Saturday, December 20, 2008

And I'm Out


Two semesters down, many dollars spent, and a little work to show for it. The extraneously long five week interim between now and Spring semester shall be spent, for the most part, in the brisk Virginia mountains, far away from honking horns, rattling change cups and electrically powered public transportation, in an attempt to refuel the neurons necessary to kick the upcoming Spring term in the teeth. As for final projects, only one was noteworthy, specifically the final illustration for my Drawing From Imagination class, pictured below. We had three weeks to complete this project, and were allowed to chose from two briefs to illustrate: one a scene from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, or another about a couple trapped in a crypt. It's (hopefully) obvious which one I chose, and the brief reads as such:
"The iron-hinged door wouldn't budge so Daniel and Anne crept back down the steps and through the coffin-lined crypt. The storm water was up their knees now. Distant groaning echoed from the far passage. Anne clung to Daniel , the ancient amulet blazing urgently around her neck. They were getting closer. The groaning was accompanied by moans and scuffing sounds from inside the coffins. Terror struck. The first corpse dragged itself into view. Instantly, another broke free from a nearby casket, and then another, until a shuffling pack of hungry cadavers surrounded them, and there was nowhere left to run."



The big-ol-hunka-poopy below was my attempt at a still life for my Chiaroscuro class, and between the images show here, its pretty obvious where most of my time was spent. I have declared the title for this piece as "F*ck It."

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Turn 4


The fall semester is coming to a close (in a couple of weeks) and since all my energy is being expended towards final projects, I thought I would post a few pictures for the interim. The majority are from the "Open Studio" event we had this past Saturday for all the graduate studio occupants in the building, in which friends, family and the public are invited to see (and hopefully purchase) student artwork. All the artists here are either Illustration or Fine Art majors at various stages of their graduate career, and over all the day was very successful. The first two images are Aleta, my housemate(left) and Lila, my neighbor(right) together in my studio, as well as my studio-mate Orly, who's in her first semester at the Academy. The last few photos are some morning street shots I managed to catch while on my way to the downtown art store.










Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Pickin' Cotton


Recently finished is an 18"x24" charcoal portrait (sighted and measured from a photograph with no means of tracing or grid transfer, mind you) of James Cotton, famous harp player, for my Chiaroscuro class. Unfortunately, the photo bleaches some of the subtleties in his face, but such a result is to be expected when a quick exit from the studio is required for the advancement of dietary intake. The project is basically the same as the one designed for the portrait of Jack Nicholson that I did over the summer, which is now out of it's glass shell and back in my possession, allowing for a better quality shot of the finished project. Also included is a study in the art of plotting reflections (Drawing From Imagination) as well as a study in shadow shapes (Clothed Figure Drawing.)