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Re: Elaine's Super Sloppy Homemade Coptic-bound Ink and Watercolor Sketchbook
When I started sketching, I was amazed just how many things I never properly saw and how much sketching teaches us to really observe. Your fire extinguisher is a great example
Dead art on dead trees, huh? I guess then books are just dead words on dead trees and we should ignore them as well. Heaven forbid we'd learn something from them, both books and art (even if it's only what not to do).
Re: Elaine's Super Sloppy Homemade Coptic-bound Ink and Watercolor Sketchbook
JP, I've been using brush pens in this sketchbook. This one was an Akashiya Waterproof Extra Fine that makes particularly fine lines. It's good for detailed drawings.
I'd been attracted to brush pens for years -- long before I started drawing. I could never do much with them though, until I started sketching in January. (I really think the attraction had been my heart's way of expressing the longing to draw I unconsciously carried inside. I just hadn't understood what it meant.) I pulled out my brush pen on the second night I started drawing, and never looked back. It actually took me a while to get used to them, but the line quality was so different than anything I'd done before that I didn't mind the clumsiness.
Actually, I still feel clumsy with them (when I look at the brushwork of Japanese and Chinese painting masters, I just blibber and blubber in awe) but it's a joyful clumsiness! They're fun, I'm sort of making a mess, but it's an adventure! And each drawing builds a tiny bit more skill. The word "lyrical" comes to mind when I see brush pen drawings. The line variation brings just so much extra sweetness to the songs people draw on paper.
Re: Elaine's Super Sloppy Homemade Coptic-bound Ink and Watercolor Sketchbook
The drawings are wonderful. Love it that the leaf fell into your lap. That's delightful. And from your writing, you seem to have a knack there too. Keep looking forward. It's never too late.
Re: Elaine's Super Sloppy Homemade Coptic-bound Ink and Watercolor Sketchbook
Elaine, that is such a sad and all-too-familiar story. Your sketches are interesting, lively, full of personal style, and show the skill developed in your design work. I enjoy the vibrancy of your color and can feel your excitement in your art.
I think you'll be very interested in seeing this video. It's in four parts that load one after the other. Well worth the time. I wish all the art critics and historians and teachers like the ones you had could see it.
Re: Elaine's Super Sloppy Homemade Coptic-bound Ink and Watercolor Sketchbook
Good stuff, thank you for posting it, Jamie. I could talk for hours about this topic -- What is beauty? Why is beauty important? My reaction to the movies was a little mixed though, because I personally loved some of the pieces that Scott Burdick used as evidence of the emptiness of modern art. And some of the things he showcased as beautiful I found to be pretty boring. So he and I would disagree on what we personally find beautiful. Nonetheless, I absolutely agree with his central tenet that the current academic art scene (involving art schools, museums, galleries, corporate sponsorship) is pretty warped -- and ultimately irrelevant to what most people consider to be art.
I have a favorite story about all this. My best friend went to Rhode Island School of Design at the same time I did my music/liberal arts degree (late 1970s). Sadly, she developed cancer at the age of 19, and lost a year to its treatment. When she went back to RISD, a lot had changed for her, and she didn't buy into the art scene any longer. She just wanted to get her degree and get out of there.
So she slogged her way through her sculpture degree and it finally came time to do her senior show. There were many white walls and a lot of floorspace to fill with her pieces. She just sloshed out as many as she could as quickly as possible. (She has a wickedly funny sense of humor, btw.) For instance, one of her pieces was a gigantic map of the United States made from sheets of clear plastic (about five feet high). She somehow managed to buy enough Cheetos to fill it to the brim, then sealed up the plastic and stuck it to the wall. There, ta-daa. Art. She was really just playing to see how far she could push the limits with her teachers.
One day, soon after the exhibit went up, she went into the gallery to check on something, and there was a docent leading a tour group through the space. She stood nearby while the docent went on a big, long explanation of how this Cheetos-filled map was a brooding social comment on the emptiness of American society, blah blah blah. My friend didn't say anything to the group and just left quietly. But she told me later how absurd and pretentious and sad the whole thing had been. It was the perfect encapsulation of what is wrong with the current contemporary art scene. (Oh, her show was a success, btw, and she graduated with a BA in sculpture.)
If someone comes up to you in a museum, looks at a modern painting and says, "I don't get it", just reassure them: Don't worry. There's no "it" to get.
Re: Elaine's Super Sloppy Homemade Coptic-bound Ink and Watercolor Sketchbook
Elaine - After reading your story I started thinking about these "professors" who probably did the same thing to so many aspiring artists. What a waste!!! I am glad you have given yourself the chance to start again...and your sketches show the talent you have. I love the leaf that posed for you, but the fire extinguisher is just awesome!!! Keep these coming!
Re: Elaine's Super Sloppy Homemade Coptic-bound Ink and Watercolor Sketchbook
Where did you go to college? they sound terrible.
Mind you, our tutors said they aimed to give us a nervous breakdown, destroy what we did and make us start again
It was very different when I went back in the 90's as a mature student Very challenging but apart from the frequent stress levels I loved it - a real buzz.
Re: Elaine's Super Sloppy Homemade Coptic-bound Ink and Watercolor Sketchbook
I'm not against demanding teachers, quite the contrary. I've had teachers who pushed me to my limits and then made me break past them. Painful grueling experiences, filled with frustration and anxiety. But it was also some of the richest education I ever received. The difference was that these teachers had fundamental respect for the us and our talents.
Re: Elaine's Super Sloppy Homemade Coptic-bound Ink and Watercolor Sketchbook
I feel a bit odd saying 'welcome' to this Forum being that I've been a lurker for a while now but haven't yet posted anything myself. I just wanted to say that your sketches are delightful! I look forward to seeing more.
Re: Elaine's Super Sloppy Homemade Coptic-bound Ink and Watercolor Sketchbook
Thank you, Serena and everyone, for the kind words. Your encouragement really means a lot to me.
Today was a day off. I went to the local coffeeshop for lunch and to sketch a bit. I worked just in pencil, and practiced the "I'm staring out the window, I'm not looking at you" technique to draw people surreptitiously. I felt like I was in a spy movie!
Then a little Japanese toddler started making a tour of the cafe, proudly drinking from his juice box and showing it to everyone. Too cute for words, so I drew him. And it was an odd luxury to be able to stare straight at someone and draw their picture without getting self conscious. There were actually quite a few little kids there today.
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