BFA

Well I've been slacking. I guess as a visual artist I'm not exactly a literary artist. I'd rather just show my work than try and talk about it.

In 5 days I will be applying to the Bachelor of Fine Arts. I really want to make it in. This is my last shot. A friend asked if I would wait another semester if I wasn't ready. I said no. No more waiting. I waited a whole year after I could have applied so that I could be "ready". If I keep waiting I'll never be ready. It's crunch time. I just want to finish a few more pieces before I go and submitt my work to be made into slides. I still have to find someone who will be my advisor. And then there is my homework. Only 2 weeks left of school. I really hope I can make it in time.
I'd do as little as possible at work this week, but I did almost 26 hours in 3 days last week, right before the holiday. I wanted more money. I could cut back on 6 hours this week and still make the same amount. I guess it just depends on which is more important.


Ok I just made up my mind. I'm going to do less hours at work. I can always make more money. This is my last shot at making it into the BFA.

Give me strength.

SketchCrawl-Provo

So I found this cool new blog SketchCrawl. Basically people all over the planet get together (where ever they are) every few months or so and have a sketching marathon! The next one is September 23, 2006. So this is the offical anouncement: I'm starting SkechCrawl-Provo! I'm not sure if anyone will join me, but I'm gonna go and skech the day away! Well, more like the morning. There is a football game at 1:00pm that I have tickets to. I'll just continue on afterwards too. I think I'll get a watercolor sketchbook and try my hand at some on the go watercolors!

I'm so excited I even ordered a shirt! I hope it gets here on time! That would make things infinitely better.

On a semi-related note, I'm getting better at sketching everyday. I feel more confident. Seeing a blank sheet of crisp white paper is not as intimidating as it once was. I guess it's all this drawing I've been doing in class. Hopefully the momentum stays.

Drawing or Sketching?

Classes are well underway. I have my schedule all figured out finally. I didn't initially want to take figure drawing in the morning. It would mean long days on Tuesdays and Thursdays and then long work days on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I wanted a healthy balance. You don't always get what you want. I think this will work though. I'll make it work.

Now, to today's topic. I haven't made a drawing in well over a year. What? How does an artist not make a drawing for over a year? Well, I was quite astonished myself. First off, I've devoted a lot more time to painting. What I thought was drawing was actually sketching. What is the difference you may wonder. As my drawing professor put it, the difference between drawing and sketching is the difference between premeditated murder and manslaughter.

One is thought out, planned for and often enjoyed in execution. The other often happens by accident.

I had to bring a drawing in for the second class. I, along with the majority of the class, brought in a sketch. Somewhere we failed to plan. We did it quick to get the assignment done. We didn't enjoy it, it was just something that had to get done.

The whole assignment caused me great anxiety. I did learn something. I bought a nice sheet of paper and sat down to do a bottle. It wasn't the best thing I've ever done, but it was a lot better than when I tried to practice in my sketchbook a few moments after. I think that just because I switched from good paper to bad paper I allowed myself to draw more poorly. I'm not sure how I'm going to remedy this. I can't afford to practice draw on nice expensive sheets of paper. Maybe i'll finally just get a really nice sketchbook.

The art of art

I had a professer explain how much artists depend upon the quantity of their work. That's right I said quantity, not quality. He told of an experiment that a class did on making clay pots. Half of the students in the class were assigned to make one clay pot. They were to take the whole semester to work on this one pot and perfect it. The other half of the class was just to pump out as many clay pots as possible. Never mind spending a lot of time on each one. The teacher just wanted numbers. In the end it was the students who spent their time making massive quantities of pots that had the best looking pot as compared to the students who only had one.

It was the act of making the pots over and over again. Once an artist makes a pot he can see the mistakes and improve upon it the next time, and again after that. The artist that spends that amount of time focused on one pot tries to fix the mistakes, but often cannot see what lead to it or even how to fix it.

So I'm not a sculptor. I think my professor meant it to apply to us painters as well. I'm going to sketch my little heart out. I'm going to paint until my fingers cramp in pain. This is my goal in writing for all the world to see. I will be a great artist someday. Yes, world, you will remember me.

Not keeping up

So I missed two days of posting on my art blog. I posted two on Thursday, but Saturday I had no excuse. Just went out with my friends, had fun and got back way too late to actually post anything. Hopefully it will get better. If I can't handle it now, it's only going to make it that much harder when school starts back up in two weeks. Now there will be some excitement. 4 art classes. Yea!

My cow sketch

So it was the first real drawing I've done in a while. I don't really consider it art though. Just a little sketch off of a picture of a cow. It's easy to do a drawing off of a 2D picture. I don't know why I drew a cow. I was going to do a horse, but that seemed too intimidating. Nice simple cow. I'm taking baby steps to get back into the swing of things. I know I'm not going to be amazing on the first try. And I know that it will get better. It's just my perfectionist tendencies that get me down. I find I usually have to do it right and good or nothing at all. What matters is that I just get out there and do it.

I just have to do it.

I'm back

I decided to give this another try. I made a new blog where I will be posting some of my art work.

Hopefully this will give me some more motivation. I was rejected from the BFA when I applied back in April. I had a little talk with my watercolor teacher and he reassured me on some things. He said that I wasn't out right rejected. Some of the teachers said "yes" some said "maybe" and there were a couple of "no's". He also told me that the majority of the people in the BFA now didn't get in their first time. There is still hope!

I admit shamefully before the world that I have not done much in the way of art this summer. I work almost full time and there was a break-up with a boyfriend earlier this summer. Then there was another boyfriend and another break-up. I decided I don't need boys right now. I'm going to focus on my art (I'm sure as soon as I post this another guy will walk into my life). This is where the new blog comes in. I plan on posting a picture a day. It is my goal. Now I put it in writing, so I have to do it. It will not be easy with my crazy life.

I guess that is the balance though. Having a life and having art. But they feel like they should be one in the same. My life is art? Art is my life? There's probably a trick to it. I'll probably spend my whole life figuring it out.