Have A Stylish Day - What I've Been Up to Lately

Well, I know this post is a bit late but I did promise that I'd get it up. So better late than never!

Last Fall semester, I took a Fundamentals of Design II class with Nataliya Gurshman. I enjoyed her teaching style and felt that I learned a lot from her class. The following semester, in Spring, I took a Drawing I class with her. I have always liked to draw but most of my recent experiences were simple doodles. I had never learned any of the technicalities or fundamentals of drawing. In her drawing class I learned a lot. This semester has just been a continuation of my learning with Nataliya and I can see how far I have come! I know I have lots more to learn and only through continued practice will I master my skills, but I am so proud to be able to look back at what I've done so far.

We've been working on figure drawings lately but started the semester with still lifes. I start out with the figures and work backwards.

Female in Pastel Sticks

For this technique, we covered the white paper in charcoal and then erased the light areas of the figure to get our drawing.

Male in Charcoal

 This was a fun one. We started out drawing the still life in charcoal. Then she had us rip up the original drawing. Using the light to dark values of the ripped up pieces, we then taped them onto a second drawing sheet and drew on top of it. The result is a slightly surreal, lightly abstract still life. I especially liked this one because it forced us to think "outside of the box." A lot of my classmates were scratching their heads on this one. It was clear my teacher had thrown everyone a real curve ball. Everyone's turned out really interesting though and its amazing how different they all looked, while still retaining the same recognizable images of the still life.

Still Life in Charcoal with Masking Tape

Column in Graphite

Still Life in Graphite

This is from my Sewing Class. I have already started the second part to that class, in which we are now making a skirt. For the first part of the class, we made this tote bag. It's lined, has 3 outside pockets on each side and 2 inside pockets on the lining.  I was honestly so amazed at how it came out. I had never once learned how to sew on a machine before this class. When we started practicing seams and stitches, it was almost laughable how bad I was. My stitches were hardly straight and the seams were not especially clean looking. But I stuck with it, because I really want to learn how to sew. And I'm glad I did. Though my tote bag is nowhere near perfect, I gotta say it's pretty good work for a complete beginner!