26 March 2012

SO CLOSE

The title of this post pretty much says it all. In just a week, all work must be turned in! A year's worth of progress, unbelievable! That being said, I worked a lot on my drawings this week. I think I touched every one at least once, with some being worked on more than others. Here are those that showed the most progress:






I touched a drawing this week that I haven't worked on since first semester, and I have to say, it's taught me a lesson on how much these drawings style have evolved and grown in just a short amount of time. It was scary to go back into it, but I think it will be well worth it when it's done, because it has been one of my favorites this year (don't tell my other drawings, they might get jealous).





So after this week, with around 20 hours of drawing this week alone, I have 5 drawings that are without doubt finished, 4 that are so damn near finished that it's killing me, and 3 that are mostly finished but still can't pass as complete drawings yet. That's not including the pocket-sized sample drawings I carry around with me in my spare time. I'm pretty satisfied with that number, and I know if I put some serious hours in this week they will all get finished, no problem. That way I can pick and choose my very favorite when show time rolls around. It's crunch time now haha.

In addition, I went to Michael's to find some double-sided tape with which to hang my drawings on acrylic strips nailed to the gallery wall (thanks to grad student Amanda Lilleston for the tip!). Found some great acid-free, removable, clear tape that I tested on some scrap paper. It held all weekend, taped straight to a wall, and could be removed without much hastle. Thank the heavens for this development! With one step out of the way, I can get the plexiglass and finishing nails for the rest of the display this week. Wahoo!

18 March 2012

Getting closer...

So this week was more drawing, in addition to thesis writing and thoughts about how I will display the drawings for the final show. In regards to display, I emailed Amanda Lilleston to ask about her techniques for hanging her prints in Slusser Galler for the MFA exhibition. I know I do not want to use frames at this point, and Amanda managed to beautifully display her prints without frames or pins in the corner. Currently, I am waiting to hear back from her, but Mark Nielson and I also discussed attaching panels of light wood or foam board to the back of each drawing with which they can be hung up on a wall. This could also provide some solid structure to the paper, and I'll probably gather some materials this coming week to do a bit of testing.

So, after thinking all that out, I was drawing a lot, at least 13.5 hours according to my tally, in addition to thesis writing, which was at least 5 hours or so. Below are the drawings I mainly worked on this week, in addition to working on past ones (which are not pictured);







This coming week will be a continuation of the marathon of drawing. I'd like to have most of them completed or near completion by the end of this week, so that the following week before the work is due to the gallery, I can make final touches/adjustments and finalize ideas for display. Hard to believe the show is less than a month away!

11 March 2012

Development

At this point, I'm looking to push my drawings in depth, value, and spacial volume. So this past week, I spent over 15 hours working on that in the three drawings below:



The drawing above is the one I consider closest to completion. I want to take a break from it after this week though, to see what will need darkening and lightening after some time away.







Though I don't really consider any of these finished, I don't know if they ever will be. So in this coming week I intend to work on them to a point of completion I am satisfied with, and move on to finishing other drawings. I would like to have at least ten completely ready for the final show, so that when show time comes, I can an array to pick and choose from. I may or may not include all of them, but I do know I want a rather simple display, and I would like to work about the better details of that this coming week as well. The final show is right around the corner!