We have reached mid-term and Spring Break has begun.
I get a week of not driving to campus and back but I do have some homework. 
This semester, so far, has been very stressful due to the quantity of homework AND the size of the assignments.  
My grades are still good - in the A range though there are many assignments I am not enjoying and don't give it my all yet still get a high grade. It makes one one what it takes to not get an A??

Being in art classes, we don't really have mid-term or final exams; what we have is a larger project. Here's what I have for my three classes:
Studio 2: An animation, that's called a living drawing, using charcoal. Unlike a flip-book, it's all drawn/erased/changed on one piece of paper. It is very dirty and messy.  I finished mine last week but cause I did not spend as much time drawing as I could have. BUT I had to spend over 12 hours de-skewing and aligning the images so the animation wasn't so jerky.   because I finished the animation early, I have started on the next module which is Compositions; this is digital and physical collages. The first part is the digital compositions using open source imagery with Photoshop to assemble 4 different pieces. I have 6 ideas and have finished the first one. During the break, I will start to work on the second. I will post all when they are done
 
Beginning Drawing: I will have a portfolio review. This is where the teacher looks at my 30+ daily drawings (6 weeks x 5 days/per week) and I have to upload all the work we did in class. Again, there is one of the weekly drawings below. For the homework over break I am to do a few sketches of models, i.e. people, from an website that has these types of pictures. 
These are to be timed - 2, 5 and 10 minutes; I might go Picasso on these since my skill in drawing life objects is horrible.

Core 2: Finish a photography assignment about the use of color outside the studio along with staging the scene. We have to submit 32 pictures - half are before we staged, the other half is the staged picture. I decided to use the Lalique vase we have with a bright LED light, in it along with 3 colored gels and I have taken the pictures of it in random places; it's slightly reminiscent of the 2001: Space Odyssey Plinth being in various places, again there is a picture below. For my homework, since we are moving into the next module of Typography, is to take 50+ pictures of everyday things with "text". 

Besides the homework I have to do, I plan on relaxing, meeting friends for lunch or dinner, binding the Klimt quilts

This week in Beginning Drawing we learned and played with shading and tone. On Tuesday we did different types of shading with graphite pencils - lines, cross hatching of lines, shading with and without blending and smudging and even shading using few and many tiny marks like asterisks, stars, triangles. This is the first picture below.
Yesterday we used charcoal for a fun exercise of a mosaic drawing. Everyone in class was given a small rectangle of a larger picture which none of us were allowed to see. We have to draw our piece on LARGE paper (18"x24") using charcoal and then blend, erase, smudge and get our hands very dirty. When we were done, we assembled them on the wall to see how well and different our drawings were. My assigned piece is the 2nd picture in the top row, then my drawing which used lots of interpretive dance. Then the assembled images and lastly a close up of my drawing in the bottom right corner of the mosaic.

On a side note, I am learning to NOT stress about this class. We are learning about drawing and various drawing mediums, papers, tools, and concepts and I am slowly embracing my drawings NOT being good and doing what I can; this certainly makes it much more enjoyable

For the past two weeks, the Core II class has focused on the Camera Obscura - the module is about image making.
There has been research and strong proof that the Renaissance masters used it as shown in this great video to watch. It is also thought, based upon other evidence, that the ancient Greeks may have used it too. 

For this project we had to make a camera and then take pictures with it.  I cut out the cardboard and build my camera with a 4x lens 2 weeks ago; a piece of tracing paper was used as the focal plane. When I tested it I found that I could not get any image to focus because the length of the camera box was too short for the size lens I had purchased; it was 4" in diameter. Instead of ordering a smaller 4x lens, I rebuilt the camera with a much, much longer length and after some tests, I was able to trim about 4" off the backend. 

The second part was to come up with a concept and take 30+ pictures. My concept was Victorian-esk. I chose this because the Victorians were obsessed with recording death pictures, seances, spiritualism, memento mori, and the like. I have not done research into why this was so but I theorize that's it is related to Queen Victoria's never ending mourning over Prince Albert, grave robbing for profit or to provide bodies to anatomist, and cameras being more prevalent by the upper class.  For my pictures I decided to use some of the deer bones I have collected and to go into the woods on the property and take pictures of the bones and/or tree that are slightly out of focus, disorienting, and eerie.

