Re-entering school after so many years was a real eye-opener for me. In the past, I only took courses I had any interest in because I couldn't see the value in wasting my time with the courses required, but not enjoyed, to get *a piece of paper*.
Now I know :) By next week, I will have completed 30 credits toward my Associates Degree in Computer Education and am a member of the Honors Society.
One of the classes I took this semester was an Introduction to Drawing Humanities class. Since I had been an art major in high school, I thought this course would be a breeze. Was I ever wrong! Our instructor had us doing all sorts of difficult drawings from day-one. We began with a sphere and a light shining on it. Not only did we have to draw the ball with all its dimension, but also the shadow it cast.
We moved on from there to begin drawing with vine charcoal. This is much easier to use and control than traditional compressed charcoal and I really like using it. I'm a little apprehensive about scanning these, tho, because I haven't been able to get the charcoal to completely "set", but when I do, I'll upload some of them here.
I especially liked learning perspective. As a weekend assignment, we were to find a neat building and sketch it. I chose Reading, PA's pagoda which sits atop Mt. Penn overlooking City Park. Sketch pad and supplies in hand, I was lucky to have clear blue skies and very little breeze. It was the first nice weekend in central PA in what seemed like "ages." Using a 3H pencil to do my initial sketch, I then added shading using sepia and a 4B pencil.
A few weeks later, our class went outside to draw along the banks of the Schuylkill River, which borders not only the quaint city of Reading, but also our college. The children from the Early Learning Center were also outside that day (my own included) and it was really neat watching the little ones play along with bank while we adults had to work so hard :)
Although I hadn't paid much attention to my artistic abilities in quite a long time, I thoroughly enjoyed this course. I have to admit that, in the beginning (OK, almost half-way through), I approached every assignment with fear and trepidation. But I was happily surprised with the results, most of the time anyway.
One part of this course included researching an artist and making a presentation on him/her, maintaining a daily journal, and exhibiting in the student-show in the school's cafe. In the days and weeks to come, I will be adding thoughts and sketches I completed during this semester, along with some I sketched almost 30 years ago. I also plan to include some paintings by my favorite artist, Amado Pena, on whom I did my research presentation.
In the meantime, should you want to email me, please do. I cannot guarantee that you'll receive a reply because this is finals week, but I will eventually get back to you :)
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