled to make an art installation with our easels, making them look to me like they are marching in a circle. Please excuse the fuzzy picture, as I was laughing while snapping the camera phone. They are looking pretty serious in the picture, but really, they were anything but.

I was so taken by the "easel cages" that I didn't even notice the stools and tables all lined up around the room.  Usually, the floor is never even visible in this room, as it is a jumble of easels, stools, and tables.

Here the guys become part of the installation.

See? Isn't art fun?

figure drawing

Now, don't get all giggly. This is serious stuff. Last night I drew a nude model for the first time in my life. 20 years ago, in this very same classroom, we were supposed to have a nude model, but for some reason or another she was always in a leotard. That's probably for the better. I was young and self conscious and probably would have fallen out in nervous laughter. Now? I'm too old for that silliness. And besides, after about five minutes you don't even notice it anymore as you are so intent on your drawing. The model just becomes another still life.
First we did several warm up exercises where the model would pose for about 30 seconds and we would quickly do some gesture drawing, which is just a few lines to get the position of her body, then some squiggle drawings (not sure if that's the technical term) where you are drawing her mass with a squiggle that looks like a slinky. Then, we had about a minute or two to do some blind contour drawing. I just love (not really) this last exercise.  It's just as it sounds. You are standing off to the side of the easel, and without looking at the drawing paper your eyes slowly follow the contour of the model as your drawing hand moves in unison on the paper. You finish with some rather picassoesque shapes with that one.

Finally, we did about a 5 or 10 minute sketch as seen in the first picture above and then onto an hour [30 minutes, then a break for the model, and then another 30 minutes] sketch seen in the second picture.

If you hadn't already noticed, I'm a bit leery of drawing hands and feet. I never liked it before and I still don't like it now, but don't worry, I'll be working on that in the future. I'd hate for her to have mitten hands and feet forever.

Oh, and I'm pretty certain our model's identity is safely hidden by my drawing skills. Now, maybe when I get to drawing III that will become a concern.

self portrait II

Yesterday we did another self portrait (No, I didn't get a haircut. My hair was up in a clip).

This time we used the reductive process. Using an x-acto knife or scissors, we scraped charcoal onto the surface of the paper and spread it around with a cloth. Then, we used an eraser to create the highlighted areas of our face and went back in with charcoal for the shadows and white conte crayon to add back the brightest highlights. It's harder to get as much detail this way, but I really enjoyed the process.

The bottom right grayish area is what the charcoal first looks like when you spread it on. I really like the eraser marks all around the outline of my head. It looks like an etching. Well, I guess it is etching in a way.

self portrait

No, this is definitely not the skeleton picture I was supposed to post Friday. That crappy cell phone picture really came out bad, so you'll just have to look at my crappy cell phone picture of a self portrait for now.

Those of you that don't know me will just have to trust me when I say that everyone in class said it looks just like me. And it's probably pretty fitting for Halloween right now with that scary look on my face. ;)

No Bones About It

We had to draw this young lady last night. I will post my feeble attempt later tonight.

If anyone noticed, I haven't posted a drawing in a while. The last few classes were all about 1 point and 2 point perspective, vanishing points, horizon lines, etc. Pretty cool stuff that I remember from 20 years ago. It is relatively easy stuff. Then, Tuesday night we had to draw several boxes on a table. Of course, you can't use the perspective you learned, because your vanishing points would be way off the page, so you basically have to wing it. Who knew drawing boxes would be so difficult? You draw a bottle and no one really notices right away if it's off a little, but with a box, it's instantly apparent when something's not right. It was a frustrating night.  At least it was for me. So far that was my least favorite day in class.

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Foo's random curiosities: Why is it that we call it Northern Virginia and they call it Upstate New York? Upstate Virginia? Northern New York? Doesn't sound right, does it?

I Would Like To Thank The Academy

Today's drawing:

pencil on drawing paper (click on image for larger view)

And also, we got our first portfolio grades back today:

Your work has a signature textural quality which makes it instantly recognizable. Fortunately this is over strong composition, accurate interpretations of the form and good scale/good use of the picture plane. Because your work is so different from the rest of the class yet has all of the good qualities I look for in art work, you are a good role model for the class. No one will be able to copy your style, but they can see a good example of the qualities I am looking for and that there are different ways of arriving at those goals. Glad you are in the class. Grade: A

Well. Knock me over with a feather. I had to read that twice. I did not expect it at all. I didn't know whether it would be too prideful of me to post this but I figure, I'm worth it. I've worked hard each class and have actually given it my all. So, I'm going to stand up nice and tall and say to the world:

She likes me! She really likes me!*



*of course, right after reading it I started today's drawing with a slight sense of apprehension. What if I now lose my mojo? See, I can't accept a compliment without thinking I'll be paying for it somehow (and not in a good way). Why is that? Am I alone here? Anyone?


p.s. I don't know what is up with blogger's new post editing do-thingy, but if I have any spelling errors you can blame them. They took out the spellchecker!! Not cool, blogger. Not cool.

