Summer in Boston: The Little things

When you walk across the bridge over a highway and hear a ringing hum you've never heard before, and look to see that it's just the sound padlocks make rattling along the fence when the wind blows.

Or when you read for an extended period in an open plaza, immersed in another's thought that you forget what your voice sounds like to the point that you don't say hi to a friend you see in the distance that hasn't seen you, since you forgot how to produce sounds.

Or when you jump when a leaf skitters across the sidewalk and you thought, for a second, it was a critter from the shadows that has come to claim you.

Or when you think you are just going across the street to the convenience store and end up halfway across campus without your phone, longing for it, since it's your only camera, and you've just rounded the corner to a perfect view of that supermoon.

Hmm, summer in Boston.

My Art Hobby

I been going through an art phase. It started with the drawing class I took last semester and it's continuing into the summer. Actually, I don't think it's a phase anymore. I think it's an actual hobby now. I like art. And I like creating art. I'm still a novice, but I find it relaxing and calming. Somebody once told me that you don't have to be good at a hobby; all that matters is that you're enjoying it. (This person told me that regarding my piano skills, but it applies to all hobbies, I think.) 

Just this year, I've experimented with three mediums of visual arts (four if you count charcoal and pencil as different mediums). While, I think I will try the other mediums eventually, I think I am all set for now. I need to take some time to get better at these three mediums before I move on. Although, next on my list is probably colored pencils and markers, both of which I think are good fits for adding color to my drawing style.

The first medium I worked with this year was pencil. Pencil is kind of a safety net. I've held a pencil for a good portion of my life. I can control a pencil pretty well. Although, I mostly doodle with pencil, instead of focusing on a piece for an extended period. In my drawing class, I did a bunch of line drawings, mostly of still life with some shading here and there. Here's something in pencil done in class: a perspective drawing done completely free-hand, hence the wavering "straight" lines. 

The ceiling was kind of crazy with all the vents. Haha.

Next, I worked with charcoal. Charcoal was a new expereince for me this year. I had never tried charcoal drawing. I do find that I like it though. It's a very forgiving medium; nothing is really permanent until you add fixative. I'm not sure which charcoal drawings I want to share. I have a couple of crumpled paper, anatomy, and nude. Hmm. I guess I can show you a few. 

The subject here is a piece of crumpled brown paper. I think this drawing took three sessions, each about three hours long. I hated it by the end of it.

Here's an incomplete skeleton drawing I did. I think I like this one not because it's good but because of the composition and values. I like that the skeleton is hanging in a box and that for the most part, the skeleton is in a shadow and has pretty dark values. (The subject I referenced while drawing this is a real person's skeleton.)

Here's another anatomy drawing. Just some random body parts and more crumpled brown paper my professor put together for us to draw.

I actually only have one nude drawing on my computer. But yeah, this was done with a live model.

That's all for my class: pencil and charcoal. Since start of summer, I've been playing with colors. I like the vibrant colors of pastels and oil paints. So that's what I'm currently playing with. I've only tried oil painting once and there's nothing worth sharing (if you check my twitter, you can see that painting). Pastels I've tried a couple time, nothing fancy here either. But I do have a simple work I can end this post with.

I'm learning soft pastels myself. This composition and colors were stolen from an artwork I saw online.