Saturday, January 19, 2008

It was 3AM and I was feelin lonely-- NOT!

Today I was at my art store hang-out and talking art with the people who sell stuff and showing them my work in my sketchbook when my art prof came in and looked over my shoulder, "You're getting it!" Drawing class is great-- I just drew a moose skull and started to see deeper as I looked at it-- the weight of the skull, the bumps, the curves. It was really exciting, almost like getting a different set of glasses. The class is all about drawing the figure and we are looking at what supports it. I think that when I die I will donate my skeleton to some art class!

There is something difficult in drawing that I was talking to my store friends about. My prof wants us to do contour drawings but insists that the contours won't look like what we are drawing. I used to figure skate. I did "school figures" which were important to competitions, as much if not more so than the freestyle events. I learned to be exact. I did figure 8's, serpentines and brackets very well and I felt like my body was a pen on ice. When you do school figures, you have perfect alignment with your body-- a shoulder tilted can throw your line off. When I do contour drawings, they look just like the object I am drawing, so I have started doing them with my left hand. The professor is happy with the results, "This doesn't look anything like what you were drawing! See? Now you are getting the feel for it!" I still do them at home with my right hand. I like that I can be so exact with my right hand!

At 3AM I was up working with my clay. I have a big bag of wet clay in my room that the kids and I'm sure my husband as well, cannot resist touching and gouging. Well, early this morning I took it out and was working with my homework and my eldest son came out, "Hi! Whatcha doin'?" He knew quite well what I was doing. I gave him some clay. Gradually the older kids (18, 11, 10, 8 & 8 + 5-- 17, Peaches, was out) were all with me, watching and working on their own projects! So far it all looks great. The kids did a good job and will probably upstage me at art shows should I ever do them. Getting a feel for clay is giving me a new appreciation for 3-D objects.

Way later, my 4 year old son came in and asked for some clay and promptly put it in his mouth and looked at me with surprise, "This doesn't taste like chocolate!" (My clay is terra cotta.)

TeaCup tried putting some on her toes. She must think she is a butterfly. Don't butterflies taste through their feet?

Now I am back to my other schoolwork. I really hate linguistics now. My prof is unfortunately a prince of a man so I can't say he upsets me. I aced every paper in my LING class last term. We do tree diagrams of sentences now-- all the time. The tree keeps on branching. Perhaps I will make myself an eccentric who hates trees. "Argh! They make me think of tree diagrams!"

I am having a Chinese drawing done of my real name to put on my ceramic work.

5 comments:

Rick Rockhill said...

you were up at 3 AM working with clay??? Wow you are dedicated. Or just an artist with a tortured soul that wants to create! Very cool. post some pics of your stuff!

Unknown said...

you are quite fanatic with art. I could never work at 3Am. I sleep a lot.

Tea N. Crumpet said...

Oh Ropi-- it's not that I'm a fanatic! It's like doing homework! I was doing it at that time thinking the kids wouldn't come in and want to get into it but I was wrong.

Gledwood said...

you're lucky to be able to do visual art of any kind... WORDS are the ONLY "medium" I feel I have any power over whatsoever... hmmm

Tea N. Crumpet said...

Gledwood, judging from your blog, I think that you have an eye for photography, music, and words. (And small fury creatures!) You are quite powerful. . .