Class Critique

Back for more Drawing class.

I really would like to take a picture of everyone's individual work. I love the point in class, after about 2 hours of drawing, that we put them all together for a critique.  It's pretty amazing to see things from everyone elses perspective.

Teacher said my objects are slightly leaning to one side. Also, she said the draping was really nice on the lower left and then she said, "As I walk up to it, I lose it." Meaning, everything falls apart? It stinks? Who knows. I figure I'm more impressionistic in my attack. Meaning, it's a mess up close, but if you stand back? Not too bad. And if you take a cell phone picture? Even better. I have no idea why my coffee cup is so much taller than the real one, though. hm. Teacher didn't even mention that.

charcoal/white conte crayon on drawing paper

*click on pictures for larger views

More Drapery

We were "drawing the drapes" again last night. (No Mom, this is not a t-shirt.)

I was not feeling it this time either, but I try not to think about it too much anymore and just jump right in and get busy. I must say, it actually looks pretty good in a cell phone picture. It's a nice little mess in real life, though. There is one young lady in my class who's style I love and she is so hard on herself; the sign of a great talent if you ask me.

charcoal/white conte crayon on drawing paper

It's Swing Time

I had to post about my evening with Mom & Dad. Great weather and great music (Mom & Dad's era).

Yes, I was sans camera but did have my cell phone.

Riverwalk at Yorktown, Virginia


Glen Boswick Sounds of Swing Orchestra were fantastic.


Mom & Dad gettin' their groove on. (Center couple, white shirt & coral shirt)


Um. Is it bad that I really love this last cell phone picture? I don't think I could have done much better with a real camera. I love the moody water color effect.


While I was watching my parents and all the other "golden" couples dancing their jitter bugs and cha cha's to the music of their era, I just had to wonder about something...

What kind of dances are couples of my generation (80's child) going to do when we are in our golden years? Bump and grind? Head banging? Moshing? Well, that would all look pretty silly, wouldn't it? Plus, we'd put our backs out at the first pelvic thrust, get dizzy and fall over trying to head bang, and think of the broken hips from moshing!

We sure didn't learn any dances that we could carry over with us into our twilight years. It really seems that true partner dancing flew out the window in the late 80's/early 90's. You either gyrated (I would say "hump" but my parents read my blog. Hi Mom & Dad!) all up and down your partner, thrashed about in your own little bubble or tried your best to knock everyone else to the ground and make them bleed.

The couple was nevermore.

Where are the steps you have to learn? Where is the (RIP Patrick Swayze) "Lock your frame"? Makes me wish I grew up back in the days of swing dancing. Shoot, I'd even take disco!

Ah well, I'll just have to find myself a man who is willing to put on his dancing shoes and cut a rug with me.

Draw the drapes Amelia Bedilia!

For those that need an Amelia Bedelia refresher, she's the "literal-minded housekeeper".



I was not feeling this assignment when we began tonight, but once I stepped back from the drawing (2 solid hours later), it actually looked pretty good. This drawing was with pencil. We get to draw it with charcoal next class. Man that stuff is messy. One girl in my class said she wraps her charcoal up with a piece of cloth. No way I could do that. But then, she has a light touch...unlike me.

Feels good to be creative.

I'm a student again. This time it's for real. I've taken a course here and there in the past couple of years after receiving an associates degree in Commercial Art in ninetee-{cough,mumble,cough}-inety three, but now it's with the intention of boosting my not so great GPA. I have hopes of (dreams of) going to a university. What do I want to take there? My mind goes from one subject to the next. Film, fine arts, theatre, computer arts. I can't decide. I'm just going to take classes that I love (and those that I need, i.e. the speech class) and have faith that one thing will lead to another and a path will open up before me. 

I'd like to share what I'm learning (and loving) in Drawing class. It feels really good to be creative again and to realize how much more fun it is to draw now than the first time around. Now, I am not so uptight about the fact that I'm not perfect at it. I'm just doing my best, which, I must say, is better than I thought I was capable.

What I've been doing

a little joy every Tues and Thurs night.

update: Here is the drawing with more detail to see the cross hatching.

Hand Slap

Just an update. I am extremely late on my final John Hughes post. I know. I have really good excuses, though. Well, at least I think they are good.

1) My family just had a big party for my parent's 55th Anniversary as well as my mother's 75th Birthday. Yes. Two big milestones we've been planning for ages. We had a BBQ, and of course, it rained. But we still had fun. You can read their fairytale story [written by my talented, just graduated from College with an English Degree niece] here.

2) I just started back to school Monday night. Yeah me! I'm taking two classes at our local community college; Public Speaking and Drawing I. Four nights a week. That's a big commitment for a lazy girl.

Be back soon. I promise.* In the meantime, check out my niece's blog. She's a pretty smart cookie, who wants to be a writer.