Here are pictures - my camera, the test pictures, and my submissions.

In December of last year, I went to The Makery, in Bulverde, to use the electric hydraulic press for a few deep dies I had.
I pressed a Viking, and 3 different Deco women warriors.  Over New Years weekend I turned on of the women into a key fob for Elisa of Scotland. The pressing was in 18 gauge sterling silver with a 14 gauge square wire frame and loop. I was supervised by Boots. Enjoy the pictures

Back in 2014 I participated in an art project called A Hundred For One. I made a link for the project of a baby squid based upon an image from a book of plates by a 1700's Naturalist Albertus Seba. I decided during Studio I to draw the plates. I did the front of the squid in the beginning of December, it took 3 attempts to get the proportions correct. I then traced it and transferred it to a clean piece of paper so I could color it. I then started on the back which then got put on hold due to finals and other tasks that had to be taken care of, around the house, when the semester ended. I slowly finished the sketch, transferred it a fresh sheet of paper and yesterday I spent the afternoon coloring it. 
I am starting a new drawing inspired by the fallen Ash leaves in my drive way which will be the first art of 2025, stay tuned.

The semester has ended and there were a few final projects and some drawing I did at home.
I finished drawing the squid and coloring it. I drew the bell pepper again, twice and then colored it with water color pencils and regular colored pencils. I also made a cardboard assembly of mid-century modern shapes to invoke a feeling/emotion; thenI  set up a light to cast shadows on the wall. It was then colored - I chose various blues to add to my feeling of "chill"/cozy. 
​I now get to relax until the next semester starts in mid-January

Three weeks left... This week I only have classes on Tuesday, then it's the Thanksgiving break. The following week is classes then the week after that, it's, again, classes on Tuesday and the semester is over for classes. After that it's Finals week of which I really don't have any tests. For College Writing I have to do a short 5 minute presentation on my last essay; For Studio and Core it's doing peer reviews for our last projects. 

FYI, the last essay we were assigned was to be on our chosen degree and career. That really only applies to the rest of the class as I have been there and done that TWICE. I was going to ask the teach about it and before I could he told me I could write about anything I wanted so I proposed about why I am getting a BFA and he was fine with it. As I was writing it it morphed into something else... some background on discovering I was dyslexic, how I like to learn and experiment with new things. For my presentation I shall bring in some metalwork I made and for class participation, which is not required, ask and explain all the various types of metalsmiths - black, blade, copper, tin, gold, silver, etc.

And to catch everyone up here are more images of my work, since the last post in October.

It's been a busy time. Reading and writing essays for College Writing; drawing, sketching, cutting, gluing, and coloring for Studio I; and making collages, constructing wire frames and other 3D art for Core I.  I am also doing extra drawings in an attempt to improve my drawing skills. The pictures below are done with watercolor paint and pencils, charcoal, graphite pencil, colored pencils, cyanotype (chemical sun prints), markers, india ink, 16 g and 18 g mild steel wire, pages from magazines, acorns, lichen, and tree branches.

I thought I would post more pictures from both art classes and my extra sketches. Not everything is here and they are not in any order but I hope you enjoy them.

Most of my drawings have been still life's so I was challenged in class to draw from life. I have wanted to do this but have been a bit scared because, even though I am getting better, at times I don't the the perspective or proportions correct. So I went through my phone and found a good close up of Boots' nose and asked if that would be acceptable and I was given not only a resounding YES but an awww.  The teacher said I could grid the picture and my drawing paper to assist in getting the proportions and scale correct.  The other thing that helped me was that over the past two weeks we have been working in charcoal to get all shades of white, gray, black and everything in-between.  I was going to use just colored pencils only to find out I did not have one that was black. I ended up using the water color pencils with and without water, some colored pencils, and a bit of water color paint for the whiskers in places. The 3 most prevelent colors are black  for her fur and black plus gray for those those transition areas.

The last image is Boots' response to her portrait as posted on FB.

Here are sketches/drawings/paintings from Studio I. We have to do two sketches each week, as homework and show them in class the following week and some pictures are homework for over the weekend from an in-class assignment. On the left is the image to do, on the right is the result. They are not in the order they were done or assigned.