Inspired by Inspiration part 2. - the "Breakdown" of the vision.

I just finished reading MeRa's blog about her starting an art class.  I think because I grew up DOING art...I can relate to the process a little more that way.  I also know that my pencil/pen/painting doodles were merely me passing time and expressing myself as I went through life.  I still have many of them hanging in my home.  I don't have anywhere else to HANG them! :)

So to get where I'm going - read THIS blog entry...and then i'll talk about MY part as well that I related to:
MeRa Koh: "How to draw a siamese cat"

When I read this, I could relate off the bat because many years ago, probably 10 or so I was going through my phase of seeking again.  I took an art class locally in continuing education.  I believe it was a still-life class in which we drew various objects and learned about shading, details and which pencils to use where/when.

I have great drawings on paper of white on white objects (where it was all about shading only)...and a few other fun things.  But eventually the teacher was like.... "OK!!! our final project is drawing from a photograph!".  But what she didn't say right away is that it would be OUR FACES!!!! Yes, indeed.  We took pictures and printed out a 4x6 or 5x7 - I don't remember which - and we had to draw our HEADS.

What I remember briefly about mine is that we had a grid that we laid on top of the image so we could break it up into squares.  This made the task actually EASIER to comprehend in stages for me.  I looked at my picture and my face and thought, WOW, am I really going to do this?  I have a foggy memory about it but I realized that as we went box to box...I could see the picture starting to form.  We had laid out the foundations...lightly sketched our grid onto the paper and box by box...we filled it in.

The part where I freaked out the MOST was when I got to my eyes.  By the time I left the 2nd class session I was starting to see myself STARING back from the paper and it freaked me out.  A few people would come over and comment and I would say YEA I'm creeped out by me staring at ME!!!!!!!  Bit by bit...I worked through the eyebrows...the eyes...the mouth....the nose....and I just looked at this 10 minutes ago.  I even filled in the details of my EARRINGS to perfection . Every DETAIL about my image was on that paper.  In that moment, I was clear.

I don't have any of the old pictures of the process - but i do have the final result. :)

You can see WHY I got freaked out by staring at it. :)

May 2000 - Art Drawing Class - CCCCD

 Every once in a while I glance locally at the classes going on and wonder ....what other new thing could I try that would enhance the creativity inside? <3  I've done arts, sewing and even took an archery class.  I hope I find that next fun thing soon....I could use a break from the norm! :)  I have been learning a LOT....and celebrating how far i've come.  I hope you do the same today!

CELEBRATE YOU.

Love Jen