* I would like to promise that I will be back with a new post tonight, but even that is too far in the future for me. See how noncommittal I can be?

John Hughes: My Teen Savior. Ferris Bueller's Day Off

{Sorry, I forgot to post this yesterday}

Welcome to part IV of my homage to filmmaker, John Hughes, who passed away last Thursday, August 6th:


I was already in love with Matthew Broderick long before his excellent performance as Ferris Beuller. I first fell for him in 'Max Dugan Returns', then 'Wargames' and best of all, Ladyhawke. Oh, man, did I have a crush on him, and it just got worse with Ferris Bueller.

Ferris is a smart and creative high school senior who really doesn't want to go to school today. So, he cooks up this elaborate scheme to fool his parents and the suspicious Dean of Students, Ed Rooney (masterfully played by Jeffrey Jones) into thinking he's incredibly sick and will stay in bed all day.

Ferris' best friend, Cameron (Alan Ruck), who actually is home sick (implied to be psychosomatic?) has finally been persuaded by Ferris to come enjoy the day with him. They then hatch a plan to get Ferris' girlfriend, Sloane (Mia Sara), out of class so she, too, can join them. (Do I even have to mention Ben Stein here? "Bueller? Bueller?")

Ferris is a charmer. And, I could definitely relate to his sister Jeanie's (Jennifer Grey before Dirty Dancing fame), to put it lightly, "frustration" with her brother, yet again, pulling the wool over everyone's eyes. I have a charmer of a brother, too, who I always felt got away with murder. But, yeah, in the end, I guess I would also defend him against the evil Dean of Students if I had too. "Family before school officials", that's what I always say.

When Ferris and Cameron succeed in springing Sloane from the school, the three of them set off for a whirlwind day of adventure, which started with "borrowing" Cameron's father's pristine vintage ferrari and just gets better from there.

I love how Ferris actually talks to the us, the audience, throughout the film:

Ferris: [to the camera, after tricking his parents into believing he's sick] Incredible, one of the worst performances of my career and they never doubted it for a second. [opens blinds to reveal a beautiful spring day]
Ferris: How can I possibly be expected to handle school on a day like this? [begins fiddling with electronics to fake his voice]
Ferris: This is my ninth sick day this semester. It's pretty tough coming up with new illnesses. If I go for ten, I'm probably going to have to barf up a lung, so I better make this one count.

This movie is just fun, fun, fun. Sure, I could get serious and thoughtful about "Cameron's" (Alan Ruck) emotional maturation at the end of the movie and how he learned to stand up for himself against his (never seen) overbearing father, but I don't really want to. I just want this to be a movie about a day in the life of three kids. A day that, if it happened to me, would be something I would look back on for the rest of my life as a magical moment in time. I have a few days (and nights) of (mostly) innocent mischief from my past that I look back on fondly, too. It's good to have days like that. We play by the rules most of our lives, so it's good to play hooky from our responsibilities once in a while.

And, really, when you watch this movie, how can you not get a little vicarious joy out of watching a kid take over a parade to lip sync to "Danke Schoen" and The Beatles' "Twist & Shout" while everyone within a 1 mile radius breaks out in dance? How can that not make you feel warm and fuzzy?

Oh! And who could forget the Yello song "Oh Yeah". I believe this was the first instance of this song being used on a movie soundtrack. According to it's wiki page, it was subsequently used in The Secret of My Succe$s, Teen Wolf, Planes, Trains & Automobiles, She's Out of Control, and K-9, among others.

I still have a 45 (that would be a record, as in vinyl) from a promotion for the movie with two songs from the movie, "Beat City" by The Flowerpot Men and "I'm Afraid" by Blue Room. I'm pretty sure it came with some other ephemera, but I don't think I have that anymore. [If I do, it's probably sandwiched somewhere in the pages of my high school yearbook.]

Here are some favorite quotes:

Grace, played by Edie McClurg, speaking to her boss Ed Rooney:

Grace : Oh, he's very popular Ed. The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, waistoids, dweebies, dickheads - they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude.

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Ferris: Hey, Cameron. You realize if we played by the rules right now we'd be in gym?
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Ferris: Pardon my French, but Cameron is so tight that if you stuck a lump of coal up his ass, in two weeks you'd have a diamond.
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Ferris: Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

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Ultimately, I believe Ferris' actions stem from the fact that:

Ferris: I asked for a car, I got a computer. How's that for being born under a bad sign?

...and again speaking to the audience:

Ferris: I do have a test today, that wasn't bullshit. It's on European socialism. I mean, really, what's the point? I'm not European. I don't plan on being European. So who gives a crap if they're socialists? They could be fascist anarchists, it still doesn't change the fact that I don't own a car.

Ferris: Not that I condone fascism, or any -ism for that matter. -Ism's in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an -ism, he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon, "I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in me." Good point there. After all, he was the walrus. I could be the walrus. I'd still have to bum rides off people.

Come back tomorrow for Part V: "Some Kind of Wonderful"